Innuos Zenith Mk3 vs Zen Mk3 + Phoenix

@ianderson 

I really have a problem with the a=432 transposition: it‘s not what the musicians heard when they played the music and as such has no business in a high fidelity setup. Either a marketing gimmick or engineers not understanding musicans.

antigrunge,

Musicians used to hear A=432 for a very long time. It is said to be more natural. Here is a little bit of background:

https://www.mindvibrations.com/432-hz/

If someone can build a box that will play it both ways and people appreciate it and prefer it, so be it.

I’m from the camp that anytime one transforms a digital signal, we introduce more distortions. So is the Evo 432 brand product was the best sounding music server even at a=440, then I wouldn’t care. I’m just chasing sound quality.

As a guitar player who has gotten used to a=440, my ears have been tuned there for years. For me it a little weird. Besides, I play in different keys most of the time anyways.

In the end it doesn’t make either right or wrong, just different and a personal choice and there is nothing wrong with that.

@ianderson 

While I agree with your tolerant conclusion, I‘d like to understand the impact of tuning on resultant overtones a bit better: good musicians build harmonies with a keen awareness on matching overtones and depending which string you use on a guitar for the same tone you get different overtones and hence different harmonies. Best I know DSP cannot adjust for that although I fully acknowledge that I don‘t really know what I am talking about😳

@antigrunge2
Ya gotta admire honesty. LOL!

@ianderson 
I don't follow the logic of changing the pitch of a recording as it seems to me that reproducing pitch "at pitch" is job one of any music reproduction system.  Also, A440 tuning is not uniform among orchestras. Some tune higher, some lower depending on the sound character of a particular ensemble.  For instance, NY, Chicago and LA tune to 442; Boston tunes to 444. Berlin and Vienna 444-445. Japanese orchestras tune to 442, I believe.  IOW, tuning carefully is carefully chosen based upon the type of sound character an ensemble is seeking.  This doesn't even address the HIP world of early music which, while all over the place in tuning often based on historical research of period tuning, is generally around A 415, approx a half step below A440. What does this DAC do for early music? Tune to G??? Sorry, to be a curmudgeon, but I just don't get it.  First get the pitch right!