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Intermodulation distortion hump on Topping (and others)?

raband

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Hey guys,

Bit of a query from a newbie here on the graphs.

In the intermodulation distortion graphs the Topping and others (same chip?) have the hump in the middle of the readings.

To my uninformed eyes that would look pretty bad - and, (am probably wrong here) being in the mid-levels of the graph, likely to be in the main area of the signal/music?

Is it irrelevant because both channels keep even, because it doesn't really matter, or is it something that can be seen as a flaw in that particular chip?

Just interested - it sticks out like a sore thumb to me on the graphs which should?? be ideally straight?

eg:

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OP
raband

raband

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Cheers.

Sort of helps understand why it's there, but not whether it's a large enough of an issue to be of concern
 

amirm

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OP
raband

raband

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How much of an issue is it at the end of the day?
 

derp1n

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Amir, as our resident Topping shill :rolleyes:, any chance of asking them for an explanation for the difference between the DX7 and DX7s? John's explanation should apply equally to various 9028 and 9038 implementations, so there may be other factors in play.

How much of an issue is it at the end of the day?
Seems pretty minor to me.
 

maverickronin

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Is it only the newer Sabre chips with the IMD hump?

The "Sabre Glare" meme has been around for years.
 

mindbomb

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The dx7 also wasn't perfect. Its imd curve was substantially worse than the exasound e32. I think what is happening is the newer dac chips are creating more common mode distortion, but companies are rehashing the same analog section, which wasn't fully cutting it in the first place.
 

Krunok

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The dx7 also wasn't perfect. Its imd curve was substantially worse than the exasound e32. I think what is happening is the newer dac chips are creating more common mode distortion, but companies are rehashing the same analog section, which wasn't fully cutting it in the first place.

And wasn't Exasound E32 THD+N curve from 3kHz onward far worse than DX7? ;)
 

daftcombo

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Hi,

It seems like an answer to the original question hasn't been given yet: is the hump in intermodulation distortion bad?
Do we hear it? And what does it do to the music?

Does the Topping D10 have the same hump? (can't see an answer on the dedicated Topping D10 measurement page)

Thanks.
 

Krunok

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Hi,

It seems like an answer to the original question hasn't been given yet: is the hump in intermodulation distortion bad?
Do we hear it? And what does it do to the music?

Does the Topping D10 have the same hump? (can't see an answer on the dedicated Topping D10 measurement page)

Thanks.

I don't remember seeing that hump with any DAC with ES9018K2M chip so I would say D10 doesn't suffer from it. I've been using D10 for quite some time now and it sounds completely transparent to me.

My guess would also be that hump effects are below hearing threshold in a typical home environment where noise floor is at -70dB at best.
 

daftcombo

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My guess would also be that hump effects are below hearing threshold in a typical home environment where noise floor is at -70dB at best.

Yes but... on closed headphones, with a JDS Atom transparent headphones amp?
 

Samoyed

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From Eyegor: “What hump?”
 

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bravomail

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There is a discussion about hump and how to solve it in Benchmark DAC thread. In short - ESS DAC has balanced outputs and they should be fed into differential amp. Most manufacturers however skip such amp and feed DAC directly to RCA. Hence hump.
 
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