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Redbook Keeps Surprising

I was a Best Buy to get a memory card reader for my computer. Looked at the CDs and saw a few in the bargain bin that I would like to have, only a few dollars. Came home, ripped them with DB power amp, picked the best cover art. Transferred to my Aurender through the NAS and played away. WOW, impressive sound and I really enjoyed them both. I like the High Res downloads and my SACD collection but am often really impressed by good Redbook CD. It really is the music that counts. 
davt
jon2020's avatar
jon2020
913 posts
 
Review of Aeris DAC :-
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/jeffrowland/2.html

"JRDG states that the Aeris is "based upon an asynchronous buffer, voltage-controlled crystal oscillators and a 24-bit D/A converter – under the precise control of a FPGA running proprietary algorithms..." and "...delivers bit-perfect conversion ......."

But, but......

http://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/data-sheets/AD1853.pdf

http://www.analog.com/en/products/audio-video/audio-da-converters/ad1853.html#product-overview


Review of Bricasti M1 :-

http://www.dagogo.com/bricasti-design-model-1-usb-dac-review

"The M1 is one of the best DACs available on the market at any price."


Sheesh!
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
4,966 posts
 

You believe what the dac manufacture is selling you, that a hybrid dac can deliver "bit perfect" Redbook PCM??? You been suckered sunshine.

Why do you think dacs like the YPsilon,Total,Trinity Dac, Flagship MSB's and many others have designed their top dacs with hard to get R2R Multibit converters for Redbook only conversion, when they could of used Delta Sigma at 100th of the price and got DSD replay as well??

Some can't see the forest through the trees.  

 

charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
6,996 posts
 
Jon2020,
You are making a very rational point. The type of chip or conversion (Delta Sigma vs R2R ladder ) is just one aspect of what determines the final sound quality of a DAC. Implementation of either method is the more important issue. I’d make the argument that I/V conversion, power supply quality and the output stage quality and execution are of greater influence on the sound quality. You can not overemphasized one isolated aspect and then attributes that this is the only explanation.

I’ve heard numerous examples of both approaches to DAC design and there’s considerable overlapping between them. Based on listening I don’t believe that one is " inherently" superior to the other.  I'd encourage people to just listen and come to a decision based on what you hear rather than dogma concerning isolated design /part  choices. 
Charles,
jon2020's avatar
jon2020
913 posts
 
Thanks,  Charles, for chiming in. 
I guess we should leave the dogmatic one well alone.  

Rgds.
Jon.
mapman's avatar
mapman
15,679 posts
 
Nothings perfect.

Glad to see a thread praising CD sound quality.

I’ve been using Dbpoweramp to my own homegrown PC based music server and couldn’t be happier.  I haven't actually played a CD in years.  Alll CDs are ripped to music server and backed up immediately up front.

CD playback like everything can only be as good as the weakest link in teh chain, but many ways of assembling a robust chain these days.
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