Have dacs changed so much in 10 years.
- Thread starter Dean Jordan
- Start date
adamdea
You are not a sound quality evaluation device
Not sure about rega dacs , but a musical fidelity X-24k from 1999 would take a 24-bit input.
vacuum_tubes
pfm Member
The Wolfson WM8742 in the original Rega DAC would support 32 bit but I think rega limited it to 16 bit
the caretaker
pfm Member
A old DAC at 48kHz being used with a streamer via spdif/usb converter can sound very nice...I used my audio alchemy DAC in the same way before it packed up..sounded fab
davidjt
pfm Member
With regard to mental health, I'm afraid there's no known cure for upgraditis.
As noted above, what differentiates the majority of DACs is the quality of the power supplies and (these days) of the pre-amp. Both cost money to implement, and rrp = BOM x 10 is (or used to be) a rough guide to what you are getting.
So imo the important criterion is price rather than age.
Every DAC upgrade I have done has increased my enjoyment: the truism 'source first' still applies in my experience.
As noted above, what differentiates the majority of DACs is the quality of the power supplies and (these days) of the pre-amp. Both cost money to implement, and rrp = BOM x 10 is (or used to be) a rough guide to what you are getting.
So imo the important criterion is price rather than age.
Every DAC upgrade I have done has increased my enjoyment: the truism 'source first' still applies in my experience.
Strictly Stereo
Trade: Strictly Stereo
Your DAC deals with PCM and possibly DSD. It doesn't deal with FLAC. There is another component or subsystem upstream from the DAC that converts FLAC into PCM.
JezmondTutu
pfm Member
I’d be very interested to do a direct comparison of a new £2k DAC/pre against a 10 year old DAC/Pre that costs £2k used.
FYI i'm using an Arcam BB500 converter in my main system. It has 7 inputs, including 75 ohm BNC, phono SPDIF, optical SPDIF and an XLR input for balanced 110 ohm AES. It's got a digital domain volume control, an analog domain attenuator, and supports jitter free reconstruction of the source clock via an additional clock connection (with a suitable source which I have). I was released in the early 90s, so it's 30 years old
Yes, things have moved on, but there are other products which at least attempted to do some of this stuff a while back. BTW, i'm not suggesting it sounds like a modern DAC, it's certainly limited in it's sample rate support, but it's a fun DAC which works well enough for me.
Geoffreybombom
pfm Member
That’s interesting, so can you get 24 bit flac on windows laptop into the co-ax input?
tuga
Legal Alien
Can't argue with that.
VTA
pfm Member
Just a hunch. In my opinion older dacs sound a lot better now than they actually did back then. The quality of delivered data (via coax for example) has gotten much better than it once was. Older dacs have a harder time dealing with jitter than newer ones so stand to gain large improvements in sound when fed a signal from a modern low jitter source.
When reading old reviews of dacs I look at what they are feeding the dac from and inevitably wonder how good it might actually sound if fed a modern signal today.
When reading old reviews of dacs I look at what they are feeding the dac from and inevitably wonder how good it might actually sound if fed a modern signal today.
John Phillips
pfm Member
I wonder if "the quality of the delivered data" should also include the production and mastering quality of the digital audio. And maybe that's the bigger thing.
My observation is that, at least in the classical music genre, according to my ears the production and mastering of digital audio on CDs I have from the 1980s and 1990s is on average less good than it has been on CDs and other sources from 2000 onwards. That does not exclude specific earlier examples being excellent and later examples being poor, of course.
the caretaker
pfm Member
The DACs du jour eschew DAC chips and employ FPGA-controlled discrete resistor ladders.
I'd like to try one but to get the best performance from them would seem to require the addition of a DDC, and the only decent one available in the UK on a home trial basis is the Gustard R26 on Amazon, which I can't get too excited about.
But I'm quite happy with the performance of my Denon DCD-2500NE SACD player, which obviously sidesteps the issues involved with optimising the CD transport/DAC interface and (IMO) sounds the better for it.
I'd like to try one but to get the best performance from them would seem to require the addition of a DDC, and the only decent one available in the UK on a home trial basis is the Gustard R26 on Amazon, which I can't get too excited about.
But I'm quite happy with the performance of my Denon DCD-2500NE SACD player, which obviously sidesteps the issues involved with optimising the CD transport/DAC interface and (IMO) sounds the better for it.
tuga
Legal Alien
Your Denon uses DSP to upsample Redbook to 24/192 and the data-stream then goes through the PCM1795 sigma-delta modulator before being fed as DSD to the D/A stage.
The principle is not that different from what the DACs du jour are doing, except perhaps Chord which is sticking with PCM.
I've just replaced a Denafrips Ares II (new - £865) with a 2007 Linn Klimax Renew DS at £890 second hand... so 17 years apart.
Not even close... staggeringly better in all respects (all IMHO of course).
Chris