Digital Drive

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

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Re: Analog -to- 24/96 PCM -to- analog is transparent to human hearing

Posted by longtimequadowner on February 6, 2007 at 18:09:33:
I know nothing of the long (winded?) theoretical endless binary number crunching conversation and puritan positioning that this thread is likely to evoke based on past similar threads (wow do I have audiophile issues?) - but I do listen to my turntable nightly as output through the Behringer DEQ2496.
I don't actually use the DEQ for A/D - rather, I use my Alesis Masterlink (a system judged so transparent by Stereophile that the reviewer noted one could easily archive the sound of various tonearms and cartriges to CD-R for replay in future reviews for reference). I stream the 24/96 output of the Alesis to my Behringer DEQ2496 for playback. Changing cartridges and/or phono stages is much the same with the digital EQ in stream as without. I can A/B to bypass the DEQ and no major difference I'll every cry over, except for a ridiculous amount of bass booming all over my room (which admittedly makes exacting comparisons very difficult).
More to the point, vinyl still sounds like vinyl in all it's glory and despite my very humble turntable system, it sounds simply fantastic and sprays music all over the room, completely detached from the speaker positions - wide and deep. So let's just say it preserves enough phase to phase me. Furthermore, whatever minor losses there are in the 24/96 A/D process are stomped into insignificance by the gain in having a system EQ'd to my room - my system is otherwise unlistenable.
For digital sources I apply digital EQ at the source in computer based playback - but for the phono that's not possible - god bless my DEQ2496. I think I'll buy another one and have sendler do me a direct out mod - keep meaning to do that, never quite get around to it. I also have a SRC2496 but I'm just too damn lazy to try it, things sound just fine as is.
To me the question isn't so much whether it's 100% measurably transparent as whether utilizing such devices bring an overall improvement to your system or not - it sure does mine - I was never so happy in my music loving life as when I sold all my tube traps, acoustic corner pillows, etc - what a joy. Without the DEQ I'd have no turntable. My advice would be for less than the price of most audiophile interconnects, experiment with the DEQ2496 and decide where to go from there. $300 doesn't even count in audiophile prices.