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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
audioengr
3,282 posts
 

jwm and charles1dad - I think the problem might be the system.  Each of you heard the same two DAC's, but in different systems.  It is very possible that one preamp or set of cables made one DAC sound better than the other and the opposite in the other system.

There is certainly expectations and listener preference, but I would suspect that it might be more the system effect.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

audioengr
3,282 posts
 
My Oppo UDP-205 (delta-sigma) has a user preference setting whereby the filter can be changed. Way back, I did some research as to what this entailed, and found it had all to do with "pre-ringing", "post-ringing" and basically everything at the 20 KHz point. I tried all (7) available filters and none made the sound "better" than the default (mini-phase fast). It only made it as good or worse, to my ears.

So, what "filter" is the issue with delta-sigma?

Filter response, such as "apodizing filters" are not what I'm talking about. If you want to really improve Delta-Sigma filtering, you have to either eliminate the digital filter completely, replacing it with analog filters, or set the filter frequency much higher than most chips do automatically.  This effectively removes the effects from the audio range.  This is what I do in my DAC.  The user can select the 192 digital filter when playing back 44.1 files, and this is how most customers use it.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

shadorne's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
+1 on the filters - Benchmark overrides the ESS chip filters by ensuring the chip operates at 211KHz - even for Redbook - this mean the filters actually sit far above the audio (instead of close to the Nyquist ) and be extremely gentle such that they have minimal affect on the audio band (flattest response without the usual ripple)
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Steve, I heard the DAC comparison in Jeff’s (Jwm) system. This audio system was described by me in a post yesterday. System variability is a given and can’t be eliminated. This is why synergy is such a popular word in the High Audio vocabulary. It always a factor.

Matt,
For clarification the TotalDac d1-six was the one Jeff and I used  BTWI agree with your characterization of the Boulder sonic signature. 
Charles
fliz
66 posts
 
If you’re in the $15k-$20k range, the best thing you’re going to find is an Exemplar Expo T205

The catch is that the best sound comes from playing directly from a USB key using its own GUI (which i hate)

It’s Roon ready, but if you want that to actually sound good, you’ll be spending the rest of your $10k budget trying to match the sound of the USB key.

Feel free to hit me up if you want to fly out to Fresno and hear mine.

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