Are there any studies to show at what level a panel of listeners can tell the difference in A/B trials between top-level (better than 120 dB ) SINAD and lower-performing DACs? Where is the audibility point? If I A/B'd a Topping D90 (120 dB SINAD) with - say- a Topping E30 (112 dB SINAD) on 24-bit "silence" or quiet music with lots of pauses, adjusted for a good normal listening level to music or tones, would I hear any difference? Would a DAC with a SINAD of 90 dB be discernable in such an A/B? Of course the character of the noise and distortion in each DAC would play a role in A/B difference detection, but surely there must be some way to tell at what point SINAD degradation becomes hearable in an A/B.
Of course if you crank the playback gain way way up - and your playback amp has even better SINAD than the DAC which seems unlikely, then you could hear ANY noise from the DAC no matter how low in level, because you have cranked it up.
But if one uses "normal comfortable music playback level" for the amplifier, at what SINAD difference can one reliably hear the difference in SINAD between DACs?
Of course if you crank the playback gain way way up - and your playback amp has even better SINAD than the DAC which seems unlikely, then you could hear ANY noise from the DAC no matter how low in level, because you have cranked it up.
But if one uses "normal comfortable music playback level" for the amplifier, at what SINAD difference can one reliably hear the difference in SINAD between DACs?
