DSP vs. active analog crossover vs. passive analog crossover. What is your take?


What is you take on the sound quality?  Any personal experience and knowledge on the subject will be greatly appreciated. 

128x128tannoy56

Showing 3 responses by theaudioamp

I don't think anyone will ever quote Nelson Pass in a DSP class, but then again probably not an amplifier class either

If you start with digital there is no way anyone could know if DSP is used or not. You would know if it was turned on/off but it is supposed to be doing something so I hope so. Can you hear an A/D and D/A conversion? With the right parts highly doubful but then some claim to hear the difference between different high end caps in crossovers so it is a moot point I think.

 

I would read what Bruno Putzey says about active speakers. He is designing to a price point but still next level in terms of what is possible. Impossible to replicate with passive.

 

Implementation will still trump basic technology. It will be like vinyl and digital. Digital is far more capable but a good mastering is more important than anything. A bad speaker will be bad no matter passive, active or DSP. However, similarly, it will allow very competent lower cost speakers as the tech progresses. Being mechanical good speakers will never be cheap of course.  

 

One thing is for sure, a small portion of the audiophile world will continue with their old tech, blissfully claiming the superiority and pureness of their old tech (using lots of incorrect concepts and poor understanding of how things work) while the rest of the world progresses without them :-)

IMO it's not a question of better but which approach appeals to their potential customers. I doubt very much a designer or anyone else could tell whether an analog crossover has been replaced with digital if the digital is programmed to mimic the original analog. Of course there will be no peaking. 

 

This is much harder than it sounds because the high resistance and impedance of an analog crossover is not easily simulated in DSP because of the complex electromechanical interactions including with air.

 

DSP is far better for the crossover, equalization, time alignment, etc. but ideally like Kii does you want an amplifier designed for the application as well.