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$13500 Dac shocker

Probably sound great though, which is all that matters, you can always hide it in a cabinet for those atrocious looks.

'help us pay to return it', lol.
 
Did you see how many rooms were using the TotalDac at Munich and other top high-end shows around the world? I wonder why so many use Totaldac?

I think it shows the relevance of this article (certainly for the listening tests) when the listening tests were made through the headphone jack and with a couple of pairs of £400 headphones when the DAC is priced at 13500 Euros (around £12000). The headphone amp in this DAC won't be much more than for monitoring as all the effort will have gone into the analogue output. The reviewer should have gone via the analogue output (RCA/XLR) and into a proper known high-end headphone amplifier, and preferably into a well-known pair of top high-end headphones like HD800s, or similar with a piece of electronics of this worth. It really should have been evaluated through a proper high-end system, something this reviewer doesn't seem to have...

Here is a review of this DAC by Stereophile and a well-respected reviewer to balance up this rather biased thread. Would be interesting to see some measurements from John Atkinson, Paul Miller or a similarly accredited reviewer on some of the TotalDac products.
 
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Keith can you describe exactly in terms of what your avatar is showing along with YOUR reasons why is looks this way for us?
 
That is an odd question Tony, I can tell you the device being measured and who took the measurement and made the capture if you like?
Keith
 
Keith, not odd at all, you use an eye diagram as your avatar and make a point about how equipment measures yet do you actually understand this yourself?

Measurements are a tool that you would use to indicate how your design is progressing, BUT listening will tell you more on how to finalize your concept

The eye diagram is a diagnostic tool (along with jitter analysis) to help the debug or design engineer understand where possible jitter/power supply, data transmission issues etc are in a straightforward manner.

So can you interpret exactly what the eye diagram is showing and give the reasons how does this relate to audio for the capture shot above in your own words?

All of the audio measurements taken by the mags are usually measured on an AP525 or similar a Rhode and Schwartz UPA though these only extend up to around 300Khz. IMHO you need to look well above these BW's to really get to grips with how RF and EMI interact with the design and what impact they have with actually listening.

They are some pieces of equipment that does measure not so good , though sound very fine, other ulrea clean and best measuring (lol) can sound forward, and naim like :rolleyes: (A lot of the Chinese so called super dacs (LKS) that ASR is so found of pushing) yet are give the big thumps up. Some of the dacs are good indeed no question.

That eye diagram would need a minimum of 600Mhz bandwidth, though 2Ghz is more a basic standard for these types of measurements so respectable scope would be required to actually perform this measurement.

There is a place for both first principles and empirical evidence in audio, just the right balance needs to sought.

Anyway, can you explain what the diagram represents by way of what is shown?
 
For someone so keen on measurements over everything else Keith, you should at least have an understanding of what the measurements are and what they mean, especially if you are commenting on other manufacturers equipment with the intention to discredit it...

I eagerly wait to see your answer to Tony's question!
 
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