Streamer and DAC considerations

[Overseas]

Given the budget, you should try a Wiim device, say Wiim Pro Plus just for comparation. Price is insignificant to budget and the practical experience may teach you loads instead debating on ASR.

 

[Purité Audio]

Thank you. Any experience with the A-10? I have considered hunting down a demo of their gear but haven't made it happen yet.

I have all the Eversolo streamers here, A6/A8/A10 and the new ‘Play’ arrives today, no difference in sound quality as they are all audibly transparent ( see Amir’s reviews) but the more expensive ones have some added features which you might find useful.
Keith

 

[displayname]

Appreciate all the input from everyone

 

[klinertay]

That seems a stretch then. Detail and soundstage issues sound like audiophoolya

You have been watching AP Mastering. He is often wrong.

 

[Chrispy]

You have been watching AP Mastering. He is often wrong.

No, have no idea what AP Mastering is.

 

[pichu]

You have been watching AP Mastering. He is often wrong.

Enlighten us then please.

How can a transparent DAC give me better detail and soundstage over another?

 

[klinertay]

Yup, you sound just like the AP Mastering fella.

 

[klinertay]

Different chips (like ESS Sabre, AKM, Burr-Brown) have distinct sonic characteristics, but the surrounding analog circuitry, power supply, and output stage matter just as much, impacting noise and signal integrity.

 

[voodooless]

Different chips (like ESS Sabre, AKM, Burr-Brown) have distinct sonic characteristics, but the surrounding analog circuitry, power supply, and output stage matter just as much, impacting noise and signal integrity.

Yeah yeah, we’ve heard it all… And your evidence for this is what? Let me guess, you heard it?

If the two DACs measure below audible levels, which are quite well established by decades of science in various fields, they are in fact inaudible. Regardless of chip, power supply or analog circuits.

There is more than one way to Rome, but the trick is they all end up there.. they are supposed to.

How can DAC's have a SOUND SIGNATURE if they measure as transparent?

I know there are people out there that think cables affect sound, which is much worse, but there really is no response to something like that, but just to smile and nod. But what about people who talk about DACS as if they were headphone drivers or speakers, and talk about the SOUNDSTAGE...

audiosciencereview.com

 

[klinertay]

So you say DAC as in chip. Nobody listens to just the chip. Yes all chips sound the same, everything after its tiny output matters.

 

[voodooless]

Yes all chips sound the same

Really? Earlier you said the opposite:

Different chips (like ESS Sabre, AKM, Burr-Brown) have distinct sonic characteristics

So which is it?

 

[klinertay]

OMG. If I play my new KLMI portable Cd player and compare it to my SONY dvd player connected to my SMLS “DAC”, the SMLS sounds much better. That is what I mean. They both have the same chip. They both have the same chip. But the output is different. Most people don’t listen to or measure chips, they listen to a DAC as a converter as an over system. Chip same, system different. It’s about music not measurements.

 

[oleg87]

OMG. If I play my new KLMI portable Cd player and compare it to my SONY dvd player connected to my SMLS “DAC”, the SMLS sounds much better.

I'm sure it does, but that is not evidence of it actually producing discernably different sound.

 

[klinertay]

Knowing how we see magenta in a scientific way adds nothing to our experience of it. It’s only about looking. Same as audio. If you think seeing magenta is delusional, then you would have the same problem with listening to without measuring. Magenta matters only for the eye, same with music.

 

[voodooless]

If you think seeing magenta is delusional, then you would have the same problem with listening to without measuring. Magenta matters only for the eye, same with music.

Well…

Do you see these lines as perfectly horizontal?

Do you see black dots in the white intersection?

… I could post hundreds more of these showing how easily your visual senses are fooled.

 

[Svend P]

OMG. If I play my new KLMI portable Cd player and compare it to my SONY dvd player connected to my SMLS “DAC”, the SMLS sounds much better. That is what I mean. They both have the same chip. They both have the same chip. But the output is different. Most people don’t listen to or measure chips, they listen to a DAC as a converter as an over system. Chip same, system different. It’s about music not measurements.

Message to golden-eared audiophiles posting at ASR for the first time...

Hello friend. Hey, listen...we know how it is. Believe me, most of us have been there too. You've spent years toiling in the muck of audiophilia. You read ALL the reviews. You watched ALL the youtube videos. You visited ALL the other forums where everything always makes a difference. You...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[klinertay]

No - it’s not being fooled. It’s appreciating your senses and taking part in the sensual nature of sound. Those optical illusion are wonderful and all are true. Just like magenta. Sound called forth the creation of the ear so that it would have an organ of perception to understand itself. Not the other way around.

 

[voodooless]

Sound called forth the creation of the ear so that it would have an organ of perception to understand itself. Not the other way around.

That makes no practical sense whatsoever.

 

[MoreWatts]

Nobody listens to just the chip. Yes all chips sound the same, everything after its tiny output matters.

ASR (and other) DAC measurements are made at the analog outputs. All that stuff after the DAC chip is included in the measurements. So DACs that measure similar should sound similar.

 

[popej]

I could post hundreds more of these showing how easily your visual senses are fooled.

There are acoustical illusions too, but IMHO problem is not in simple illusion. It is about peception, how it works and how perceiving a sound is different from hearing a sound. Probably the best ilustration is McGurk effect.