2. digital
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Does the quality of a digital signal matter?

I recently heard a demonstration where a CD player was played with and without being supported with three Nordost Sort Kones. The difference was audible to me, but did not blow me away.

I was discussing the Sort Kones with a friend of mine that is an electrical engineer and also a musical audio guy. It was his opinion that these items could certain make an improvement in an analogue signal, but shouldn't do anything for a digital signal. He said that as long as the component receiving the digital signal can recognize a 1 or 0 then the signal is successful. It's a pass/fail situation and doesn't rely on levels of quality.

An example that he gave me was that we think nothing of using a cheap CDRW drive to duplicate a CD with no worry about the quality being reduced. If the signal isn't read in full an error is reported so we know that the entire signal has been sent.

I believe he said that it's possible to show that a more expensive digital cable is better than another, but the end product doesn't change.

There was a test done with HDMI cables that tested cables of different prices. The only difference in picture quality was noted when a cable was defective and there was an obvious problem on the display.

I realize that the most use analogue signals, but for those of us that use a receiver for our D/A, does the CD players quality matter? Any thoughts?
mceljo
mceljo OP
1,357 posts
 
On thing to note is that the information in one of the long and detailed articles linked in this discussion is 17 years old. My EE friend pointed out that a 2x CD player was a big deal 17 years ago. I would hope that many of the problems described have been reduced or solved by now. When it comes to electronics, 17 years is a very long time for technology to develop.

I picked up an SACD player from a friend today to borrow for a few days. We'll see how much difference there is once I get a copies of a single album in both formats. It'll probably be Nora Jones since I already have the CD and know it's a quality recording.
jea48
4,451 posts
 
I picked up an SACD player from a friend today to borrow for a few days. We'll see how much difference there is once I get a copies of a single album in both formats. It'll probably be Nora Jones since I already have the CD and know it's a quality recording.
Apples and oranges......

I suggest you compare the two players just using the CDs you have now. You should be able to hear a difference between the two players.

Post back your findings.
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paulsax
275 posts
 
let me ask a related but slightly different question. I read often of a player being colored. THere is a thread right now about a music hall player being slightly "forward" and "bright". All things equal and in a world where jitter is the dominate error (or am I misunderstanding the tone of this thread?) how does a "color" creep in? Jitter seems like a strictly time domain issue and the coloration of music would seem like a level vs frequency issue? If so that may imply that the DAC or perhaps some outside electronics issue outside of bit reading is at play. Is that a reasonable assessment?

Sorry about the dumb questions. I'm your boy for mechanical engineering / physics / material science but I'm just about the "bang the rocks together" stage with digital electronics!
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,308 posts
 
Expect different DACs to have different tonality for sure.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
Paulsax - IMHO everything plays role. In addition to sound of jitter that was described in mentioned Stereophile article there is digital signal processing (oversampling, non-oversampling, upsampling) and filtering algorithm, type of DAC (traditional or sigma-delta, voltage or current output, single or dual differential etc.), particular DAC selected (sound differently) and chosen update rate, type of current to voltage conversion (transformer, tube, op-amp), analog electronics (tubes, op-amps, discrete), type of op-amp or tubes, quality of components and PCB, quality of power supply. It is endless list. Even something trivial like "mute" circuit can be responsible for loss of sound quality.

At the end sound in your system is the only thing that matters.
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