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Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Hi All.

Putting together a reference level system.
My Source is predominantly standard 16/44 played from a MacMini using iTunes and Amarra. Some of my music is purchased from iTunes and the rest is ripped from standard CD's.
For my tastes in music, my high def catalogues are still limited; so Redbook 16/44 will be my primary source for quite some time.

I'm not spending DCS or MSB money. But $15-20k retail is not out of the question.

Upsampling vs non-upsampling?
USB input vs SPDIF?

All opinions welcome.

And I know I need to hear them, but getting these ultra $$$ DAC's into your house for an audition ain't easy.

Looking for musical, emotional, engaging, accurate , with great dimension. Not looking for analytical and sterile.
mattnshilp
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
@almarg

Thank you so much Al for putting all of this into lets call it "much better perspective". Given what you are stating - that in a sense everything in the recording and reproduction chain is lossy - can/would you provide your opinion, even if mere speculation, as to what Schiit is meaning by their statement:

"we can’t get over the fact that delta-sigma DACs throw away all the original samples"

This appears to indicate samples - which I assume and perhaps is implied is equivalent to music - is in fact lost, at least to a greater degree than could or otherwise should be lost.
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Hi Hal,

I would begin my answer to your question just above by noting the second sentence in the Wikipedia writeup on delta-sigma which you linked to:
It [delta-sigma] is also used to convert high bit-count, low-frequency digital signals into lower bit-count, higher-frequency digital signals as part of the process to convert digital signals into analog as part of a digital to analog converter (DAC).
So in that sense, yes, the original samples are "thrown away."  However that says nothing at all about the degree to which musical information is lost in the process.

And regarding my opinion, I would say that as is usually the case in audio how well a design approach is implemented can be expected to be more important than which approach is chosen.

Best regards,
-- Al
 
jwm
918 posts
 
I played great Redbook and all sounded better on the Bricasti. If RTR is better it sure is not the total dac. I would love to hear the best MSB dac in my system and I could finally put this to rest. I loved MSB at shows but the 100,000.00 price is steep. Please someone bring over a MSB I’m in Michigan.
gdhal's avatar
gdhal
1,641 posts
 
However that says nothing at all about the degree to which musical information is lost in the process.

@almarg

Hi Al.

Please allow me to preface this post by stating that in no way am I looking or wanting to be argumentative, and you already know how much I value your input in particular.

Does your statement (quoted above) in effect mean "yes, musical information *is* lost, however, exactly how much musical information is lost is not known (or undefined), and presumed to be irrelevant"?
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Jeff (Jwm),
Even if you were to hear the MSB 100K dollar DAC and found it to sound exquisitely superb(😊) it still wouldn’t settle any debate in regard to superior D/A conversion. Rather it would speak to A to Z implementation and the "multiple " factors that contribute to a successful audio product.

You’ve been at this a long time and know it’s just a matter of time before the next "best DAC is anointed. Not being critical but you and I know this is the inevitable course. BTW the next anointed best DAC could utilize R2R, delta sigma or some other approach. So this question of superior conversion method is never settled.

Implementation trumps specific design approach as Al astutely summarized above.
Charles
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