Recent content by Bhargu

Well, you can take an amp with a sub-bass dip and pair it with a headphone with an equivalent sub-bass boost and probably get a close-to-reference sound. I would rather have a reference amp and do a software equalization for the probable non-linearity in the headphone. I believe you can achieve...

True, you can't guarantee result suited for everyone. But as I said, with software filter chains, using a reference DAC/Amp, you can customize the same gear for multiple people's taste. Enough research has gone into it, but consumer products are lacking as there is not much money to be made in...

A DAC can convert digital data to analogue signals. If it does it faithfully, it is a reference DAC. What you are talking about here is the domain of sound engineering. With care and precision, you can modify the signal to sound in particular ways. Doing it in the digital domain is much easier...

Component matching and synergy is not imagination, but probably real. It is just that people misunderstand what that truly is. It is the process of trying a stupidly large combination of badly engineered components so that the flaws in one will mask/compensate the flaws in the other. If both...

As I said, AKM themselves says they have modified the sound signature at the DAC stage. I don't know if that when done properly, will affect the SINAD or not. It shouldn't affect SNR, but I don't know how distortion is measured for DACs, so I can't really say.

As @Sgt. Ear Ache says, the headphones or speakers might change the sound signature. But the simple fact is, with a fully transparent and neutral (flat line from 20-20000hz) amplifier (and/or DAC), the output provided to the transducer "WILL BE" what the sound engineer/mastering engineer...

Hasn't there been a lot of research into the topic of perceived neutrality? Why do you think nobody knows?

Does SINAD has anything to do with the sound signature? A non-linear amp stage can easily change the signature. I thought AKM Velvet Sound is supposed to modify the sound signature to make it sound warmer and less fatiguing, right?

Missed that one. This is the problem with search not working for small words. Edit: I tried searching before posting the thread, but it showed no result. Hence, this thread...

Topping has announced DX3 Pro, DAC + headphone amp with Bluetooth input (ACC & APTX-HD). DAC is using 2x AKM 4493 and the headamp output stage uses OPA1612 and pumps out 1W of power. No more 10 ohm output impedance :) Overall, looks promising. http://en.tpdz.net/news_detail/newsId=85.html

There are a lot of DACs on there that take Breeze Audio chassis and puts generic DAC boards in them. So, all of these looks the same, but sellers differ. PS: As mentioned above, Breeze Audio sells Emory chassis too.

Well, people don't really always do the best things, do they? Also, there can be any number of reasons for someone to use a balanced connection. Depends a lot on their existing set-up and their use case. Only problem is when they start to claim it sounds better.

I guess you can run balanced cable from a DAC in another room to rHead?

@amirm , I apologize for repeating the question. I wasn't sure if you saw the question. You mentioned 16 dB gain for rHead and the dashboard shows 5.8 Vrms out. What was the input level? Also, according to the power level graphs, the peak Vrms should be around 6V. With a 16 dB fixed gain, won't...

@amirm , when you said rHead has more distortion than Element, I assume you were talking about the clipping range, right? My doubt is because you said you noticed distortion as evident in the graph, but the noise level of rHead in the graph is climbing over Element's only after hitting the...