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analog to digital to analog conversion

Potential stupid question alert.

There seems to be quite a movement of people favoring R-2R ladder DACs over chip based technology. A common impression is that the R-2R approach sounds less digital and more natural. When music is recorded, the analog to digital conversion is done using chip based converters, not some type of resistor ladder ... correct? So it would seem to me that a chip based solution that reverses exactly the digital encoding should be able to do a better job of restoring the audio back to its original analog state, retaining the least amount possible of "digitalness." What am I misunderstanding? 
jaybarnett

Showing 1 response by vinylzone

vinylzone
288 posts
 
Think of it like a phono preamp.  You don't necessarily know exactly what equalization was used, other than it's within RIAA specs, and there are different ways to implement RIAA equalization in phono stages.

Don't sweat it, just pick the one that sounds the best on a variety of source material.

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