- The TDAI-3400 is NOT designed as a conventional DAC so it is meaningless to test it for this function the way you did, even offensive to the manufacturer. It does NOT belong on your SINAD list.
Nothing about that is clear on manufacturer's website. Nor to any owner that doesn't sit there and read forum posts about the product day in and day out.
- You couldn't tell if noise injecting functions (Wifi, Bluetooth etc - build in for convenience) and ICC were disabled during your testing and if you used the latest firmware. To me it seems the best approach would be to test all equipment as bare as possible to make outcomes as comparable as possible. Or alternatively test with and without functions engaged and make special notice of this. And respect a manufacturers possibility to solve problems with firmware updates.
What? A high-end product better have excellent isolation between its subsystems. It is not my job to help it get better measurements by shutting things off.
As to shutting options off, here is what I said in my review:
I reset the unit to factory to make sure no equalization was in there.
If the company leaves something still on that impacts performance, then what is going to happen, is going to happen with respect to measurements.
- You did not question if you tested a faulty unit, even after you discovered that ONLY ONE CHANNEL acted completely out of your expectations. Every self-respecting and professional researcher would do this before publicising results. Just to make sure. The need to return the unit to its owner is no excuse.
It is very common for one channel to perform differently than another. It happens routinely in headphone amps and power amplifiers. Here is one from a recent review:
Notice the difference in the two channels in blue. That doesn't indicate an amplifier or entire unit is broken. I have repaired literally hundreds of amplifiers in my life. It is how I put myself through college. I know an amplifier when it is broken, and when it is not. As I explained when this defense was put forward that I would perform listening tests as confirmation. I did that in this thread and the unit sounds absolutely fine.
Now, if you think the unit is broken, please coordinate with its owner to pay his shipping cost to and from Lyngdorf. They can confirm the operation of the unit or fine what is broken in it. It is not my job to chase ghosts when I have no suspicion of one existing in the first place.
May be this is unexpected but I really like the concept of your work and I think it is a valuable addition to other audio-related websites. Only, the outcomes would be a lot more meaningful if you filtered feedback and criticism to improve your methods in stead of trying to fight them. I am already a long time lurker but only active since a product I actually own became subject of your tests.
I perform the most interactive testing of anyone. I routinely run additional tests asked by members. What I don't respond to is hostile questioning and plain defense of a product just because an owner doesn't want to hear bad news about it. In this case, the actual owner is perfectly fine with the outcome which is kudos to him. I appreciate your pain in this regard but I am a direct and straight shooter in this. Not going to make excuses for product performance no matter what.
Instead of venting your frustrations at me, contact Lyngdorf and ask them to run the same measurements. One of three things will happen:
1. They don't have the gear to measure them which would right away tell you something.
2. They run measurements that agree with mine and hopefully then work on improving the product.
3. They run measurements that dispute mine. In this case, I would be delighted to work with them to figure out what is wrong with their measurements or mine.
Just protesting here with rude tone doesn't accomplish anything here. And frankly is illogical. It is not like you had seen the type of measurements I have ran to have an expectation that results should be different. You are just going by your gut that results must be wrong and therefore my competence should be questioned. And what proof do you have that? None that I can see.
I don't celebrate when products don't do well. In the case of this brand, I actually expect to get grief from their sister company with whom we do business with, and whose CEO I know personally. So don't be walking around thinking I want to be critical in my work. Ultimately my goal is to earn the trust of membership that whatever the measurements show, is the truth and the facts. Everything else is an attempt to cloud that which I don't appreciate any more than you calling my competence into question.