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You got to be ?& · Kidding me

To be as short as possible, I just came across many articles on the web regarding a trend amongst DAC designers to disregard all the Industry has learnt and done in 30 years and go back to the basics.

I am on the market for a new DAC, so I was researching many options such as Weiss, Berkley Alpha, Bryston, etc...

And then I came across an article regarding a DAC GURU from Eastern Europe that on his point of view a 1980´s TDA1541A D/A chip and using no Up-sampling is far more musical approach than any up-to-date Burr Brown, Crysta or Wolfson DAC with 24 Bit 96 or 192 Khz technology.

But it seems that he is not alone, there are many DAC designers using this scheme as well. SO I HAVE TO ASK, "ARE YOU SERIOUS??!!!"
kapa11

Showing 5 responses by aplhifi

aplhifi
515 posts
 
And then I came across an article regarding a DAC GURU from Eastern Europe that on his point of view a 1980´s TDA1541A D/A chip and using no Up-sampling is far more musical approach than any up-to-date Burr Brown, Crysta or Wolfson DAC with 24 Bit 96 or 192 Khz technology.

And since I also consider myself from Eastern Europe, I am wondering if the above mentioned Guru has heard some 195kHz/32bit that is further upsampled to 6.24MHz, and how this sounds compared to NonOS?

Just curious!

Best,
Alex Peychev
aplhifi
515 posts
 
Hello Karim,

I will have to agree with 4est's post above...
IME, NOS DACs have a very organic presentation that is rather nice on simple music, but breaks up or washes out on complex passages. I prefer the native sample rates in a more modern (revealing) chip.
because my experience it similar.

Although in most cases you can obtain nice sound with the "Addition by subtraction" effect, I've always been a fan of analog-like sound combined with tight linearity, resulting in uncolored presentation.

The new DAC-S is $5000.

Best wishes,
Alex Peychev
aplhifi
515 posts
 
Hello Mrtennis,

what is one's criteria of sound?

I was at live concert yesterday. Hiromi played solo piano. She is a virtuoso, no doubt about that, so it was an amazing experience.

our hobby is so subjective that some audiophiles will prefer a non over sampling dac with a tube in place of a current production dac with over sampling.

At the concert, no one asked me what kind of sound I prefer that is inline with my "subjective hobby" being an audiophile myself.

Best,
Alex Peychev
aplhifi
515 posts
 
Bravo Grateful! I agree with you on all accounts (very nicely put), but it seems to me that you haven't auditioned all "whateversampling" solutions. Yes, it is extremely difficult to obtain good sound from upsampling designs, but once you hear it done the right way, there is no going back. It is simply because there is no "analog reconstruction" circuit available to cover for the NonOS stair-step at high frequencies resulting in smeared top-end image, IMHO!

Best wishes,
Alex Peychev
aplhifi
515 posts
 
Thank you Alex. And, yes, I certainly have not heard all there is to hear. I would certainly welcome an audition of one of your masterpieces, I understand you have quite a following and reputation.
Regards,
William

Thank you for the nice words William! Yes, it is very difficult to audition every available design out there, so I understand.

We have NWO-M and DAC-S. Which one you are interested auditioning?

Best,
Alex Peychev
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