As the study of psychoacoustics evolves, it is becoming abundantly clear that A/B tests will become irrelevant.
Why are digital streaming equipment manufacturers refusing to answer me?
I have performed double blind tests with the most highly regarded brands of streamers and some hifi switches. None have made any difference to my system on files saved locally. I have asked the following question to the makers of such systems and almost all have responded with marketing nonsense.
My system uses fiber optic cables. These go all the way to the dac (MSB). Thus no emi or rfi is arriving at the dac. On top of this, MSB allows me to check if I receive bit perfection files or not. I do.
So I claim that: if your dac receives a bit perfect signal and it is connected via fiber optic, anything prior to the conversion to fiber optic (streamers, switches, their power supplies, cables etc) make absolutely no difference. Your signal can’t be improved by any of these expensive pieces of equipment.
If anyone can help explain why this is incorrect I would greatly appreciate it. Dac makers mostly agree, makers of streamers have told me scientific things such as “our other customers can hear the difference” (after extensive double blind testing has resulted to no difference being perceived) and my favorite “bit perfect doesn’t exist, when you hear our equipment tou forget about electronics and love the music”!
My system uses fiber optic cables. These go all the way to the dac (MSB). Thus no emi or rfi is arriving at the dac. On top of this, MSB allows me to check if I receive bit perfection files or not. I do.
So I claim that: if your dac receives a bit perfect signal and it is connected via fiber optic, anything prior to the conversion to fiber optic (streamers, switches, their power supplies, cables etc) make absolutely no difference. Your signal can’t be improved by any of these expensive pieces of equipment.
If anyone can help explain why this is incorrect I would greatly appreciate it. Dac makers mostly agree, makers of streamers have told me scientific things such as “our other customers can hear the difference” (after extensive double blind testing has resulted to no difference being perceived) and my favorite “bit perfect doesn’t exist, when you hear our equipment tou forget about electronics and love the music”!
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- 78 posts total
@glupson i have no affiliation or specific knowledge of thyname, or most other folks who post here but when i think someone is trolling (not thyname, but someone thyname is pointing out): -- i click their username and then check ’details’... one can then see when they joined, how many posts they have started or responded to since joining -- one can also see if they posted info on their own system, and/or pictures of their listening room -- finally, one can click ’marketplace feedback’ on the profile page ... and see what their track record is trading on the a-gon main equipment site - how many transactions over time, how many buys and sells, comments/feedback etc etc -- this is most important, a measure of the member's history, 'realness' and reputation not as a poster, but as a real person buying and selling equipment, with their real identity revealed to those they transact with trolls often have -- a very recent join date -- a very large number of posts since joining (then you click on those posts, they are argumentative or instigating in nature...) -- no info on their system -- no track record whatsoever on the marketplace |
Some clarifications 1) the fiber optic cable is what carries the signal. This provides even greater isolation than a cat cable, in fact as far as I know perfect isolation 2) the double blind tests included four people not just myself including a dealer who had to admit the lack of any difference Someone referred to blanket statements not being helpful. I am not making any such statements. I am making a hypothesis, I test it, and I ask the community here to help with additional knowledge. My thanks to those who have responded on the topic. |
yyzsantabarbara from what I can tell this would be a good choice and a less expensive way to get bit perfect signals. If the dac is equiped for it the cost is minimal and one can run very long fiber optic cables. If the dac can’t I have read of people buy converters back to usb right before the dac and again get great results with a very short usb cable in the end. M. |
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