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In Reply to: RE: "certainly one can do better than a topping...." posted by andy evans on October 26, 2023 at 14:57:03
Yeah that hype train is powerful until the dust settles. IMHO there are 3 types of dacs, chip like the sabre and AKM for instance, R2R/NOS, and FPGA. Sure there are examples that blurr those lines but I think its safe to say most here will understand. So far the R2R and FPGA have been more to my liking in musicality with the chip dacs being more sterile. But the output and psu also matter and it seems that R2R and FPGA dacs tend to focus more on that than SOME of the chip dacs.
I don't doubt the grainy treble. Also my dac has a tube rectifier that you can toggle on and off, and you can hear the difference the tube rectification makes. Basically the bass is more robust and that seems to affect the whole sonic picture and makes it more musical. So that common wisdom you see here that dacs sound the same and don't spend loads of money doesn't apply to all dacs.
When you try the Cutest let us know what you think.
Cut to razor sounding violins
Follow Ups:
ARe you distinguishing R2R discrete vs. chip? Many of the newer R2R DACs are discrete designs and these I have found have quite different characteristics from Chip R2R (like those from Philips, BB, AD etc.).
Some of the old chip ones are NOS but many are with 8x OVERsampling (different from upsampling) digital filters.
Yes, that was the "examples that can blur the lines" I was referring to. I only have experience with the chip R2R (NOS Phillips) and not the discreet ones. What is the difference you notice?
Cut to razor sounding violins
THe discrete ones seem to be "coarser" and less refined. They have the grunt and drive of the discrete R2R but don't sacrifice the delicacy that the best new sigma/delta or FPGA DACs do well. That earthy grunt and dynamics from R2R sounds more realistic but only when coupled with refinement...this is where chips like the BB PCM-63 and PCM1704 and AD1865 shine. Also, the late great UltraAnalog D2400A 20 bit DAC module was otherworldly when used correctly.
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