I guess there are still some audible differences that we are not yet able to measure.
There are zero examples of anyone, ever demonstrating that they can hear something that isn't measurable. Not once.
I guess there are still some audible differences that we are not yet able to measure.
lots of feelings, very little substance. There's no way to measure dacs by ear, unless you measure input and output signals, match the volume, and remove placebo effects.This R2R is loved by many people and reviewers. I guess there are still some audible differences that we are not yet able to measure. This is the same issue in auto racing. I have variety of DACs. My first high-end DAC was a Wadia 32X in 1990. It was an R2R ladder based design. In my system, it was replaced by a Cirrus Logic based Micromega MyDAC... a way less expensive delta-sigma type that finally sounded much better. Now... I have many brands and types including the Ares II. The Ares II sounds better than all of my ESS based DACs (including Topping DAC, AudioQuest AmpDac, and Woo AmpDac) though I am sure that an ESS based DAC out there would probably sound as good. I have one AKM based delta-sigma that sounds as good as the Ares II, and almost as musical, but it sounds different. We have much better test equipment, and have developed more tests, than we had in 1968 when I started in this hobby but something is still true... most of these manufactured items have differences... however smaller the differences may be.
Usually IF there is a REAL difference heard is the output stages are either underpowered thus resulting in high noise/distortion / clipping at 2V/ 4V output or over-powered in that they are pushing more than the typical 2V / 4V output levels.lots of feelings, very little substance. There's no way to measure dacs by ear, unless you measure input and output signals, match the volume, and remove placebo effects.
tell that to all the bafoons who can hear a difference between dual AKM chips and ESS. Down to chip model number! What is next? This DAC sounds "softer" cause it was manufactured on the left river bank.So yah, unless that is sorted, its never a case of the DAC chip / R2R making the difference.
Use of vastly different filters might also play a part. Such a properly implemented "brickwall" versus a super slow decay one that starts drooping at about 15k versus one that starts at 20k frequency.tell that to all the bafoons who can hear a difference between dual AKM chips and ESS. Down to chip model number! What is next? This DAC sounds "softer" cause it was manufactured on the left river bank.
Use of vastly different filters might also play a part. Such a properly implemented "brickwall" versus a super slow decay one that starts drooping at about 15k versus one that starts at 20k frequency.
But that disappears too once both systems use filters that are very close in profile.
I guess there are still some audible differences that we are not yet able to measure.
with ares 2 I use a simple volume2 SPL ....I have the topping pre90 and I read somewhere that it not suits well with the ares Ii du to mismatch output/input impedance.
Is there a problem? Didn't fully understand not so technicall.
i think you should watch the audio sync of the tv .... not the dacI have a question about the Ares II. I’ve read that it has a bit of lag when used with toslink. Can anyone confirm this?
I’m using toslink to hook up my tv so any input lag would be annoying as hell.
The Ares II was indeed specified with 1250Ω on the balanced outputs, but Soundstage measured it at almost twice that with 2420Ω. Rule of thumb is to keep output impedance to input impedance 1:8 or better (1:10 and on).with ares 2 I use a simple volume2 SPL ....
the volume control has an input impedance of 22k ohm while the ares2 has an output impedance (on xlr) of 1.250ohm (data declared by the manufacturer ... and it is not a small value)
I don't remember what is the relationship between output impedance and input impedance (between source and preamp) ....
Worse for that application, it’s been said that the latency is variable so you can’t set your TV to sync to it either.I have a question about the Ares II. I’ve read that it has a bit of lag when used with toslink. Can anyone confirm this?
I’m using toslink to hook up my tv so any input lag would be annoying as hell.
I have my sattelite receiver connected to my Ares II via toslink and haven't noticed any issues in terms of lag.I have a question about the Ares II. I’ve read that it has a bit of lag when used with toslink. Can anyone confirm this?
I’m using toslink to hook up my tv so any input lag would be annoying as hell.
thanks for the observations ....I read up on the SPL Volume2 -- it looks nice enough but it seems that it first does balanced-unbalanced conversion, then single-ended attenuation, the unbalanced-balanced again? That seems wasteful of a good balanced signal.
I have a question about the Ares II. I’ve read that it has a bit of lag when used with toslink. Can anyone confirm this?
I’m using toslink to hook up my tv so any input lag would be annoying as hell.
If there is lag it isn't very much.Iirc Denafrips uses some sort of adaptive FIFO so there’s some lag, likely not big enough to cause lip sync issues, but can be problematic if one tries to use it in a multichannel setup.