Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

I was thinking of my response and then read what Guido wrote and realized I would say the same thing. Al articulated further and I agree with what he added and with his summary that warmth is frequency related.

The lower midrange emphasis is most commonly associated with warmth but it can also come with slightly suppressed high frequencies and bass that is either, or both, rolled off at the very low end and perhaps a bit "fat" or somewhat less than detailed/defined. IMO a rich sound is all about tone and harmonic structure and is always a good thing. I also find the terms "dark" and "bright" interesting but different in that I would characterize them as describing a frequency shift either lower (dark) or higher (bright) that can be independent, or in conjunction with, being warm or rich.

All of these are preferences and Guido makes a good point that a system can sound both neutral and rich, which I find a very good combination, but would add just a touch of warmth and darkness to achieve the sound I enjoy.

Thank you Mitch and Al.... I concur completely with your tightening up of my original definition....

Yes Audiolabyrinth, my pref is for neutral+rich.... I often call this kind of sound "complex", which is what I usually seek... Although, I freely admit that on occasion I do fall for the seductiveness of just trace amounts of comfie pillowing in the lower mid bass... Provided the integrity of the rest of the frequency band is unaffected... Vienna Acoustics DIe Muzik anyone *Grins!*

G.



Regards, G.

What a ship of fools...and to think you shot down George and his technobabble for this? Is this not a dac thread after all....?

I found a good new definition for "audiophile" on Urban dictionary:

audiophile
One who enjoys sex acts involving the ear.
After they stopped kissing, Jenny felt something touch her ear. She sighed. Why did she always end up with the audiophiles?
by Darcy_Tucker June 19, 2008

Please note that the definition was submitted by a woman. One could take the definition a little further into the land of autoerotica, but I don't want to be crude. It would however be more accurate since our hobby is a closed loop phenomena....

This DAC looks VERY interesting to me....

http://aries-cerat.eu/products/digital-processor/kassandra-series

Thankyou everyone, I have been reading these new descriptions of sound and really didn't know what rich sound meant, although I knew what warm sound was, interesting, let's see what others may say?