Fluffy
Addicted to Fun and Learning
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2019
- Messages
- 856
- Likes
- 1,426
@Fluffy
So what I find useful about the multitone test is that it clearly shows how harmonic distortion 'adds up' over the audio range, or, put another way, 'eats up' dynamic range, esp at higher frequencies.
I happen to like instruments with complex harmonic signatures (at least to these western ears), like bagpipes, didgeridoo, etc, as well as classical orchestral and chamber music, so I tell myself it matters to me.
I do not disagree - in principal - with the other comments along the line of 'it doesn't matter' (between top tier DACs), but given my experience with the Okto, I do wonder, and so share those thoughts here.
I was not expecting or anticipating dynamics to make such a noticeable difference, but it does on my system upgrade.
And, it is truly amazing how good the $200 (and under!) DACs are today.
If it weren't for the unique feature set of the Okto, I'd probably have been fine with something like the D50 (or bal.out equivalent).
If the "grass" floor of the multitoned test is lower than the noise floor, it's insignificant. Furthermore, you can go into thinking about audibility thresholds, and in this case, a floor that is lower than -90 db is pretty much negligible. On top of that add the IMD of the speakers that are orders of magnitude more than that of the DAC, and you can safely say that this has no real world impact, under a sensible threshold.
Regarding the complexity of harmonic content in instruments, that’s a whole other discussion. But I'll do say that you want to preserve the harmonic structure, doesn't matter the instrument. I don't think one instrument is "more difficult" to reproduce than another.