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DAC types and their sonic signature

Veri

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Jokes aside, I am curious to try a R2R and a tube DAC at some point. I am open to the possibility I might enjoy the "warmth" of their top-end distortion. You never know...
I hate tube amps, most come with a pretty severe noise floor. Sure, it's not an issue with a high impedance headphone like HD600/HD650/HD800.
But it is an audible issue for most other headphones!

Maybe it's just a thing with every tube amp I've ever used and it's just me ....
 
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majingotan

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Jokes aside, I am curious to try a R2R and a tube DAC at some point. I am open to the possibility I might enjoy the "warmth" of their top-end distortion. You never know...

I have 2 R2R DACs myself and none of them sounded warm at all. They sound just like any other DS DACs that is well engineered and far cheaper to boot. Tube DAC OTOH is hard to find so I use a tube preamp instead

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Svperstar

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Jokes aside, I am curious to try a R2R and a tube DAC at some point. I am open to the possibility I might enjoy the "warmth" of their top-end distortion. You never know...

I owned a NOS Tube DAC over 10 years ago when they are all the rage, worst sounding piece of gear I have ever owned. Not to say they all sound like that but buyer beware.
 
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Cortes

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Jokes aside, I am curious to try a R2R and a tube DAC at some point. I am open to the possibility I might enjoy the "warmth" of their top-end distortion. You never know...

Warmth?. Pass it through Diana Krall, the ultimate warming device.
 

KxDx

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Sedyn

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Wow, ok. Ok. So 6moon has an interview where these things are claimed to be measurable. Sooo Has @amirm measured them?

Edit: I’m not trying to be an ass. If there is any truth to the aspect of the story that they are some secret tech developed for the Navy I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be buying them.
 

SIY

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Wow, ok. Ok. So 6moon has an interview where these things are claimed to be measurable. Sooo Has @amirm measured them?

I did, with exactly the results you'd expect (both electrical and sociological). Amir is likely smarter than I am and wouldn't waste the time. The process did teach me a lot, especially about how people will happily sacrifice their integrity and reputations in promoting their business partners.
 

Sedyn

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I did, with exactly the results you'd expect (both electrical and sociological). Amir is likely smarter than I am and wouldn't waste the time. The process did teach me a lot, especially about how people will happily sacrifice their integrity and reputations in promoting their business partners.

Maybe just email them your results and ask to be fairly compensated for your time or you will be forced to find compensation via public release of said results. It’s not hush money, it’s a consulting fee.
 

SIY

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Maybe just email them your results and ask to be fairly compensated for your time or you will be forced to find compensation via public release of said results. It’s not hush money, it’s a consulting fee.

Oh, my measurements were public. Like I said, most of the enlightenment was sociological. There are some "big names" in audio who absolutely destroyed any respect I ever had for them.

The faith based audiophile niche is unmoved by actual data, the thing that counts is the story. That everything about this stuff and their promoters is fraudulent makes no impression.
 

pkane

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Ok I’ll ask, is that a joke page?

I'm feverishly working on a new, veil-lifting product that leverages the recently discovered fifth force of nature:facepalm: It will help stop the dark matter from interfering with the audio signal, resulting in wider sound stage, more microdynamics, and better instrument separation. Stay tuned.
 

majingotan

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iFi is there not for the sound but for the keep on function as Schiit’s muting/sample rate relays always clicks after the music has stopped playing or when I start playing a music file without the keep on function. When I added that, I notice zero difference in sound but sure as hell saved myself from hearing a bunch of relay clicks. My A/B testing didn’t even use the iFi for the Apple lightning DAC as there’s no way for that to connect to it yet it’s indistinguishable from the Bifrost 2 with the iFi in chain level matched
 

Svperstar

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I have 2 R2R DACs myself and none of them sounded warm at all. They sound just like any other DS DACs that is well engineered and far cheaper to boot.

My Modi Multibit (v1 I think they have multiple versions now?) sounds quite dark and lacks detail. Its why I stopped using it.
 

majingotan

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My Modi Multibit (v1 I think they have multiple versions now?) sounds quite dark and lacks detail. Its why I stopped using it.

Interesting. Regardless of the DACs I use (Mojo, apple lightning DAC/amp and Bifrost 2), none of them have a signature nor none of them sound different nor lacking detail but if the psychoacoustics of seeing modi multibit causes you to hear the sounds as dark and lacking detail that I get due to perception bias. Anyways, Topping D30 is far objectively superior than any of my DACs so rest assured that you're getting the whole resolution of your music files. Then again, my ears is probably less accurate compared to a healthy young person and that would significantly affect my subjective experience with DACs.
 

Svperstar

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Interesting. Regardless of the DACs I use (Mojo, apple lightning DAC/amp and Bifrost 2), none of them have a signature nor none of them sound different nor lacking detail but if the psychoacoustics of seeing modi multibit causes you to hear the sounds as dark and lacking detail that I get due to perception bias. Anyways, Topping D30 is far objectively superior than any of my DACs so rest assured that you're getting the whole resolution of your music files. Then again, my ears is probably less accurate compared to a healthy young person and that would significantly affect my subjective experience with DACs.


Well it was the first version using the lowest end AD DAC chips and it has no oversampling of any kind IIRC.
 

Veri

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Well it was the first version using the lowest end AD DAC chips and it has no oversampling of any kind IIRC.
New version still uses same low end chips, but fixes dithering which was previously not implemented.
There is actually oversampling via their custom 'combo' filter (which is nothing special...)
 
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