solderdude
Grand Contributor
To me, it's the main gut check. Reading the rest of what you wrote and what Amir just wrote, nothing changes my opinion on that. It's the canary in the coal mine of it being an excellent measuring product - if there's a short fall elsewhere, it's usually relatively minor.
It shouldn't be the main gut check because it isn't.
A device could have great SINAD but poor FR under specific loads (class D power amps for instance).
A DAC could have good SINAD when only measured on a 'proper' filter yet perform poorly when it could also be set to NOS mode for instance.
Good thing to remember: SINAD only says something about the Signal to unwanted signal ratio (in dB) for a 1kHz signal at a specific output level into a specific load.
It isn't and never will be the most important aspect that tells you all you need to know. It does say something but is NOT the aspect to look at.