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In Reply to: RE: Yep that's correct -same here posted by Bob_C on October 17, 2014 at 12:26:39
Yes, I spent some years on evaluating transformer coupling in dacs, and using carefully matched and measured valve preamps (with military grade NOS valves and others), and came to the conclusion that it was the colourations that made the techniques more 'musical' in short short and medium term only.
Even Audio Research gear, though musical, have their house 'valve' and 'hybrid' sounds.
Follow Ups:
Kind of like saying that you have listened to an ESS Sabre based DAC and now you know how all of them sound.
just that you don't seem to understand one basic underlying principle behind audio reproduction.
Take a top dac with a floor of say -120dB re: full output.
Take a very good valve circuit with a floor of around -70 dB with loads of harmonics.
What do we get? A $16000 device with harmonics overwriting and dramatically narrowing the performance envelope of the dac.
Daft? But you can make the sound acceptable by transformer coupling (which has its own issues)!.
I have tested this all out. In fact, I used to do the late Allen Wright a favour by installing his top mods for his customer. This all tested out and this was why I turned down his unsolicited offer of being 'his agent'.
The basic fact is that you don't seem to care about a principled approaches to audio, which I presume is what attracted expensive gadget makers to you.
My last word on this subject. The Crimson / Denominator does not sound grossly colored compared to the large number of DACs I have reviewed.
"The basic fact is that you don't seem to care about a principled approaches to audio, which I presume is what attracted expensive gadget makers to you."
You just can't help yourself.
neither do Chinese usb dacs costing $500.
This is not the issue, the issue is compromising the performance of a dac using transformers and valves for 'euphonic' sound. This is why a 13.5 bit dac playing red book can sound 'fine' to some, but it does not have the resolution to cover the replay of high resolution music.
It is not a case of 'you can't help it' but rather the need to sort out the basics first before embarking on the exotic, which I do also. For example, I still use TCAG silver cables for my balanced connections. I also have quite exotic arrangements for power supplies and regenerators. My passive preamp also uses all Vishay bulk foil resistors with constant impedance.
My take is that you don't care about the basics, just the arrangements of the moment in deciding on sound quality.
Fred, I told you the ladder dac was circa 2006. The Crimson uses an ESS Sabre.
Edits: 10/18/14
You can buy a good Chinese ESS9018 usb dac for $700.
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