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Upsampling the way to go? ?

As if we didn't have enough to decide with the format wars, the latest issue of Stereophile implies upsampling is the magic to make cds as good as sacd. ARC however, disagrees. Has anyone actually listened to the ARC CD3 vs the MF NU Vista 3D,Cary, EMC 1,or other comparably priced players with upsampling?
tonyp54

Showing 2 responses by sean

sean
6,231 posts
 
I think that both 16 bit and upsampled 24 bit can sound very good. Most of the "problems" that we hear are not with either format, but with the amount, type and how the filtering is used in each design. I've tried it both ways and i prefer upsampling. Then again, my upsampler doesn't have any filtering so that may be part of the reason that i like it so much. The non-oversampling ( 1X ) Audio Note's also don't have any filtering and that may be why so many people think that they sound so good also. Sean
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sean
6,231 posts
 
Tom: I find your results comparing the Mill II to the DAC 3 pretty interesting. Like you, i was also interested in that piece. I found the Mill II to sound much more "organic" i.e. more musical, natural and fuller sounding. In comparison, the DAC 3 sounded somewhat "bleached", lacking detail and lacked the warmth, body and bottom end extension that the Mill II is capable of. I'm sure that i could've gotten better results with the ARC if i really tinkered with it, but i didn't feel the need. Sean
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