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apparently we and certain audiophile reviewers (NRD) are listening to completely different things when we review DACs

amirm

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His videos are also littered with sponsorships and ads and he accuses us of using the former when we don't? He can't even get this simple fact right...
 

julian_hughes

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Also people who don't trust measurements can, where we hear details, instead hear actual micro-details! Which are like totally different and not for the plebs.
 

LTig

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Funny thing is when I listened to the Sigma SSP MK2 my wife had bought in comparison to my Marantz AV7701 I had the same impression, that the decay of instruments seemed to be longer with the Sigma. This was of course sighted, not properly level matched, no instant switching (before I found ASR).
 

kchap

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Has anybody suffered through enough of Ron's NRD videos to get an idea of Ron's preferred configuration of his HoloAudio May DAC? When he is reviewing a DAC and pitting it against the May, does Ron take advantage of the May's oversampling features or does he use the May in NOS mode? If it is NOS mode is the ant-alias LPF also disabled?
 

escksu

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Funny thing is when I listened to the Sigma SSP MK2 my wife had bought in comparison to my Marantz AV7701 I had the same impression, that the decay of instruments seemed to be longer with the Sigma. This was of course sighted, not properly level matched, no instant switching (before I found ASR).

Haha, I know what you mean. This is not the right place to discuss about this so I will not go any further. Just want to recommend you a few pieces of music which you could test out if you do notice the difference.

I have been listening this single piece of Jazz (CD, not youtube) for around 20yrs (no I am not a jazz guy). I don't focus on the song (only the 'k' and 's'). Main parts are the piano and drum and cymbals and that shaking (still no idea the name of the instrument). You see if you can hear a difference.

More recently this (around 2yrs ago). Only 2 intruments so focus is on pressing of the keys and the bow sliding over the string. Yes, you can try and listen to see if the piano decay varies. Cello wise, the sound isn't supposed to be smooth but varying. I bought the WAV and MP3 version from their website.... you can see if you can tell if difference formats sound any different.

Newest is this (started around 3+ months ago). When bow slows down before changing direction, the sound is rather coarse and distinct. I don't like it.

Lastly, wife part!! This is my toddler's fav song!! My wife will play this frequently for the tollder. But the "S" part can get irritating when its played loudly (need volume 50 on my 300IL).
 

DanielT

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So one pays up to $5k extra for that "decay" in the "time domain"... what a load of BS!
Excuse my lack of knowledge but what does he mean? In addition, I do not have English as a mother tongue so that makes it even more tricky. He says that it is not differences in "tone" that is his remark Uh, what does he mean by tone?

Time domain, que? He says that soundstage is the difference when he compares his expensive DAC with Loxjie D50. How to measure the degree of soundstage?I'm seriously curious about how to do it.
I admit, I do not understand what he's talking about. He may have a point, what do I know. I have too little knowledge and experience to decide that.

He says that he has a more expensive DAC in which he prefers the sound (so it adds a sound image, that seems silly). What expensive DAC does he have? Is there one who colors the sound, who introduces changes in frequency response and distortion and it is the colored sound he prefers? As I said, I do not understand what he is talking about.

Edit:
Now I'm guessing. if, says IF, he now does not think Loxjie D50 performs so well. Could it be that it is not Loxjie D50 in itself that it is wrong but that he has not managed to connect it in the best way?
 
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escksu

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Excuse my lack of knowledge but what does he mean? In addition, I do not have English as a mother tongue so that makes it even more tricky. He says that it is not differences in "tone" that is his remark Uh, what does he mean by tone?

Tiddomän, que? Soundstage is the difference in sound when he compares his expensive DAC with How to measure the degree of Soundstage?
I admit, I do not understand what he's talking about. He may have a point, what do I know. I have too little knowledge and experience to decide that.

He says that he has a more expensive DAC in which he prefers the sound (so it adds a sound image, that seems silly). What expensive DAC does he have? Is there anyone who colors the sound, who introduces changes in frequency response and distortion and it is the colored sound he prefers? As I said, I do not understand what he is talking about.

Regarding coloring of the sound, now I know there are quite a number in this forum. Go check out the tone control thread.

 

kchap

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Excuse my lack of knowledge but what does he mean? In addition, I do not have English as a mother tongue so that makes it even more tricky. He says that it is not differences in "tone" that is his remark Uh, what does he mean by tone?

Time domain, que? He says that soundstage is the difference when he compares his expensive DAC with Loxjie D50. How to measure the degree of soundstage?I'm seriously curious about how to do it.
I admit, I do not understand what he's talking about. He may have a point, what do I know. I have too little knowledge and experience to decide that.

He says that he has a more expensive DAC in which he prefers the sound (so it adds a sound image, that seems silly). What expensive DAC does he have? Is there anyone who colors the sound, who introduces changes in frequency response and distortion and it is the colored sound he prefers? As I said, I do not understand what he is talking about.
While I do have a theory about the current fashion for NOS DACs I think whole point about this thread is that none of us any idea what he is talking about. Maybe we are not taking enough drugs.
 

DanielT

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He may like whatever sound he wants, no matter how colored BUT if we do not know what kind of "expensive" DAC he is waffling about in the video, it is in principle for us impossible to comment on what he says, what he claims.
 

DanielT

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While I do have a theory about the current fashion for NOS DACs I think whole point about this thread is that none of us any idea what he is talking about. Maybe we are not taking enough drugs.
He seems to like this one.

Would there be such a big difference between Holo Audio May DAC and the Loxjie D50? Again, que?

 
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JSmith

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Would there be such a big difference between Holo Audio May DAC and the Loxjie D50?
Nope...

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JSmith
 
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AMPaul

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@DanielT - i opened this thread just to show the kind of audiophile elitist behavior that most of these "popular" reviewers eventually display. He is saying that the Loxjie is pretty good, nothing special, same as all the other China DACs, and that his American made May is definitely worth the extra 9x the price of the Loxjie- and honestly he just did a bullshit review with no real substance. It was not a review; it was a kind of a rant about ASR and the fact that the plebs in ASR do not listen to the "right" thing. That thing that you cannot measure -
 

DSJR

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Another loud mouthed old fart just like me. He looks so sincere too, doesn't he?

The best performing dacs don't have a character, or shouldn't, but all the 'enthusiast recommended' ones do seem to add copious distortion, noise and maybe hf rolloffs too so they will sound 'different.' Condition yourself to an expensive underperforming 'characterful' dac with no reference whatever to pro grade gear (oh alright, RME/Benchmark at least, off the top of my head) and subjective preference runs wild. Some forums love people like this and I've been all but hounded off the local subjectivist forums as they don't listen to measurements, just the music, or so they say as they box-swap and compare the 'sound of the gear' using music tracks as the tool to do so... Makes me laugh and cry at the same time now.
 
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