30 Years of Perfect Sound?

Tmsorosk wrote

'Audioengr,,, We have demoed many hi end hard drives at audio club members homes and at length , the survey after was split about 50/50 as to which each member preferred. I preferred the CD.'

And on that basis you say that the only thing computers murdered is the sound?

What USB converter did you use? - thats the critical thing - not the hard drive. Was it I2S direct to the DAC chip?

Thanks
Bill

Audioengr wrote:

'I retired my highly modified CD transport many years ago, after my computer audio system left it in the dust. The modded CD transport was one of the best sounding on the market too. Lots of them still out there.'

I have done the listening tests, along with others, a number of times on mine and others systems against some pretty expensive and heavily tweaked transports with exactly the same result. In fact one person involved was very sceptical of computer audio and openly scoffed at it. On some early converters he was correct and people went away with tails between their legs. But along came the Audiophellio 2, Steves own Off-Ramp and a couple of others. Using those the person involved who has many years audiophile experience was instantly converted. On Diana Krall A Case Of You for example you can clearly hear the piano is distorted on the CDP and you can not hear the foot-pedals. After hearing it the person involved got rid of his heavily tweaked battery powered Maraantz that previously bested all comers. And the guy hates computers - but the sound quality increase was just too great.

Regarding the supposedly inaudible jitter of CDP's I can tell you this. Both the Audiophellio 2 and Off-Ramp have extremely low jitter - I seem to recall below 10ps. Yet you can clearly hear the difference between the two - with everyone I have demoed it to preferring the Off-Ramp. There is a lot more to this jitter thing than some would have you believe.

Thanks
Bill

Tmsorosk wrote
'The only thing that computer audio has murdered is the sound.'

Can I ask you what listeing tests you have done to confirm it?

Thanks
Bill

Huh? The guy is a nut... The best vinyl still sounds better and is more enjoyable to listen too than the 'best' digital. It is true that the greatest limiting factor is the original recording; great original recording is the first and most important step in achieving great listenable music.

Even the very best digital of today and yesteryear lacks much of the life and emotion contained in those vinyl grooves... Digital is getting better, but it is still lacking overall when compared to the best vinyl..

"The best vinyl still sounds better and is more enjoyable to listen too than the 'best' digital."

You may have heard the best vinyl, but you have not heard the best digital. I can give you several customer reports that they sold their vinyl because it was not as good as their digital. They may not have had the best vinyl, but the cost of that is orders of magnitude higher than the best digital IME.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio