Best wire to replace stock wiring in preamp?

And just why do you think that B-B DACs "are as bright as a screaming witch"? Perhaps you would care to share this with us, as well as your design experience and insight.

Reason being........I don't buy what you are selling.

I don't buy any of that. If they sound horrible, then it is because of a poor design. ANY DAC will sound horrible is used the wrong way.

There is not one designer that I know of that would prefer to use a delta-sigma DAC (of any model) over a R-2R ladder DAC.

I don't see how you can say just because you have one player that screeches, that ALL players with them will. I know for a fact that is not true. Besides, you have no more idea what his source is than I do. Silver-plated copper wire does have a reputation for sounding bright. One that I am sure many more designers will concur with than will your feelings on B-B DACs.

How can you determine by reading some review that the output transients are too high? Delta-sigma and R-2R ladder DACs are nowhere near alike in their topology or implementation. One outputs a differential voltage, which needs to be summed and low-pass filtered. The other outputs a current, which must undergo a current-voltage conversion before being LPF'ed.

Any competent designer can take any of those DACs, regardless of topology, and make them sound as bright or as soft as you may wish. Simple as that. Just because some do not is no reason to trash talk any product made that uses them.

Because now you are making accusations about stuff that I build. Accusations that are without merit or foundation.

BTW.......you may well be right that his digital source does sound bright. But I can think of many reasons why. None of which are because of the DAC chip that it has.

You said that all Burr-Brown DAC are as bright as a screaming witch, not me. That implies that most of our CD players screech.

Drive down to Texas, and I'll force you to listen to one.

I am not going to tell you where the (several hundred) other ones are. Yes, I keep track of them by serial number.

We have not made any in several years, but they exist. And they were sold in high-end outlets. No, none were ever sold in Washington state. The closest any came to there was a dealer in SF.

Originally, one design used AD1862s, but they are no longer available. Later versions had to be made with B-B, as they are the next best source of ladder DACs.

(The lower priced models used Philips DACS.)

This started out as guy wanting help on wire selection. You turned it into a diatribe on why B-B is crap, and Cirrus is better. Now you want to trash all digital audio, which is fine by me. If vinyl sounds better to you, then fine. Don't just shove a load of swill that it is because B-B DACs have transients that are too fast. Just because you have heard, or have read reviews, that were not to your liking is one thing. I have no problem with that. To jump to the conclusion it is about some technical nuance that you don't really seem to understand fully is beyond the focus of this thread. Period.

If you want to discuss why digital doesn't sound right, we can discuss that in a civil manner, but in a different thread. However, I will not participate if I have be told that "x is so because of y factor, because I read a review that said so." I see no point in trying to correct preconceived notions that are based soley of prejudicial opinions that have no basis in fact.

I can think of lots of reasons why digital doesn't sound right. None of them have diddly-squat to do with B-B, AD, Cirrus, Philips, AKG, or any other semiconductor company.

I have never worked, or will, for TI. Matter of fact, I hate them. I make obscene gestures at their plant quite often. I know someone out in AZ who hates them as much as I do. One day, he told his new bosses that when he worked for H-P, that we went out of his way to design out TI parts.

As for Burr-Brown, they are second to AD. But as you may have read, they are now the only choice in current-out DACs. And they are not longer a true R-2R architecture. Another story for another thread. Never worked for either of them. Do not intend to. Of course, B-B is now TI, so no way in hell...........

One bit is now called delta-sigma. Actually, it always was, just that some marketing weenies thought that it sounded better. It is much easier process to make, and in pratice needs no tweaking to get the MSB trim right. The big boys love 'em, as they could build a player that needed no adjustments before it was shipped. And would sound just as good (or as bad) for as long as it lasted. But has for how it sounds........another thread is needed.

(Reminds me of a story about Sony 707ES players.......the ones with 4 MSB adjustments per channel. We need another thread just for that alone.)

I have used 1704s when I needed to replace AD1862s. I do not like the low-level linearity. Mind you, that will result in other problems, and not "as bright as screaming witch". Uses tons of current on the negative rail, as they use several ladders, fired in a carefully selected stagger, to prevent nasty current glitches on the supply.

The later series..........1738..........still have my samples on my desk.........'179x........in reality, they have a mix of '1704-style ladder DACs and some delta-sigma stuff somehow combined to give a current output. More of a DSP chip than a DAC in the sense that we think of one. Obviously, an attempt to make a less expensive chip, but retain current out capabilities so that die-hards like me will use them. They know that we are not in the market for delta-sigma.

Well, excuse me........

I got the delta and the sigma reversed. I suppose that I am the first (old twit) to do that.

Sigma-delta. There, are you happy now?

One bit is a "sigma-delta"........you sum (sigma) up a bunch of little steps (delta) to make one.

Anyone interested in reading some rather technical details on the inner workings of modern DACs, I have some info that I can share.

A buddy in the chip testing business was able to answer some questions that the TI marketing weenie would not, or could not, answer. I have compiled some of it that I can e-mail to anyone interested.

Mind you, he had to sign a NDA with TI, so some things he can not share. But the crux of the communication can be summed up for the rest of you as:

1.) He prefers AD DACs over TI/BB or Cirrus.

2.) His feeling is that the Cirrus DACs are bright, and weak in the bass.

3.) He uses the term "delta-sigma" when he really means "sigma-delta". Gee, I wonder how many times someone has done that in the last 20 years. Us poor stupid mortals.........