Perhaps I should have said "abstract" instead of "arbitrary". Does that make it clear?
Does Digital Try Too Hard?
Digital glare. A plague of digital sound playback systems. It seems the best comment a CD player or digital source can get is to sound “analog-like.” I’ve gone to great lengths to battle this in my CD-based 2-channel system but it’s never ending. My father, upon hearing my system for the first time (and at loud volumes), said this: “The treble isn’t offensive to my ears.” What a great compliment.
So what does digital do wrong? The tech specs tell us it’s far superior to vinyl or reel to reel. Does it try too hard? Where digital is trying to capture the micro details of complex passages, analog just “rounds it off” and says “good enough,” and it sounds good enough. Or does digital have some other issue in the chain - noise in the DAC chip, high frequency harmonics, or issues with the anti-aliasing filter? Does it have to do with the power supply?
There are studies that show people prefer the sound of vinyl, even if only by a small margin. That doesn’t quite add up when we consider digital’s dominant technical specifications. On paper, digital should win.
So what’s really going on here? Why doesn’t digital knock the socks off vinyl and why does there appear to be some issue with “digital glare” in digital systems.
So what does digital do wrong? The tech specs tell us it’s far superior to vinyl or reel to reel. Does it try too hard? Where digital is trying to capture the micro details of complex passages, analog just “rounds it off” and says “good enough,” and it sounds good enough. Or does digital have some other issue in the chain - noise in the DAC chip, high frequency harmonics, or issues with the anti-aliasing filter? Does it have to do with the power supply?
There are studies that show people prefer the sound of vinyl, even if only by a small margin. That doesn’t quite add up when we consider digital’s dominant technical specifications. On paper, digital should win.
So what’s really going on here? Why doesn’t digital knock the socks off vinyl and why does there appear to be some issue with “digital glare” in digital systems.
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- 56 posts total
@cleeds , thanks for the link...'lollipop' markers and all...;) Noting that the vid is also from 2013-ish does allow for the improvements of DAC's and digital clock speeds. 24/96 seems to be (more or less) being considered 'acceptable' generally. I've also noticed that 'glare' and 'jitter' seems to be less of an issue for the majority of 'listeners' currently. Yes, those who can and feel the need to have the 'latest and greatest' stand-alone DAC in their systems will do so. Such has always been part of the landscape of 'hi-end audiophilia'... Speaking for myself (which I typically do...I know myself. I know zilch about you...or anyone else at AG, for that matter *S*), I've never really noticed 'glare or jitter' as a discrete issue to note and/or get upset about.... Now, if I have experienced 'G&J', it's likely I chalked it up to: -Differences in the age of the original performance, how it recorded, how that was processed. the duplication of it, and how it ended up on my speakers. -The sheer variety of the previous note. Unless there's voluminous information attached, one has no way or means of knowing what has happened to what I'm trying to reproduce and potentially enjoy. But I do notice the differences between them; even with reproductions of the same damn thing. Some are Wonderful....the next, woefully Bad. And applicable to Analog>Digital, D>D, D>A...it seems a 'common thread' in remasters of older recordings, but even those are all over the board...'compression', age of the source material... But, then again, there are those that can say: 'Well, Jerry, that's because your equipment is trash." Well, true. I haven't invested multi-K$ in it, nor will likely in the future. But I Do notice the 'glaring' differences. I've expressed MHO in rather non-technical terms because I don't listen to my system. I listen to what it's playing for me. And any shortcomings of my 'pile of trash' vs.anyone else's does not bother me in the slightest....no 'jitters' at all... And. if that renders me as 'clueless'...there's a certain serenity in that. ;) "Does Digital Try Too Hard?" No...it's just evolving. Just like everything else. But Faster. |
terry9 It follows that some form of interpolation is being used to convert the discrete sample values ... There seem to me to be only two alternatives: (1) stick with a safe linear interpolation, or (2) guess. But with a guess ... No, there's no interpolation going on here - unless there's an issue reading the disc that requires error correction - and there's no guessing either. Neither is needed because it's a bandwidth limited system. |
Quick update: I just modified my CD player to run off a large battery. My CD player takes two voltages: one for the circuitry and one for the motor. It sounds best when the motor is powered by a separate battery instead of both on one battery. This really cleaned up the sound and things are sounding way more analog with a lot less digital glare. Conclusion: Clean power seems to be very important when it comes to converting ones and zeros into an analog signal. (Not that this should come as a surprise to a lot of people) |
- 56 posts total