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The Modern DAC killed High Resolution Music - has Stereophile proven it?

Hi Everyone,
One thing I've mentioned a lot is that over the past 10 years or so DAC's really closed the delta in how well they play CD (i.e. Redbook) vs. high resolution (96/24 or higher). I've stated for a long time that the delta closed so much that high resolution music no longer seemed to be as important.

Stereophile just released an interesting set of measurements regarding jitter performance of older players vs. today. It's not absolute proof of my thesis, but it certainly is correlated.


https://www.stereophile.com/content/2020-jitter-measurements

One thing, as I commented, you don't have to compare old DACs to the $15,000 Bartok. The Mytek Brooklyn and others in the $2,000 price range also demonstrate this, and in fact has a very similar jitter rejection profile to the Bartok. The point to me is, almost all decent DAC's have jumped leaps and bounds in jitter performance. That's for sure.  Perhaps this explains the disappearing gap in performance as well between Redbook and Hi Rez?

https://www.stereophile.com/content/mytek-hifi-brooklyn-da-processor%C2%96headphone-amplifier-measur... 

erik_squires
mahler123
3,628 posts
 
I refer to one recording that I own as both a Redbook CD and a High Rez download.  It is Andris Nelsons  conducting the Boston Symphony in Shostakovich Symphony #10.  The CD is very fine, up there in SQ with any other CD that I own.  The download is another matter.  I have attended Concerts in this Hall and the download is as close an approximation to being there as it is possible to obtain, at least in my system.  The CD is a very good CD but not for one minute do I have the illusion that At his is the real thing.
  Not only can I tell the difference, but when I demonstrated a passage for comparison to my wife, who could care less about SQ, admitted there was an obvious difference, as have many reviewers.   I can only hope that such high quality recordings continue to be issued.  If you choose not to buy them, that’s your choice, and imo, your loss 
ejr1953
922 posts
 
For those who have posted:

“Remember how much money Wadia commanded for their upsampling DACs?.”

I have a PS Audio DirectStream DAC, which upsamples as well.  Maybe that's one of the pieces of the puzzle, why so many 44.1/16 sources sound just as good as hi-res.  I'm guessing that after the stream is "upsampled", when the DAC filters at the back end, any "unintended consequences" are well beyond the hearing range.

Interesting postings, thank you everyone for your input!
erik_squires OP
16,838 posts
 
I refer to one recording that I own as both a Redbook CD and a High Rez download. It is Andris Nelsons conducting the Boston Symphony in Shostakovich Symphony #10.



Love specific, personal experiences, @mahler123, thank you.

Not only can I tell the difference, but when I demonstrated a passage for comparison to my wife, who could care less about SQ, admitted there was an obvious difference, as have many reviewers.

It is always hard to tell if this is due to technology or the re-mastering process, but do you think that with a 15 year old DAC you’d feel the difference in sound quality between the CD and Hi Rez recording would have been the same??

electroslacker
375 posts
 
I believe the mathematicians got CD right but there was a lag in playback quality.  I quickly decided the inflated prices of hi-rez downloads wasn't worth it.  But I'm now going 100% streaming, so hi-res Qobuz was the obvious choice at their current discounted rates because they live or die by sound quality.  Not saying I can tell the difference, or know how much is marketing, but overkill is fine with me in the streaming world.
ethiessen1's avatar
ethiessen1
61 posts
 
Not a scientific response to your post but perhaps relevant - I own both the Redbook and SACD versions of Keith Jarrett's Sunbear concerts and the difference between them through the same DAC, system etc is easily apparent. Also, downsampling 24/96 downloaded flacs to Redbook and burning them to cd gives again a readily apparent difference when compared to the commercially bought Redbook version, again on the same system etc. 

Perhaps if I had a newer/better/more expensive DAC in my signal chain the differences may not be as striking?
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