OK, here’s what I’ve tested so far:
Different transports...both the ARC and NAD CDP’s present a hard edge to the sound. This is not at all what is referred to as "glare," but the music is sounding too bright; i.e., violins have a steel string quality to them and not a natural timbre.
I stopped using the Oyaide BNC coax cable since it is very detailed and am using a Mogami, which previous experience has proven that it sounds very natural, but lacks a tight low-end.
After playing Classical disks, I switched to female rock singers. These are well mastered CDs, but thru the Schiit the vocals are sibilant. Strings on acoustic guitar sound bright, not natural or organic. When I play these disks on the ARC, the vocals have no sibilance and sound very nice. The tweeters on my Gallo speakers reproduce female vocals very well.
The Schiit does create better imaging and a lower noise floor than the dedicated CDP. It sounds wonderful.
I thought that a multi-bit ladder DAC is supposed to interpolate the data on the frequency curve more accurately and smoother than delta-sigma. So why is the analogue stage outputting high frequencies in this form?
Next, I will track down my USB cable. I also have a pair of bookshelf speakers to swap into the system.
Different transports...both the ARC and NAD CDP’s present a hard edge to the sound. This is not at all what is referred to as "glare," but the music is sounding too bright; i.e., violins have a steel string quality to them and not a natural timbre.
I stopped using the Oyaide BNC coax cable since it is very detailed and am using a Mogami, which previous experience has proven that it sounds very natural, but lacks a tight low-end.
After playing Classical disks, I switched to female rock singers. These are well mastered CDs, but thru the Schiit the vocals are sibilant. Strings on acoustic guitar sound bright, not natural or organic. When I play these disks on the ARC, the vocals have no sibilance and sound very nice. The tweeters on my Gallo speakers reproduce female vocals very well.
The Schiit does create better imaging and a lower noise floor than the dedicated CDP. It sounds wonderful.
I thought that a multi-bit ladder DAC is supposed to interpolate the data on the frequency curve more accurately and smoother than delta-sigma. So why is the analogue stage outputting high frequencies in this form?
Next, I will track down my USB cable. I also have a pair of bookshelf speakers to swap into the system.