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RE: Do you guys recall the editorial in Stereophile a few years ago . . .

I don't recall seeing that Stereophile article but I'm one of those guys who believes everything matters, but I place higher priority on some items vs others.

When I was big into CD players, they mattered a lot. I could hear the differences, but I suspect most of the differences were due to the DAC and analog output stage of the CDP. No preamp, amp, or speaker could compensate for a source that was not delivering at it's best.

Skipping ahead to computer based audio, I think most folks will agree that the music file and where it came from along with how it was ripped matters the most. I'm one of those. Basically starting with a good sounding CD then ripping w/o using lossy compression is vitally important. No MP3 or AAC files. Or buying a high quality hi-res music file is fine too.

Now we start to get into the religious wars in my opinion. I say the DAC is most important, along with good player software. Not the computer or the fact that it is a powerful or low-powered PC, Mac, Windows, macOS, or Linux. It's the DAC. Yes, you can tweak the Mac / PC for incremental improvements in sound. You can tweak the USB port, tweak power supplies and disks, etc., but the DAC will have a much bigger overall impact. That's been my take on it for years but others disagree and that's OK.


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  • RE: Do you guys recall the editorial in Stereophile a few years ago . . . - AbeCollins 12:18:41 01/21/17 (0)

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