Hello
To my view
- no recording studio can record at so low thd values than dac are measured (except maybe digital music i don't know)
- so the so low noise obtained from dac is completely artificial as it's lower as the record gear can have
- then it doesn't mean anything to have such low thd dac and great sinad as recording equipment cannot do that
- i believe tube gear add some more hear friendy harmonics that hide this artificial very low noise
- also tube can add harmonics that are not in the record. It s kind of reconstructing harmonics that are limited by the cd format. They re not the same as original instruments but can make it sound more enjoyable
- i believe also tube can smoothed over processed masters by adding Harmonics.
- it's true that tube change sound but what ? Better have a less good measuring gear stuff that sounds enjoyable that a top notch measuring gear that sounds boring.
- i bought a 20$ ak4490 dac connected to a 12v linear psu i got and could easily ear differences by switching op amps and choose a muse 8920 (better than lm4690 who is better than stock ne5532)
- i enjoy far more the sound when i connect a tube buffer between dac and amp
- without tube buffer sound is boring
- i prefer the sound over nos r2r tda1543*4 but for some style the nos dac sounds more natural. The ak4490 is less fatiguing maybe because of less imd.
So please stop saying that only specs matter. Tube gears and r2r dac are not made to have top notch specs that is not a secret. But that doesn't mean they make a sound that isn't better enjoyable.
- to peaople talking about bias and placebo affect i believe that you re also prone to placebo and when you see good measurements you think you dac sound good and then your mind don't want to believe that lesser measuring dacs could be more enjoyable to listen to
- bye the way if someone want to measure my dac board
https://www.amazon.com/Decoder-Board-AK4490-AK4118-Channel/dp/B07784YK8S
I believe it has the short delay slow roll.off filter has i tested th pins on the dac. I think that there is a high freq roll off but i don't care has the sound is very good
@Moriarty i had a marrantz cd5001 that i didn't like at all then a teac cd p800nt with pcm1795 a lot better but i prefer my 20$ ak4490 board so i can advise to find a ak dac with good psu and where you can switch op amps.
Cheers
If i wad biased i think i would have prefered the pcm1795 of my cd player over a cheap 20€ board that has more high freq roll off