I see so many attractive CDP's for sale on this site that have 18 and 20 bit resolution (Naim, Theta, Classe, etc.) Does it make sense to still buy one as a stand alone or should I only consider 24 bit? Thanks for the advice.
hahah.... looks like Ghostrider said it all and Jond and i were typing the same exact things at the same exact time. Look at our opening lines : ) Sean >
My first CD player, a Mission unit, had only 14 bit D/As, (oversampled) but was vastly superior to contemporary Sony units which boasted 16 bits, so I agree with sean (for a change). That being said, and all things being equal (which is not always true) 24 bits has potential for sonic improvement if the rest of the circuitry is up to it.
Let's not forget jitter affect on resolution! Both circuit noise and data dependent jitter can easily "disqualify" the significance of additional least-order bits in a 20+ bit system. The intrinsic jitter from the oscillators that control the coax or Toslink connection to the DAC can destroy any hope of resolving near 24 bits.
How does jitter have an effect? I don't know how CD players are commonly configured, but, if I were designing it the serial bits would be loaded into a buffer register in whatever irregular timing they might arrive with from the spinning disc. (Actually a set of buffer registers, for a cache of values). Then the 16 bit word would be output parallel to the D/A, and converted on a clock mark. Only the conversion clock mark needs to be timed accurately.
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