Dac Technology Mature?

@shadorne 

Thank you, shadorne!  Yes, the Benchmarks have a great reputation and are often used in classical recordings.  Out of curiosity, do you transfer your vinyl to digital through your Benchmark? That would be a fun listening test to compare. I agree that the converters have substantially improved over the years. And from the recording side, to get a decent sample rate conversion back in the 90s, I had to take the recording to a mastering studio and pay a couple hundred dollars for what I can do myself even better  today.  Everything, it seems to me, has really improved.

I use a Mytek ADC 96/24 for recordings. As nice as that converter is, Mytek has even made some improvements in their current models. But I like my Mytek paired with my ribbon mics. The Mytek is uber detailed but retains the lovely smooth, silky sound of the ribbons. I tend to spend more on the recording side of things then monitoring or listening side (I have to prioritize somehow or I'll go broke! haha) so my DAC isn't as fancy as yours but just ordered a Grace m900 for a DAC. I have been using a lower end Schiit.  But the m900 came recommend for its transparency and detail, which is what I need for classical recordiing and for which Grace is known, and it's only $499 - about my price limit at the moment.  

I know now what you mean about trading detail for a more euphonic sound.  Hey, it's exactly what the arts have been all about for centuries - give the viewer or listener something that presents life through an ideal - a better world, an ideal place.

Since you have such a nice set up, is there a way for me to embed one of my recordings from SoundCloud on here? They compress the audio but it sounds better than YouTube at least. I'd love to get any feedback from you all. It's a jazz recording using minimalist recording techniques - just two ribbon mics in Blumlein array through a high end mic pre (hand made), into my Mytek ADC. Pure and simple.  Good players too.

@bachish   

You can add add links to your post with the “link” button. Just copy and paste the link to your soundcloud file.

Dac Technology Mature?

I know this is blasphemy, but Is Dac technology reaching maturity.

I think it’s coming back around again to R2R Multibit even if now it’s discrete as there are no chips being made because of cost.

Vimak invented Delta Sigma dac technology

BTW: I remember i think that "maybe" Technics invented the first Delta Sigma, and they called it MASH, in the 1989 SH-X1000

Cheers George

georgehifi 08-08-2018 6:35pm
4,118 posts

BTW: I remember that maybe Technics invented the first Delta Sigma, and they called it MASH.

Cheers George

I was told that Vimak invented Delta Sigma theory by one of the few high end audio engineers who has serviced the incredibly complex DS-1800Mk2 dac. As I understand it, Vimak Corporation hold the design patents for the technology, or atleast did (as patents expire). The other factor supporting that contention is that Vimak are the only manufacturer to have ever implemented a fully discrete Delta Sigma dac, as opposed to the usual chip-based design. However i’m happy to be proven wrong if anyone has information to the contrary.

I do believe we're both wrong.

From Stereophile: " Philips invented the delta-sigma modulator in the 1960s, and were the first to apply it to CD players in its 1-bit form (switched-capacitor based)."

Cheers George