Recently I tested my Buffalo II DAC from Twistedpear - a 1kHz sine 0dB test tone.
There is a "squarelike" but faint distortion in the upper frequencies.
But before running a verdict, I should mention that the testtone is from 1982,
from an YEDS-18 Test disc made by Sony for service personnel.
I analysed the file in Audacity , one sample width shows clipping,
whereas 3 samples show no clipping.
No clue what the sample width practically means.
Assuming the sample is error free and spot on with full scale,
clipping needs at least two samples, because the resulting curve
between the two samples overshoots 0dB.
This is what sound engineers call them - overshoots and some software/
plugins check the final mix for it. So normally, the headroom should not
be above -0.5 -0.3 dB
But the test tone on the YEDS 18 it was made while only 16bit ladder resistor DACs
were common, to my knowledge, clipping with them is more audible.
But Audacity also has a tone generator. The generated sinetone made by Audacity also clips
when being analysed with one sample of distance.
So this analyse tool seems to be useless or:
a 1KHz Tone at full scale clips by default, Sony technicians were deaf to notice and especially
at the beginning of the Compact disc, the majority of recordings never exceeded -3dB.
The 60 second sine testtone from the YEDS-18 is too big to be attached.
So here is a downloadlink from Wetransfer, it is valid for 7 days:
https://we.tl/t-z6RtFFQiqf
Would be interesting to check whether the fault is this test-signal from the dawn
of the Digital Age, or 1kHZ at full scale means clipping - though I assume
this is exactly the signal Amir uses, but maybe today with a slight headroom by default...?
There is a "squarelike" but faint distortion in the upper frequencies.
But before running a verdict, I should mention that the testtone is from 1982,
from an YEDS-18 Test disc made by Sony for service personnel.
I analysed the file in Audacity , one sample width shows clipping,
whereas 3 samples show no clipping.
No clue what the sample width practically means.
Assuming the sample is error free and spot on with full scale,
clipping needs at least two samples, because the resulting curve
between the two samples overshoots 0dB.
This is what sound engineers call them - overshoots and some software/
plugins check the final mix for it. So normally, the headroom should not
be above -0.5 -0.3 dB
But the test tone on the YEDS 18 it was made while only 16bit ladder resistor DACs
were common, to my knowledge, clipping with them is more audible.
But Audacity also has a tone generator. The generated sinetone made by Audacity also clips
when being analysed with one sample of distance.
So this analyse tool seems to be useless or:
a 1KHz Tone at full scale clips by default, Sony technicians were deaf to notice and especially
at the beginning of the Compact disc, the majority of recordings never exceeded -3dB.
The 60 second sine testtone from the YEDS-18 is too big to be attached.
So here is a downloadlink from Wetransfer, it is valid for 7 days:
https://we.tl/t-z6RtFFQiqf
Would be interesting to check whether the fault is this test-signal from the dawn
of the Digital Age, or 1kHZ at full scale means clipping - though I assume
this is exactly the signal Amir uses, but maybe today with a slight headroom by default...?
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