Home Digital Drive

Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

RE: Do you believe in giant killers?

Unless it's been equalized back to flat in the analog domain your NOS DAC almost certainly has an treble roll-off. The roll-off is due to the sample-and-hold operation (known in DSP science as a 'zero-order-hold') of nearly all audio D/A units. With CD sample rate content the roll-off profile produces about an response that's about -3dB at 20kHz.

An 3dB @ 20kHz droop might not be audible in itself. However, the problem is that the roll-off begins two whole octaves below 20kHz, at around 5kHz. My experience is that the roll-off subjectively manifests as a sin of omission rather than comission, and therefore tends to sound benign. It's when you hear the same NOS DAC with the roll-off EQ'd that you realize what you were missing.
_
Ken Newton


This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  K&K Audio / Lundahl Transformers   [ K&K Audio / Lundahl Transformers Forum ]


Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups

FAQ

Post a Message!

Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.