Audio Science Review = Rebuttal and Further Thoughts
@crymeanaudioriver @amir_asr You are sitting there worrying if this or that other useless tweak like a cable makes a sonic difference.
I don’t worry about my equipment unless it fails. I never worry about tweaks or cables. The last time I had to choose a cable was after I purchased my first DAC and transport in 2019. I auditioned six and chose one, the Synergistic Research Atmosphere X Euphoria. Why would someone with as fulfilling a life as me worry about cables or tweaks and it is in YOUR mind that they are USELESS.
@prof "would it be safe to say you are not an electrical designer or electrical engineer? If so, under what authority do you make the following comment" - concerning creating a high end DAC out of a mediocre DAC.
Well, I have such a DAC, built by a manufacturer of equipment and cables for his and my use. It beat out a $9,000 COS Engineering D1v and $5,000 D2v by a longshot. It is comparable to an $23,000 Meridian Ultradac. Because I tried all the latter three in comparison I say this with some authority, the authority of a recording engineer (me), a manufacturer (friend) and many audiophiles who have heard the same and came to the same conclusion.
Another DAC with excellent design engineer and inferior execution is the Emotiva XDA-2. No new audio board but 7! audiophile quality regulators instead of the computer grade junk inside, similar high end power and filter caps, resistors, etc. to make this into a high end DAC on the very cheap ($400 new plus about the same in added parts).
@russ69 We must be neighbors. I frequented Woodland Hills Audio Center back in the 70s and 80s. I heard several of Arnie’s speakers including a the large Infinity speakers in a home.
Thanks. Yes I can "systems" briefly appear on your page before it vanishes. I may have my browser locked down too hard, or macOS/Safari may not be agreeable. I might try a bit later on a Windows VM ... |
@milpai , that is an excellent point, I would like to see some "meat on the bone" and if someone wants to talk measurements, post some of your own and then lets talk. I would always try and get the room first, the speaker placement second, the power third, the IC's 4th and NOW you should be able to actually discern the difference a quality component makes. Otherwise I don't see how you will ever get the best value of the money spent. |
I don’t know if I fully qualify (I do like to see measurements but I’d baulk at buying an amp or speaker without listening). But setup measurements are totally useful and necessary in my book. I bought new speakers last year (Audio Physic Codex, replacing Tempo) put them where the old ones were. Had a decent listen first and made some notes. Bass had a boom but mid-bass was dry. Midrange maybe too forward but along with treble it’s clear and really pretty nice. Toed them in a bit. Ran measuring app (Fuzzmeasure with the mic at listening position aka LP) with triple sweeps on left then right speakers. Nasty null 70-80 Hz (predicted coincidence of lateral and oblique modes per Amcoustics room model) obvious peak at 50 Hz (ditto, from the second long mode) and a few high-Q suckouts up to Schroeder (~300 Hz) bringing overall mid-bass energy down (explains ’boom’ and ’dry’). Marked out the floor at 200 mm steps and moved speakers toward the side wall, measuring each step. The null was mitigated (as you’d expect) but treble started to roll off a bit > 10 kHz, so four steps sideways then one step back. Similar stepping toward the back wall with no difference to the bass boom (as you’d expect, needs a metre or more in the other direction at that wavelength really but not enough room in the loft for that) but treble picked up again. Adjusted toe-in to face LP. Stereo image is pretty nice (as expected from Audio Physic spaced wide and aimed properly). Toed-in to cross in front of LP but lost some soundstage width so back to aiming at me. Good so far. That leaves the 50 Hz peak and the 100-300 Hz range to fill in bit and match 1 kHz level. That’s what DSP is for so run Sonarworks (~ 40 sweeps around the listening position) and apply the classic B&K 1974 curve. Boom gone, nice subtle balancing of midbass warmth and a little bit of excess gone from the midrange. Stereo image focus improves as well. Looking and sounding pretty good now. No one has to follow my methods of course, but they work for me. Why futz around in the dark? All the positive sonics of the gear but mitigate some negative impacts of the room (there’s more to that story but another time). There’s no contradiction in my mind between useful setup measurements and nice audio gear. |
Ok, sure. I’m not going to bother setting up a profile. I just don’t care enough - I never do those on other sites either. If someone asks about my gear I’ll happily tell them what I use. Like any audiophile I’ve owned lots of different equipment. Especially lots of speakers. I went on a selling extra gear binge over the last few years, so now I’m down to stuff I won’t part with. Speakers: Thiel 2.7 Joseph Audio Perspectives Spendor S3/5 Hales Transcendence 1 and Center channel (mostly for home theater, though sometimes do music duty). Amplification: Conrad Johnson Premier 12 monoblocks Conrad Johnson Premier 16LS2 preamp Benchmark LA4 preamp Sources - Digital: Benchmark DAC 2L Streamer (ripped CDs and Tidal etc): Bluesound NODE. (It’s new, I’m testing it out, up until now I’ve used a Raspberry Pi/Logitech server system) Analog: Turntable: Transrotor Fat Bob S, Acoustic Solid arm, Benz Micro Ebony L cartridge. JE Audio HP10 phono stage Cabling: Mix of stuff. Belden 10 awg for speaker cable (long run from amps to speakers in separate room). Interconnects...always a mess of stuff, whatever I’ve had lying ar0und, or borrowed, or was given over the years. There’s some Kimber in there, Audioquest, Nordost (cast offs from someone else’s system) etc. I don’t sweat cables. At the moment I have some absurdly expensive XLR cables between my DAC, Phono Stage and Benchmark loaned to me. Can’t even remember what they are. :-) But I’ll replace them with some competent spec’d stuff probably from Mogami or something). I hope that is enlightening somehow :-)
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@prof how about that we have something in common, the Node. I like the Bluos software and it sounds OK on my desktop. In my main system it isn't a good match. With the DAC you use it should be fine as a streamer though. Have you ever taken any measurements? |
