PRat: a DAC or transport thing?

DAC and transport equally important: bad transport could make an otherwise good dac slow and mudded, while a good transport could be "slowed down" by a bad dac. Still, I think, the most important thing is the amp-loudspeaker relationship. Unfortunately, as very wisely was written above by Sean, many system unable to give back the roughness and inmediacy of live music. None the less, they are voiced to give back some of the elements of musical experience through coloration and exaggarion of certain elements of music, which may trigger emotional involvement and/or pleasure of enjoyment (this is what we call in our poor language "transparent", "neutral", "warm", "bass", "airy", "open", "musical" etc.). To PRAT one really need to find the right speaker with the right amplification. My experience is that, firstly, active speaker, and secondy, very efficient speaker is the way to go. And than comes the issue of source.

Even a "somewhat poor" transport can be band-aided with a good DAC that re-clocks the incoming signal. This is not to say that there aren't differences between transports, but that a well designed DAC can somewhat alleviate those differences. Sean
>

Sean

Not only is the presentation delivered harmonically rich i.e. full of overtones, but also with the right timing of delivery due to reduced signal loss and smearing. That is, the overtones retain the proper pitch and are delivered in step with that of the primary notes i.e. sound is produced in a cohesive manner across the audible spectrum

Sean what you are saying is the system exhibits linear phase and has reasonably extended frequency response (esp. preserving mid to high freq integrity) -- and, not least, excellent midbass. In particular, when you note, "sound (i.e. music) is (re)produced in a cohesive manner across the audible spectrum".

I would agree.
Although across the audible spectrum is asking for too much; lets say 45-18kHz?

Also, the speakers are well set up. No:)? Cheers

Sean and Gregm, in my experience PRaT can also be enhanced by slightly raising the midrange/midbass output. I have also a weird experience that after I inserted my very simple DIY unshielded S/PDIF digital interlink (that has an impedance that is far from the specified 75 Ohms I guess), there seems to be more PRaT and midrange fullness. I'm starting to believe that jitter also can improve PRaT (which is actually a contradictio in terminis)!

Chris

Chris sez:

in my experience PRaT can also be enhanced by slightly raising the midrange/midbass output

In mine too. Also Linn's. And Naim's to a certain extent. But it has to be "clear" rather than "muddy" sounding. Cheers