Munroe;686307 Wrote: > I did some listening tests of my own to see what quality level my SBT is > at out of the box via analog outs. I have to be honest I didn't find a > large difference between the same music on phono vs the SBT. There is > enough that I will try a DAC possibly, as there was two suttle > differences in the music I played. > > As a background, the two sources consisted of a turntable -> phono > preamp -> amp, then a SBT to amp. Both of these connected to the same > length and brand of analog cable to keep things consistent. The LP was > a newly released Let it Bleed by the Rolling Stones, 180 gram DSD > remastered and an HDtracks high res FLAC in 24 bit/96 kHz. The SBT was > set to the same volume level as the phono, and both albums were played > simultaneously to allow switching back and forth. > > The resulting audio while very similar, had two distinct differences. > the analog turntable clearly being the winner, the only shortcoming I > found with the SBT was a less natural sounding high frequency (lp sound > was a bit more "sweet" if that's a phrase in audio.) and a lack of > presence ( or air) to the music, though peculiarly a touch more bottom > end. To make a long story short, the tambourine on You Can't always > get what you want sounded like it was actually in front of me via the > turntable, though while very clear, the same tambourine on the SBT > sounded more like a tambourine recording. > > Will an external DAC bring this unit closer to an analog sound I > witness through a turntable? Perhaps; but I am going to do a second > test using the TT 3.0 through the analog, to test the theory that these > tweaks actually bring your music closer to an analog sound than the > stock. Which I assume is the point of this thread. The tweaks are > free unlike a DAC, so I will try these first.
Interesting as this is, you are comparing two wildly different masterings... so unfortunately it doesn't tell us very much other than you clearly prefer one mastering over the other (which is fine). It certainly says nothing about the relative sonic merits of the Touch and your turntable/catridge/phono pre-amp... A much better test would be to compare a good rip of YOUR LP against the LP. Whenever I have done this - approx 150 times - I have never heard the Touch sound worse - it has always sounded slightly better and the reason is because the vinyl playback suffers from the effects of acoustic feedback which the rip doesn't (unless it was done badly - i.e. with the sound playing through the speakers!) -- Phil Leigh You want to see the signal path BEFORE it gets onto a CD/vinyl...it ain't what you'd call minimal... Touch(wired/W7)+Teddy Pardo PSU - Audiolense 3.3/2.0+INGUZ DRC - MF M1 DAC - Linn 5103 - full Aktiv 5.1 system (6x LK140's, ESPEK/TRIKAN/KATAN/SEIZMIK 10.5), Pekin Tuner, Townsend Supertweeters,VdH Toslink,Kimber 8TC Speaker & Chord Signature Plus Interconnect cables Stax4070+SRM7/II phones Kitchen Boom, Outdoors: SB Radio, Harmony One remote for everything. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phil Leigh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=85 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=91322 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
