By your own reasoning, I should have no trouble identifying it because since it measures so poorly it will sound worse than a good measuring DAC. Then I can just lie, say the worse one sounds better, and take your $500.
Not at all. I am confident you can't tell the difference or I would not offer the bounty. I explained that audiophiles can't hear such artifacts since their hearing acuity is poor when it comes to non-linear distortions.
All proper controlled tests need documentation such as what I post. We of course don't take your word for anything. Sad to know that you are not up for an honest review of whether you can or cannot tell such differences.
Yes, very disappointing, althought, tellingly IMO, he does sometimes get a different listener to report on a really badly measuring bit of kit which the reviewer raved over. This almost always results in a rave as well. My interpretation being either that the reviewers like poor reproduction or that they are keen to authenticate each other's golden ears since they are unable to do measurements themselves and would be out of work if subjective reviewing was in any way discredited. Which it has been IMO, but not the vast majority of enthusiasts who are not technically minded so susceptible to even the most implausible belief.
You're deadly wrong. It is quite the opposite. You are strongly encouraged to disagree once you put strong arguments on the table. I said arguments. Not analogies with food, your age, or beautiful sunset or such (then, I'm surprised you didn't mention cars, the most common analogy used by audiopfools).
I'm not sure about this. Are you saying the TotalDAC will be indistinguishable in a controlled test, despite its objective flaws? I'm thinking that the flaws are audible, at least to saturdayboy, but he doesn't hear them as flaws, rather he hears them as extra "information" (or whatever we might call it). OTOH if it really is indistinguishable, its flaws don't really matter and are of academic interest only, and we only have the price and build to complain about.
No, you won't need to lie. Better/worse is a matter of opinion or taste and doesn't come into it. The question is, can you hear a difference in a controlled test?
Yes, that's pretty much how I see it. Of course, we have a general problem where irrationality and lack of critical thinking have been on the rise for some time, or at least that's my perception. I still can't understand how someone can be able to earn enough, yet also be stupid enough, to buy stuff like this <http://www.highendcable.co.uk/Nordost_ODIN 2_ Digital_Interconnect_Cables.htm> (for anyone wondering, that's £2328/metre, plus £7750 for both connectors).
That 2002-style website design doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
That's just a random Nordost dealer in the UK, so I could show the price. Have a look for something more pleasing. <https://nordost.com/where_to_buy.php>
Yebbut, what if she had connected the cable the wrong way round? Wouldn't the electrons get confused, or perhaps refuse to move at all?I have a friend who bought a pair of 90K EUR speakers. A very bright guy in his field. Wasn't too happy with the sound, asked me. Turned out he was using BT from his iPhone to stream. That was 3-4 years ago, not even a good BT. If I had been a dealer, I could have approached the issue by saying "let me solve that for you by deploying my expertise, install fancy cables, fix the streaming (without necessarily mentioning it) and maybe add a totaldac to the mix.
One of my acquaintances (not a friend, those guys don't have friends) wanted a home theater and asked his reseller for "the best", gave him a global budget and ignored the details. Another one, also quite bright in her field, asked me to connect some equipment. There was exactly one output, one cable in the box, and one free input matching the cable in her system...
