DAC Measurements vs Actual Experience

Big difference between accurate and personal preference. The Benchmark may be a far more accurate DAC, but that does not mean for you it is the better DAC.  If you have some ability to set absolute volume though, try to listen at exactly the same volume. One thing you can be confident in, you are not doing anything wrong.

@sixfour3,

As someone who believes in science, measurements, and subjective listening, I believe there are some serious misconceptions about "measurements", and the position that those who use measurements take, and what they mean. That misconception comes from blind attachment to absolute measurements (a well known audiosciencereview person), as well as those on the other side who don’t don’t understand measurements or want to sweep them under a rug in all cases.

Measurements will never indicate individual preference. They may indicate, after large scale tests like Harmon/Toole did, that most people will prefer a particular set of measured values, but they will never guarantee what any individual will prefer.

Measurements may also reveal "uncomfortable" truths, like high resolution digital does have more "information" and can capture and play back what comes off that microphone more accurately than analog tape and vinyl. More accurately does not mean you will prefer it, and because of side effects of vinyl, there may be psycho-acoustic effects that allow more of certain types of information to reach your brain. Strangely enough, more noise can also allow you to detect lower level signals in some cases. Reduced information can allow you to focus on that which is most important which may be lost in a higher information "stream".

And just to "tweak" the never measurements crowd :-), while measurements cannot reveal what we will subjectively like, they are pretty good at identifying what can or cannot make audible differences, but if you are unsure, you can always perform an unbiased test with your ears/brain :-)

Analogue ... What exactly does that mean? Pretty much you are right YYZ

djones51,

Some DACs, even high end ones are intentionally colored. Some claim that a minimum phase output filter improves the sound, but it is still a coloration and not true to the data. It sounds different and you may like that and you may not. Some like MQA, some think it adds an unnatural quality to instruments, even if some find it pleasant.

Hey Chesebert can you tell me who wrote this in 2011 and whose fairly limited posts have been almost all about DACs and a large portion about Linn DACs?  Biased?

I personally don't mind listening to mp3 (320kps) using Klimax DS. It sounds a whole lota more analog and musical than the same CD played back on the CDP that Klimax replaced. Yes, mp3s sound great, CDs sound amazing and hi-res sounds heavenly.

But even your ears can trick you. An audiophile bought a pair of well reviewed speakers and loved them at the store and initially when he got them home. But over time he just felt there was something "wrong". Some music sounded amazing, some not so much. I was able to tell him in 15 minutes with a laptop and microphone that the crossover frequency was too high, hurting dispersion and it looked like some cone breakup. Sounded awesome on vocals, guitar, even most pianos as it was in the sweet spot of what was a very good driver, but used wrong at a system level.

I expect that only the assembled product is "hand built" by Ben, much like every other product in a chassis that is not built in high volume. I certainly hope he does not hand build his PCB boards. "Hand Built" and electronics are two things you really never want to hear in the same sentence. It is not a good combination.