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  3. 187947-21

Good measuring DACs vs.

I recently owned and compared a number of DACs in my system and was particularly interested in the sound of two "perfect measuring" DACs, the Mola Mola Tambaqui and the Benchmark DAC3 HGC. With either of those, it seemed every note came out clearly, cleanly, and accurately, without a hint of distortion. Both have been reviewed by Stereophile, and John Atkinson concluded his review measurements with,

"The Mola Mola Tambaqui offers state-of-the-digital-art measured performance. I am not surprised HR liked its sound."

and,

"Benchmark’s DAC3 HGC offers state-of-the-art measured performance. All I can say is "Wow!"

So, why is it that neither of these two objectively perfect DACs seem to emotionally engage me to the same level as my Mojo Audio Mystique EVO Pro, which is an R2R design using (basically antique) AD1862 "Z" chips? How can I not perceive the same levels of body, tone, or dimensionality from two DACs which exhibit "state-of-the-digital-art measured performance" and that really do nothing wrong?

mitch2

Showing 1 response by mijostyn

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mijostyn
8,222 posts
 

@koestner 1+

Some manufacturers intentionally add harmonic distortion to amplifiers because many audiophiles like it. Not to mention that most audiophiles are trying to judge equipment through speaker/rooms that have insane amounts of distortion. It is like trying to evaluate a photograph through a foggy window. Even with the very best systems one has to be careful.  Then there are the effects of price and appearance on audiophile psychology, expectation bias and so forth.  Put in a properly blinded situation I doubt any of us could reliably identify any of these DACs. What any piece of audio electronics sounds like, with the exception of amplifiers, is more a matter of psychology than anything else. 

If measurements are meaningless, an audiophile's opinion in regards to sound quality is worthless...except mine.

 

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