After deciding that I absolutely needed to have the vastly improved presence, clarity, soundstage, and rainbows and unicorns all my days that comes with a shiny new DAC, I poked around and bought a couple for home review.
Obviously my 15+ year old Krell Showcase 7.1 DTS, THX ultra certified preamp/processor is living in the dark ages, and won't be able to come close... Right?
Ummm... Wrong...
Couldn't tell a difference between any of them.
Turns out the old Showcase has separate 24/192 Burr Brown DAC's for each channel, and seems to handle what I send from Tidal/Roon perfectly... Meaning, Losslessly... If that's a word.
The showcase actually has a pretty sophisticated digital signal processing section, so you can play with internal notch, high pass, low pass, etc, as well as eq adjustments, although none of that is automated in any way, just a side note.
Anyway, for about $500 or less used these days, I'm wondering if many of these 'older' preamps might be more capable than given credit, for those looking to save a few $$$. I'm not sure what I'm giving up, other than a thinner wallet.
Has the site ever done any testing of 10+ year old gear of high quality to see if we are better off than we were?
Was there some time in the last 10-20 years when a lot of this settled science became unsettled, leading to actual advancements that can actually be heard by humans in their living rooms?
Anyway, I tend to like nicer used stuff... Especially when it's better than what I can find new in the price range.
Obviously my 15+ year old Krell Showcase 7.1 DTS, THX ultra certified preamp/processor is living in the dark ages, and won't be able to come close... Right?
Ummm... Wrong...
Couldn't tell a difference between any of them.
Turns out the old Showcase has separate 24/192 Burr Brown DAC's for each channel, and seems to handle what I send from Tidal/Roon perfectly... Meaning, Losslessly... If that's a word.
The showcase actually has a pretty sophisticated digital signal processing section, so you can play with internal notch, high pass, low pass, etc, as well as eq adjustments, although none of that is automated in any way, just a side note.
Anyway, for about $500 or less used these days, I'm wondering if many of these 'older' preamps might be more capable than given credit, for those looking to save a few $$$. I'm not sure what I'm giving up, other than a thinner wallet.
Has the site ever done any testing of 10+ year old gear of high quality to see if we are better off than we were?
Was there some time in the last 10-20 years when a lot of this settled science became unsettled, leading to actual advancements that can actually be heard by humans in their living rooms?
Anyway, I tend to like nicer used stuff... Especially when it's better than what I can find new in the price range.