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DACs and bass response?

I'm auditioning dacs in my system. One (COS) was way to analytical, overall, but had very tight bass. Another (Aqua La Voce) is what some would describe as "musical"  and sounds  terrific in all aspects except bass. My cdp alone does better in that regard. I have monitors and no subs. Can I expect that dacs that are hyper-detailed will also offer tighter bass as a rule?
stuartk
stuartk OP
2,759 posts
 
@luizfcoimba: this is a demo unto supplied by a dealer who assured me it was well burned in. Overall, it sounds wonderful. . . except for the lack of bass, that is. 

@eniac26, paul79, I'm pretty sure I cannot afford Totaldac, Meitner or DCS but thanks for the suggestions. 




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maplegrovemusic's avatar
maplegrovemusic
1,113 posts
 
Does every component in a system have to add the designers interpretation of accuracy ? Is there not a measurement for bass so we are getting the correct amount of bass on a recording ?
audioengr
3,282 posts
 

Tight bass in a DAC is achieved by a combination of low jitter of the interface or input signal to the DAC as well as power delivery that enables this in the DAC.

Power delivery includes power supply, voltage regulators, power storage caps and power decoupling caps.  These all must be good designs and high-quality parts of optimum values.  The caps in particular must have high "Q".  Bass dynamic response depends on it.

The output caps affect on bass response will be minimal as long as the load is high-impedance, like 25K ohms. Even 1uFd is sufficient to get good bass.   If you plug 100 ohm headphones into the DAC output, it will probably not have any bass, but any preamp or amp will be 25K ohms or higher.  Not an issue.

I make a very detailed DAC, the Overdrive SX, but it also has superb bass response. Ultra-clear imaging and liquid vocals.  If you don't care about DSD, the Overdrive SX is the one to beat. It does not decode DSD.

One thing that will make it difficult to compare DACs is if you are not using the same interface, for instance comparing one DAC driven from a CD transport to another using USB from a computer for instance.  The first thing is to achieve a really low jitter source.  Then, feed all of the DACs with this same source.  Your CD transport can become this, but it will need some help.  A Synchro-Mesh reclocker can reduce the jitter to around 20psec.  Typical Transports have about 800psec of jitter.  See these jitter plots:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=154408.0

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

stuartk OP
2,759 posts
 
@audioengineer: Steve: I've read many favorable reviews of your dac. Unfortunately it's beyond my financial reach at this time. Thanks for the info and suggestions. 
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