Audiophilepure

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“Some of you are going to feel that a good DAC’s USB input should be totally immune to the degrading effects of a computer connection. Wyred 4 Sound states that “the DAC-2v2 SE’s USB connection utilizes galvanic isolation to eliminate computer noise from the audio signal completely.” I have yet to find a USB DAC that is totally immune to computer noise from the output signal; this includes my reference DAC, the Ayre QX-5 Twenty.”

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” Under the same circumstance, above all the active DAC 1 is more controlled overall and more precise in the bass than the passive version, as well as more “immediate”, with faster transients and more attack. The active DAC’s sound seems more balanced, more even, but because it is more controlled, also seemingly less freely enthusiastic than the passive version. Although the active version would perhaps measure more accurately, perhaps due to its midrange being more well-behaved, the active DAC 1 comes across as being less enthusiastic than the passive DAC 1. On the other hand, although it may be not strictly be the case, subjectively speaking the active DAC’s frequency curve seems flatter and it strikes me that this may be objectively speaking the more accurate sound. The midrange is now more neutral, less forward so to say. Switching to the Wadia confirms that the DAC 1 active indeed sounds more alike, but I’m not sure if I prefer the higher precision of the active version, or the freeer sound of the passive version.”

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“I tried first playing tunes back using the Tidal interface alone, and found that the sound I was getting wasn’t quite up to par with what the A10 offered. Next, I tried streaming through Pure Music (which can be done using that software’s Playthrough Audio Driver (PAD) option), and indeed the sound smoothened up a bit. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the Master MQA files to play nice with Pure Music, so I was limited to playback of regular content. The 44.1 kHz files actually sounded quite nice via Tidal streamed through Pure Music, giving me perhaps some of the best sound my digital setup has offered to date. Even so, I couldn’t quite capture that last little bit of magical “flow” that I described before that made listening so pleasurable via the Aurender A10.”

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” The 24/88.2 remastered version of “Spanish Harlem” is the best-sounding conventionally encoded version of this track that I have. In it, Rebecca Pidgeon’s voice sounded less mechanical and more human, and the instruments had more inner detail and nuance. The PS Audio DirectStream just sounded more enjoyably realistic than the Mytek Brooklyn — as it darned well should, for three times the price.”

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“Considering all that, the Blu transport, even in the new Mk II version, may seem like an addition to the “main” product, or even a redundant product. In fact, it is the Blu, the inconspicuous CD transport, that allows DAVE to achieve a new level. Pairing Dave with third party CD transports as well as with media players / file servers, worked really well, but it seems that the Blu Mk II + DAVE are the ultimate solution. As if there was an open slot waiting for the new Chord’s transport, which when finally closed executed an additional program.”

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“The main reason that Ed Meitner prefers single-bit to multibit DACs is that the former are inherently linear. In a single-bit converter, any value is made up by adding or subtracting the same small value many times. That value is set by a single resistor. In contrast, multibit converters build up values by adding different combinations of smaller values, those values set by combinations of resistors. No matter how close the manufacturing tolerances of those resistors, it’s impossible to get the multiple resistors in exact ratios to each other — the resulting signal level will always be just a bit off. Ed Meitner believes that the superior linearity of single-bit designs is audible. However, single-bit processing isn’t without challenges of its own”