2. digital
  3. 1417757498

DAC improvements slowing down?

24/192 optical in
24/96 USB

It seems like those two figures would be the highest values most supposedly audiophiles need to have capable.

Beyond that how are DACs going to be a game changer? Most sources are regular CDs and streaming audio, no SACD for 99% of us supposedly audiophiles.

I read that people recommend using an external DAC as the technology is constantly improving but have we hit the point of diminishing returns or is there a good argument for using an External DAC still?
dinmax82
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,686 posts
 
Low jitter is worth it. Many ways to achieve that these days for reasonable cost if done right. Has probably only gotten to that point in recent years, so older gear in general will tend to be more problematic.
scvan
99 posts
 
Is low jitter like ultra-sonics? Something people can't here but makes things sound better?
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,686 posts
 
Jitter is to digital sound much like focus is to digital photos.

No digital photo has perfect focus, but the percent of error can easily be so small with modern digital cameras that practically it does not matter.

Same with jitter in time dimension with digital sound. Below certain thresholds, practically the smearing of the sound that results will not be detected or matter. It is a form of distortion though, so it is never a good thing.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
BBC studies are worthless IMO. They need better system and trained listeners as well as good quality tracks. I doubt if they had any of these three.

I have made improvements in the jitter of my products on the order of 30psec P-P and easily heard the difference.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
scvan
99 posts
 
Mapman,

Thank you for the clarification. Your explanation matches my understanding. Based on studies done at the beginning of the development of digital sound reproduction jitter was studied and the threshold of jitter was determined. There are no modern DACs that have jitter beyond what people can hear, but yet there is lots of talk about it. So what makes one DAC sound different than another if it is not jitter?

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/reports/1974-11.pdf
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