Themis;378602 Wrote: > Well, I did the experiment the other day with a high-end (expensive, > that is) dac: Audiomat Maestro (5500 euros). > In my opinion, at this point, there's not enough difference (translate: > near to none) with a more modestly-priced dac (my Northstar, for > instance). It seems as if the SB3 "limits" the performance of the dac. > Similar listening sessions of some acquaintances (with a Lavry DA2002 > (8500$) and with other similarly-priced dacs) come to the same > conclusion: there's a clear difference between an SB3 and a high-end CD > transport. > > So, I could be mistaken, but I ended up coming to the conclusion that, > beyond the 1500-2000$ limit you'll need a Transporter to get out the > most of (and justify) the coupling with an expensive separate dac. > Perhaps it's just a problem of clock, who knows. Note that I'm talking > about the stock SB3. > > But, mid-priced dacs continue to evolve, and, who knows, probably in a > couple of years the situation may change, with SB4...
Thanks for the comparisons. I think the effect that your hearing which "limits" the performance of an SB3/mega-buck DAC combo is really the limitation of the red book CD itself, i.e. 16 bit / 44.1 kHz output. Higher resolution material (e.g. 24/96) should sound better than the standard 16/44.1 material. Nonetheless, I would still be interested in hearing how the SB3/mega-buck DAC combo compares against a mega-buck CD transport/mega-buck DAC combo. In other words, a comparison where both combos are being fed a red book standard 16 bit / 44.1 kHz resolution digital signal. How would the $300 SB3 measure up against a $3,000 CD transport, everything else being equal. -- ralphpnj Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels -> Snatch -> The Transporter -> Transporter 2 'Last.fm' (http://www.last.fm/user/jazzfann/) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ralphpnj's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10827 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=57441 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
