Upsampling and Stereophile


Last summer there were several threads here on Audiogon about digital upsampling and over sampling (a couple long and heated), but the opinion(s) of the audio press were conspicuously absent. In the Dec. 2000 issue of Stereophile, page 3, John Atkinson, has an editorial explaining their position on this in his "As We See It" column, page 3. I encourage everyone interested in the subject to look up the article. I have excerpted the following quotes that I think sums up Stereophile's opinion, and that may pique your interst: (1) "....the audio industry has settled on an 8X-oversampling ratio, the 44.1 kHZ CD data being converted to a 352.8 kHZ datastream before D/A conversion." (2) "no matter how good these upsampling products can sound-- and the dCS, Bel Canto, and MSB products indeed sound excellent-- there is no conceptual difference between them and traditional CD playback systems. I am now convinced that the sonic differences we have heard and reported on are merely due to the different choices in digital filters made by the designers of these products." (3) "In the meantime don't buy a digital product because it has "24/96" emblazoned on its front panel. Buy it because it makes your CDs sound great". Cheers. Craig.
garfish

Showing 7 responses by danvetc

Just so we are clear on this....I have a sarcist sense of humor that is lost on some, isn't it Carl? I would not want to seem leacherous. The Tres Hombres foldout is of a huge plate of enchiladas, or something, under about a pound of shredded cheeses starting to melt with a cold sweating beer next to it. I do not have an excuse for the Linda and Farah posters, however. Charlie
Craig, you bet it was the Top! Their early stuff was excellent blues rock, missed by many. The quadrophonic, as I remember it, rocked front to back with the bottom end. It was very cool, esp in '75. Charlie
Also would like to note that Tres Hombres has my favorite inner cover artwork/photo of all time. I drool just thinking about it. Had it tacked up on my wall for years, I think right in between my Linda Rondstat and Farah Fawcett posters. Those were the days...
Hello Craig. I realize I will probably get flamed for saying this, but confusion is getting the best of me. I am reminded of what one of my great professors during Veterinary school said, "I don't know how the automatic transmission works, but I can still drive my truck." (Yogi Berra's got nothin' on him, boy.) So, following that logic, forgive me if I say, "I don't know how my Bel Canto DAC1-toslink-DVD transport works, but I can put a cd in it, and, for a $1600 combo, it sounds very, very good!" Oh, and I understand there is a new upgrade for the DAC1, has to do with the power supply................. Charlie
Absolutely! ........I'm still looking for a screwdriver so I can get into this damn thing......now where is the power supply?????
Just so we are clear on this....I have a sarcist sense of humor that is lost on some, isn't it Carl? I would not want to seem leacherous. The Tres Hombres foldout is of a huge plate of enchiladas, or something, under about a pound of shredded cheeses starting to melt with a cold sweating beer next to it. I do not have an excuse for the Linda and Farah posters, however. Charlie