High resolution digital is dead. The best DAC's killed it.


Something that came as a surprise to me is how good DAC's have gotten over the past 5-10 years.

Before then, there was a consistent, marked improvement going from Redbook (44.1/16) to 96/24 or higher.

The modern DAC, the best of them, no longer do this. The Redbook playback is so good high resolution is almost not needed. Anyone else notice this?
erik_squires
“I'm just saying that if the perceived quality of audio reproduction could be improved so dramatically by inverting the polarity of playback it would be a common feature.”

Nobody said the sound is improved dramatically. Give me a break. It’s more like a subtle but powerful difference at best. It depends on the recording and the system and the listeners skill at hearing. Why would it be a common feature? The industry doesn’t believe in Polarity, power cords, fuses or wire directionality. So what else is new?

erik_squires
... no one has it because almost no one finds any value in it.
Every Audio Research preamp I've ever seen has a phase inversion function. It can be very useful!

The old McIntosh MX-100 tuner-preamp also had this function, although I don't know if it's included on more recent Mac products.
Every Audio Research preamp I've ever seen has a phase inversion function. It can be very useful!


@cleeds

Please give specific example. :)

Best,
E

erik_squires
cleeds: Every Audio Research preamp I've ever seen has a phase inversion function. It can be very useful!
Please give specific example
SP-8; SP-10; SP-11; Ref 3; Ref 5 ...
@cleeds

Hahahaha, sorry, I meant of music. :) I meant what music did you find it useful to use the switch with.
Also, what speakers are you using??

Best,

E