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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
audioengr
3,282 posts
 

Here is basically my setup, but this one was used at a show, so its not my amps or speakers. I have my own custom versions of both.

http://www.arteformaaudio.com.tw/due-volte.asp

The Vapor picture at the bottom.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

maplegrovemusic's avatar
maplegrovemusic
1,113 posts
 
Empirical , what do you use as a digital source if you don’t mind my asking ?
goofyfoot's avatar
goofyfoot
1,376 posts
 
It’s hard to believe that a DAC designer wouldn’t use effective caps in their design. Before changing out caps, why not try a signal re-clocker and a high end fuse and maybe, up sampling? I’m not trying to over simplify this but most audio enthusiasts lack the ability to evaluate equipment via scientific measures. Some may have higher standards but I’ve always trusted my ears.
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
That Arte Forma SET amplifier seems like a very high tier no nonsense effort. No doubt that it is exceptionally honest, open, transparent and natural in its sonic character. I suspect it is quite capable of revealing the fine nuances of the various upstream DACs and sources.
Charles
shadorne's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
@audioengr 

Oh yes I absolutely agree that the J-test is not diagnostic. If there are spuriae then it is unknown where the jitter came from. All it says is that the DAC failed to produce the digital test signal properly - it could be jitter or it coyld intermodulation distortion or both.

However, if a device passes the J-test with perfect results then one can only conclude that all distortion spuriae including any jitter of any sort are all below the noise floor.

Devices that pass this test perfectly are indeed rare which is why I agree that most DACs need a reclocker.
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