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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
erik_squires OP
16,647 posts
 
Here is the experience I had comparing redbook and high resolution music and what got me thinking of this. I had an ARC DAC 8 and Mytek at the same time, so I got to hear how they played each.

  • ARC DAC 8 Redbook: 80%
  • ARC DAC 8 High Resolution: 95%
  • Mytek Redbook: 95%
  • Mytek High Resolution: 97%

What was also interesting is that while the ARC benefited from a Wyred4Sound resampler, the Mytek did not. It played the same.

Of course, buy the music you like, but if what I heard was true and a trend, this reduces the value gap.

Best,
E
chilli42
111 posts
 
I have a Brooklyn+ with an S-Booster external power supply.  It certainly improves Redbook playback.  Thing is that I have a closet full of Redbook CD’s that I like and their is no way I would consider replacing these with high res files.  The difference in musical enjoyment does not justify the cost.
drbarney1's avatar
drbarney1
187 posts
 
There is argument between DSD and PCM through a resistor ladder DAC. WHich is better? I have been using an MSB Platinum with an upgrade buffer circuit to get rid of jitter. MSB thinks this is better than DSD. But PS Audio makes a DAC which converts PCM to DSD before converting it to analog. We need some discussion of which is better or what are the pros and cons of each.
erik_squires OP
16,647 posts
 
We need some discussion of which is better or what are the pros and cons of each.

@drbarney1

I am not the administrator of Audiogon, my friend. If you want to have that discussion you can start your own thread on the topic and I’m sure many will participate.

I have only dabbled with DSD. Getting the Mytek supported by my operating system took quite a while. Now that I'm using Roon which is very DSD friendly I may return.


Best,
Erik

attamyway
4 posts
 
A coupla years ago I bought a used Simaudio 780D to use with Tidal (high res when available). I’ve got a McIntosh MA2275 integrated tube amp with mid-90s Sonus Faber Guarneri speakers and a bunch of high end Transparent cables and power isolator. 
I am not a technical person but isn’t the 780D + Tidal as good as I can expect music playback to get on my simple 2-channel system? Happy to learn otherwise if you think I’m wrong. 
Gracias! 
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