Dac Technology Mature?

Hi, First post here...professional classical musician and recordist as a serious hobby for 20 + years. So I’ve been on the other side of the audio process, so to speak, and am just curious to read what the audiophiles are up to.

So hello everyone.

Here’s my take on ADCs and DACs - IMO, they have already attained a level of near perfect transparency (assuming a professional level of converters designed with that goal in mind).

On top of that, the sample rate conversion has become stellar. For instance, when downsampling from 88.2 or 96 Kh, 32 bit float to 44.1 16 bit dithered and noise shaped in Izotope RX, the original and down sampled version with a phase reversal null perfectly in my DAW in the audible rang. Listening back it’s dead silent at full volume except for a slight bit of white noise (the dither and headphone amp noise).

So if it is transparency you are after, they are pretty much there already. Probably just small improvements are on the way.

If you are looking for a more euphonic sound that can match analogue, then I’m sure there is much more to come.

@shadorne 

Thank you, shadorne!  Yes, the Benchmarks have a great reputation and are often used in classical recordings.  Out of curiosity, do you transfer your vinyl to digital through your Benchmark? That would be a fun listening test to compare. I agree that the converters have substantially improved over the years. And from the recording side, to get a decent sample rate conversion back in the 90s, I had to take the recording to a mastering studio and pay a couple hundred dollars for what I can do myself even better  today.  Everything, it seems to me, has really improved.

I use a Mytek ADC 96/24 for recordings. As nice as that converter is, Mytek has even made some improvements in their current models. But I like my Mytek paired with my ribbon mics. The Mytek is uber detailed but retains the lovely smooth, silky sound of the ribbons. I tend to spend more on the recording side of things then monitoring or listening side (I have to prioritize somehow or I'll go broke! haha) so my DAC isn't as fancy as yours but just ordered a Grace m900 for a DAC. I have been using a lower end Schiit.  But the m900 came recommend for its transparency and detail, which is what I need for classical recordiing and for which Grace is known, and it's only $499 - about my price limit at the moment.  

I know now what you mean about trading detail for a more euphonic sound.  Hey, it's exactly what the arts have been all about for centuries - give the viewer or listener something that presents life through an ideal - a better world, an ideal place.

Since you have such a nice set up, is there a way for me to embed one of my recordings from SoundCloud on here? They compress the audio but it sounds better than YouTube at least. I'd love to get any feedback from you all. It's a jazz recording using minimalist recording techniques - just two ribbon mics in Blumlein array through a high end mic pre (hand made), into my Mytek ADC. Pure and simple.  Good players too.

For me, I like my converters to be transparent - If I want color I'd rather do that in other areas of the audio chain.

To test the transparency of digital audio is actually pretty easy. You just have to make a digital copy of an analog recording (tape or vinyl, for instance) and do a double blind test to see if anyone can hear the difference. I believe such a test was done with analog tape but I can't seem to find it on google. Does anyone know about it?