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RE: Color your DAC to align with your preference

46.126.50.56

In Reply to: RE: Color your DAC to align with your preference posted by AbeCollins on November 06, 2023 at 08:39:26

I don't consider the affordable DACs that I have heard in recent times to be a bargain because they don't deliver good sound.

Affordable DACs in the past just tended to sound boring with their mushy 1-bit cheapo DAC chips. Or they were somewhat screechy. Now they sound ultra clean...and ultra lifeless. If most recordings (even classical and audiophile Jazz) are really that poor then I welcome whatever makes them sound like music. Given that master tape sounds nothing like what these budget DACs produce...I put my money on the master tape sounding more correct...and therefore some of the better, yet pricey DACs.

I think it was the E50 DAC.

Follow Ups:

You're getting close to admitting that you prefer some distortion - Feanor 09:02:54 11/09/23 (1)
... verses essentially no distortion.

But that's OK of course.

Dmitri Shostakovich
- RE: You're getting close to admitting that you prefer some distortion - morricab 00:36:36 11/15/23 (0)
  You are right in a sense , I prefer certain types of distortion over other types...-preferably the kind my ear/brain simply doesn't hear because it is masked...-thx evolution! Your flaw is thinking that the residual distortion you see in those measurements is inaudible or is the only distortion extant. Those products you like have a sound character and if that is not a product of their deviation from true linearity then what is causing the character?
  
  My system is "distorted" by your standard and yet differentiation between recordings is very high and on good recordings the tonality of instruments is very close to what one hears live. Gear with Distortion that hides in the gaps of the auditory system will sound cleaner and more natural than gear with even minuscule residual distortion that is unpleasant to hear.
  
  This is further helped by the fact that this blind spot increases with SPL. So, the initially obvious problem with zero feedback amps distortion increasing with power is not as long as the increase is in line with the SPL increase. If the distortion surpasses the threshold where masking is not effective before the SPL catches up you will hear the amp or source "struggling" on peaks or congested passages.

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