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Hi-fi system resolution has long been the cause of heated arguments. But when it comes to converting digital data to an analog signal, there can be no argument. Data go in at one end of a DAC and an analog signal comes out of the other end, with a noise floor directly rated to the combination of the converter's digital and analog resolution. Ever since I started measuring digital products for Stereophile, I have been expressing a D/A processor's effective resolution in terms of the equivalent number of bits. With a typical FFT-derived analysis of 16-bit data, the levels of the individual…
A decade or so ago, I was giving seminars on how the way recordings had been made influenced what audiophiles hear from their systems. As an example of how different stereo microphone techniques resulted in different soundstage presentations, I used "The Turning" by Maura Bosch from While You Are Alive (Cantus CTS-1208). I had recorded all the tracks on this album from Minnesotan male-voice choir Cantus with three pairs of microphones: a close, central ORTF pair of cardioids, a close, spaced pair of omnis, and a distant pair of omnis mounted on a Jecklin disc. (You can see a photo of the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Roon-Ready, two-channel, digital-to-analog converter with volume control, color LCD touch screen, DSP, and remote control. Digital inputs: AES/EBU on XLR, S/PDIF on RCA jack and TosLink optical connector, USB Type A, USB Type B, Ethernet on RJ45 jack. PCM sample rates supported: 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz, 192kHz, 352.8kHz, and 384kHz, plus DSD64 and DSD128 (not all frequencies are supported with all inputs). Maximum input word length: 24 or 32 bits depending on input. Analog outputs: 1 pair balanced XLR, 1 pair single-ended RCA, ¼"…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Roon Nucleus+ music server; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream D/A processor, Ayre Acoustics QA-9 A/D converter.
Power amplifiers: Classé Delta Mono, Parasound Halo JC 1+, and Lamm Industries M1.2 Reference (all monoblocks).
Loudspeakers: Vimberg Mino, KEF LS50, GoldenEar BRX.
Headphones: Audeze LCD-X.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Vodka (Ethernet), AudioQuest (USB), DH Labs (1m, AES/EBU). Interconnect: AudioQuest Wild Blue (balanced). Speaker: AudioQuest K2. Headphones: Nordost…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Weiss DAC202, which Erick Lichte reviewed in January 2012, was one of the highest-resolution digital processors I have measured, so I was intrigued to see if the DAC502 would match its predecessor's performance. As I had done with the DAC202, I measured the Weiss DAC502 with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"). Apple's USB Prober utility identified the DAC502 as "DAC501" from "Weiss_Engineering_Ltd." with the serial number string "0.0.1" (footnote 1).The USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode…
Some contentious issues will not be resolved in my lifetime: vinyl vs digital, tubes vs solid state, subjective vs objective, streaming vs physical media.
Also, subwoofers vs no subwoofers in a stereo music system.
Setting aside the issues of cost and space and domestic tranquility and considering only the quality of the musical experience, I believe a subwoofer, or a few, should be a basic component of any modern audio system.
Regardless of the size and range of yours, loudspeakers—the main ones—are always positioned for optimal tonal balance and imaging based on their…
I started out in multichannel, feeding the subs—either one or three—from the Sub/LFE (low-frequency effects) channel of my multichannel server. In that arrangement, the main speakers are running full-range while the sub gets only the LFE channel on tracks that have one. Post calibration, the results were rewarding, even though on music the LFE channel mostly tracks the low-frequency content of the front channels and contains little unique information. On a recent recording of Jean Guillou's organ transcription of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, performed by Zuzana Ferjencíková on…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Powered, sealed-box subwoofer. Drive-unit: one 10" cone woofer. Effective displacement: 160in2. Effective piston area: 60in3. Low-pass filter: 30–130Hz, 12dB or 24dB/octave. High-pass filter: not supplied. Inputs: stereo or mono balanced (single XLR connector), stereo or mono unbalanced (single RCA connector). Input modes: Master, Slave. Outputs: single balanced (XLR) to additional subwoofer. Input impedance: 50k ohms (RCA), 100k ohms (XLR). Front-panel controls: Power (On/Off/Automatic Signal Sensing); Digital Automatic Room Optimization (Demo/…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Oppo Digital UDP-105 universal disc player, Pink Faun 2.16 Linux-based music server running Roon (review forthcoming), Baetis Prodigy-X PC-based music server running JRiver Media Center v26 and Roon, Mytek Brooklyn, exaSound e38 Mark II and Okto DAC8 Pro D/A processors. QNAP TVS-873 NAS.
Preamplifier: Audio Research MP1.
Power amplifiers: Benchmark AHB2, Classé Sigma Mono.
Loudspeakers: Revel Ultima2 Studio (L/C/R), Revel Performa3 f206 (SL/SR).
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Coffee (USB). Interconnects: AudioQuest Earth/DBS…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Before JL's Digital Automatic Room Optimization, D.A.R.O., (fig.1, dotted red trace), a large, broad hump at 32Hz and two nulls at 66Hz and 84Hz dominate the sub-100Hz range. After D.A.R.O. (solid blue trace), the 32Hz hump is mitigated and the range below the nulls is flattened and extended. Note that, as positioned, the single subwoofer cannot significantly reduce the two main nulls. Note the smooth low-frequency extension to below 15Hz, impressive for a single 10" driver.
Fig.1 In-room low-frequency response of single JL Audio f110v2…