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Upsampling and Stereophile

Last summer there were several threads here on Audiogon about digital upsampling and over sampling (a couple long and heated), but the opinion(s) of the audio press were conspicuously absent. In the Dec. 2000 issue of Stereophile, page 3, John Atkinson, has an editorial explaining their position on this in his "As We See It" column, page 3. I encourage everyone interested in the subject to look up the article. I have excerpted the following quotes that I think sums up Stereophile's opinion, and that may pique your interst: (1) "....the audio industry has settled on an 8X-oversampling ratio, the 44.1 kHZ CD data being converted to a 352.8 kHZ datastream before D/A conversion." (2) "no matter how good these upsampling products can sound-- and the dCS, Bel Canto, and MSB products indeed sound excellent-- there is no conceptual difference between them and traditional CD playback systems. I am now convinced that the sonic differences we have heard and reported on are merely due to the different choices in digital filters made by the designers of these products." (3) "In the meantime don't buy a digital product because it has "24/96" emblazoned on its front panel. Buy it because it makes your CDs sound great". Cheers. Craig.
garfish
carl_eber
1,425 posts
 
I knew I could look on e-bay, but was just curious. Thanks. I'm most interested in all the albums before Eliminator. I have the "Six-Pack" CD set, and the two greatest hits CD's, and still think the vinyl would nuke them, provided it's not worn out.
joe_coherent
130 posts
 
Garfish, I understand that 24/96 players from, for instance Ayre and Muse read and decode 24/96 code from audio DVDs from Chesky, Classic Records, etc.
garfish OP
1,840 posts
 
Joe; we're in an area of semantics here, but in the case of my 24/96 DAC, the transport would have to output a 24/96 digital signal, eg SACD players do not even have digital out as I understand it-- to prevent copying in this very high quality digital domain. DVD-A players are just now becoming available, and I don't know if they will have a digital out terminal either? I don't think DVD-V players have 24/96 digital out either-- also to prevent HQ copying. Dan2112, I've not heard the dCS gear but from everything I've read it's absolutely top quality, and that is part of Stereophile's point too. I only posted this thread too help clear up the confusion between the terms upsampling and oversampling. I became very interested in this before purchasing a Levinson 360S DAC, ie before spending a LOT of money. Cheers, Craig.
dan2112
144 posts
 
Garfish, Sorry – I hope I didn't come across the wrong way. I agree it's a very confusing topic. I think that maybe the manufactures kinda got caught off guard by the whole upsampling thing. Stereophile to their credit reported what they heard about the digital converters and the term "upsampling" entered the realm of audiophiles. Now there are religious camps forming and its unfortunate that people have to be confused. Even dCS's papers say "we don't know why it sounds better, but it does." My wife still can't believe how good it sounds. In her words... "The notes sound more defined and round." Cheers, Dan.
garfish OP
1,840 posts
 
Dan; no need for apology, I think we're all correct here-- just getting the terminology sorted out. Cheers. Craig.
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