DAC Vibrations?


Has there been any evidence that vibrations Ken affect the effectiveness and translation of digital to analog conversion on a deck that may be in need of vibration protection?

128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xmoose89

every circuit in your signal path will be effected by mechanical resonance, and it will end up as part of the noise floor. it depends on the system ambient noise and gear noise floor how much it will be audible. and mostly you won’t know the effect until you eliminate it or reduce it and hear the difference.

resonance is distortion, something other than music.

basically your electronics sing along with the music and that is a non musical part of what you hear. get rid of it....and....drum roll please....there is more musical truth.

chassis quality, footers, cable routing, floor solidity, rack stability, local outside noise, ground noise, and especially the music feedback, are all sources of resonance.

some resonance can be helpful to hide edgy-ness, it can warm up the sound. so there is a tuning aspect to resonance control. too much clarity can be distortion too. you need a balanced natural sound.

and yes, dacs and dac chips are especially subject to all that too.

Having mentioned plate, try with and without to see if you notice any difference. Your perception is what matters.

P.S.

This post ought to be in Digital section.

I was shocked the first time I heard a good DAC put on an isolation base. As Mike above indicates, it is absolutely worth trying.

I have never heard a difference with a solid state DAC, but I have heard a difference with a tube DAC.  I have tried springs and pucks with my Pontus ll and I didn’t notice any change. Also, I don’t listen to screaming loud music, so I don’t really see a reason to isolate my SS DAC.

All the best.