Computer Audio Asylum

Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies.

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RE: Yea but zero is unobtainable!

Posted by Jonathan Tinn on February 6, 2009 at 11:39:38:
Hi Gordon,

First of all, our Playback Designs DAC can receive up to 24bits/192kHz in addition to raw DSD. It has a discrete architecture meaning that it is not based on any standard-off-the-shelf chip. But the core DAC is a separate issue from clock generation and digital input reception.

There are digital transmission formats that limit the amount of bits per sample and/or the sample rate. Not all formats (i.e AES, SPDIF, Toslink etc.) support the same combination of bits per sample and sample rate. Some implementations of USB audio transmissions have their limitations as well. This still has nothing to do with jitter.

There is no reason why the clock generation should be determined by the audio transmission format nor by the DAC. It needs to be looked at as a totally separate problem and the solution for that is probably the beauty of the Playback Designs system. Think about it, if your clock generation is so dependent on the digital audio input format how can you ever achieve any decent quality and safeguard it? It will always be at the mercy of whatever the user connects to the DAC and however he connects it, no matter how many sophisticated band-aids you put on.

By the way, the DAC is not the only component in the digital audio chain that contributes to the jitter budget of your system. It is the A/D converter too that was used in the recording process. That jitter from the A/D, however, is left in the digital audio as a permanent mark, which makes matters worse and more complicated for the DAC.

Regards,
Jonathan
Playback Designs