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
FWIW, my next improvement attempt (which will happen in the coming days, not weeks or months) will be to use shorting caps on the inputs to lower my already very low noise floor.

This is a mod that will have little effect IME.  Inputs that are not selected are not involved.  Better off to figure out how to eliminate ground-loops.  Now this will actually reduce the noise floor.  I have zero ground-loops in my system.  Jet black background.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

Why don’t you use an APX555 from Audio Precision?

I cant really tell much from an oscilloscope plot and triggering can be tricky.

Triggering is automatic and programmed.  It's a programmable scope with special jitter program.  It does have some limitations of scaling the axis etc., but useful so far.  The newer scopes don't have as many limitations, but they are way more expensive, like buying a house.  This particular scope when new was $130K with the jitter software.  I purchased it used. The active probes alone are $5K new each.

The AP stuff is great for analog, but this is digital.  Even the APX555 only has 1MHz bandwidth.  Way too low for digital.  Even the clock fundamental can be 49MHz.  Edge-rates have GHz components.

The Tek scope I'm using has 7GHz bandwidth.  This is 7000 times higher than the AP.  This is what is needed for accurate digital measurements.

The newest version of what I have is the DPO70000, which lists for $315K and that is not including the jitter analysis software which will probably be $25K more.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

This is a mod that will have little effect IME. Inputs that are not selected are not involved. Better off to figure out how to eliminate ground-loops. Now this will actually reduce the noise floor. I have zero ground-loops in my system. Jet black background.

"Little" effect is precisely what I anticipate. As to inputs that are not selected not being involved, I recently raised this "question" elsewhere on the forum in a related thread (like RCA plugs, shorting caps, etc.) and was advised that (paraphrasing) theoretically they *are* involved and that shorting them can only help, albeit however slightly. Moreover, there have been some folks on this forum who have reported positive results by shorting unused inputs. Further, I did some do diligence by checking with the manufacturers of my gear (Golden Ear and Musical Fidelity) and both state there is no harm in doing so, although also state there shouldn’t be a noticeable benefit. This is a low cost attempt ($20?) on my part anyway, so I shall see.

Besides, I’m a big Joni Mitchell fan (a Grateful Dead head nevertheless). She so eloquently puts it (Amelia)

People will tell you where they’ve gone
They’ll tell you where to go
But till you get there yourself you never really know
Where some have found their paradise
Others just come to harm

Consider this my holiday musical gift to all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N7gPcCgkZU

I have all of Jonis albums myself, and many in 24/192 downloaded from HDtracks.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

@goofyfoot: I think we can all agree that what's important is that each listener discover what approach is most rewarding for him/her. 

@gdhal: Thanks for the Joni link. I only got to see her once, in Santa Barbara. That show, with Jaco, Michael Brecker, et al, was made into the album/dvd "Shadows and Light". Santa Barbara, in the 70's/early 80's was an ongoing, overflowing fountain of live music. A few others I attended: Bill Evans (the piano player-- not the sax player), RTF, the Dead (2/27/77), Oregon, Leo Kotke, Pat Metheny, Bonnie Raitt, Santana, Jean Luc Ponty, Albert Collins, Les McCann, Brain Auger, Keith Jarrett, Emmy Lou Harris, BB King, Ravi Shankar, Otis Rush, Ustadd Allauddin Khan. . . those were the days. . . and tickets were so affordable!  Sorry for straying away from the topic of gear. A very Merry Christmas to all !