Best practices when conducting a DAC comparison

david_ten I build Direct Heated Triode DACs - most people never heard a DHT product.  First you should have the material that you are extremely familiar with so you know what you are looking for so when you swap out the product you are using, you should know if the newer product makes enough of a significant change based on your listening experience.  I know that many people will say that it has to be in the system for some time for you to get to really hear what the new product offers, well they are probably right, but IMO only, I usually get to hear what it does within 30 seconds probably because I know the material extremely well.  for example, I have a switch in my preamp where I can change resistors by turning a rotary switch.  There are 5 resistors that you can select from.  My partner could hear the changes without knowing which resistor was which simply because we have listened extensively to those resistors in the past, so he was able to know which resistor was what immediately.

I wrote the 30 second test because I manufacturer Direct Heated Tube products so I am biased.  Typically I bring my DAC over a persons home to audition or ship one to them.  So the DAC is usually already a broken-in model.  Most people want to hear it in their system before purchasing so we offer a 14 day in-home trail.  Once it is plugged in, if you don't hear an immediate change to the sound of your system or want the DAC offers within 30 seconds, send it back.  After about 20 to 30 minutes the tubes begin to warm up and the sound will change again for the better.

Happy Listening.  To the rest of you reading this, keep the comments to a minimum!

 


 

david_ten
Best practices when conducting a DAC comparison

Each dac will have a different gain structure (volume), don’t trust your ears to level match.
It must be done with a 1khz sine wave and measure the ac mV (millivolt) at the speaker terminal.

Cheers George

Why would anybody buy a dac without MQA support? Just a few years ago, you probably had the same naysayers about DSD as you do about MQA. A good DSD cut is far superior than the same 16/44 cut. If you purchase an expensive dac today without MQA support nor the opportunity for a future upgrade, your dac will be a paperweight in just a short period of time. So not only will you be wasting your $, you will be missing out on hearing some great music!

Why would anybody buy a dac without MQA support? Just a few years ago, you probably had the same naysayers about DSD as you do about MQA. A good DSD cut is far superior than the same 16/44 cut. If you purchase an expensive dac today without MQA support nor the opportunity for a future upgrade, your dac will be a paperweight in just a short period of time. So not only will you be wasting your $, you will be missing out on hearing some great music!

As far as I know, MQA uses a *lossy* compression codec. I have absolutely no desire for a lossy format, in particular because the live music I collect and listen to is *lossless*. So this is why I chose a DAC (Schiit Yggdrasil) without MQA support.

@bigkidz Thanks for your response and the details shared. I generally agree that if one doesn’t pick out differences immediately then it can be a toss up choice (having controlled and equalized the variables as best as possible).

I find this also applies to out of the box performance. If one can pick up differences at that initial point, then they become clearer as a component gets further run-in time on it. This has recently been the case with a couple of components.

I have also had the opposite experiences.

For example, I had to spend much more time A / B -ing to drill out and appreciate differences with a recent USB cable comparison. It was tough and time consuming but well worth it and very educational for me.

In some cases (where there were readily apparent differences upfront) elucidating whether they met my goals and preferences was a drawn out process. This happened with a recent speaker comparison.

I believe our level of listening experience and development of ’hearing’ expertise comes into play as well. Some may be much further along the spectrum, which would make elucidating the differences easier and quicker.