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In Reply to: RE: Dacs with a great bass. posted by beppe61 on April 09, 2015 at 23:34:42
Bass is an important characteristic.... Bass linearity in particular is one of the most important.... Makes the music sound merely "there", without any blasting or shouting. (Maybe the one parameter that makes home audio easily distinguishable from live music.) Of course, if you have bass linearity, you then need downstream electronics and transducers that can handle it as well.
The Sonic Frontiers DAC excelled with bass linearity.... A piece like Saint Saens "Organ" Symphony is where this particular DAC stood out, the organ seemed like a separate entity from the orchestra. Where most DACs, the bass energy from the organ breaks down the orchestra into a diffuse puree (to varying degrees), the inner voices lost.
Follow Ups:
Hi and thanks a lot again for the very helpful advice.
So bass is really fundamental, and dacs have indeed different capabilities.
And yes, i have been already advised to look also at speakers, if they are not really full range there is no way to assess the real performance in the bass.
Thanks again.
Kind regards,
bg
Interesting how I never before considered Bass important because my loudspeakers are really not all that large.
However, I will note that I believe there is such a thing as the 'illusion of bass', sort of the envelope of the bass. So, while the loudspeakers cannot shake the room, there is a leading edge and a trailing edge that may suffice and if messed up, merely confuses the music line.
Also, I think the power supply of the DAC has got to be the most critical because not only is the DAC handling the audio range, but it is oversamplying at, at least, 8x the audio cutoff frequency, so the noise riding on the power supply has additional freq range in which to affect the results.
"Also, I think the power supply of the DAC has got to be the most critical because not only is the DAC handling the audio range, but it is oversamplying at, at least, 8x the audio cutoff frequency, so the noise riding on the power supply has additional freq range in which to affect the results."
The "8x the audio cutoff frequency" is where the analog post filter is needed..... The RF noise reflected to the power supply (and surrounding electronics) is from the switching of the bits (essentially square waves, whose spectra run to RF), which occur more frequently at higher rates. So the noise spectra isn't so much related to sample rate, but higher rates will increase the intensity of the RF noise.
The "illusion" of great bass and great bass might be perceived totally differently. Great bass, more than anything else, sustains clarity in large scale and dynamic music. The "illusion" might call attention to the bass, but if the overall clarity of the performers suffers, the bass IMO isn't so hot.
Hi and thanks for the interesting reply.
Let me comment here below
" Interesting how I never before considered Bass important because my loudspeakers are really not all that large "
i come from a similar experience. My speakers have never had a woofer bigger than 6". I never had the feeling of missing anything.
Then i went to a friend's house and we listened to some of my cds on his JBL Horizon ... i was missing a lot, a lot indeed.
I think that the low part of the spectrum gives a nice sensation of room filling ... sound with space and body.
" However, I will note that I believe there is such a thing as the 'illusion of bass', sort of the envelope of the bass. So, while the loudspeakers cannot shake the room, there is a leading edge and a trailing edge that may suffice and if messed up, merely confuses the music line "
it could be but there are instruments that cover the lowest part of the audio range. If the speakers cannot reproduce that part the outcome cannot be fully realistic. For instance the piano. No minimonitor can give a realistic reproduction of a piano.
" Also, I think the power supply of the DAC has got to be the most critical because not only is the DAC handling the audio range, but it is oversamplying at, at least, 8x the audio cutoff frequency, so the noise riding on the power supply has additional freq range in which to affect the results "
it is also my sensation that digital is very sensitive to noise in the supply. Probably more than analog.
A better elimination of this noise could improve sound quite remarkably.
The more common mods on cd players were on PS of clock and dac chip.
So i think it is a very critical aspect.
Thanks again.
Kind regards,
bg
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