Mnyb wrote: > 1. In practice I think it's ok the best practical DAC's are 20-21 bits > anyway so chucking the first 4 bits does nothing . And hearing better > than >16 bits is very hard so but already the volume starts to get low . > And then when you starts nagging at the 16 bits the volume is really low > ( if the gain of system is properly set up ) and with modern dither it > expresses itself as random noise . > I'm also a fan of digital volume . The one in the squeezeboxes are > undithered ? So I use that with care , but the one in my meridian system > is dithered properly . This is a bit academic these issues are greatly > prefered before an analog volume pot with all its nonlinearities > ,channel balance anyone ? Now try that with a digital 5.1 system with > active xover that's 11 volume controls that should track precisely I > don't see any other solution than going digital . > And the noise floor on many recordings is bordering on something like 13 > bits anyway..... > > 2. Yes i'm with you over design in the whole path is preferable , the > recording engineer may for example not do a good job and don't fully > utilise the performance of his kit . So this is designed in marginal . > I'm very happy with components with >100dB snr . Stacking components > with 70db snr would not be good . Besides depending on system gain you > may amplify input noise everywhere . Analogy ,PA systems they have > excellent snr ,but if you are close to the speakers you hear noise and > hum anyway , the gain is massive ( when the band starts playing I > usually back off a couple of rows to not shot my ear completely :) ) > But you can't asses that with sighted wine taster like testing :) hence > measurements is necessary when the individual components are below our > hearing threshold .
Forgot my speakers are 2 way and 2,5 half way ( one digital and one analog active xover in some of the speakers , but 2 DAC in each speaker ) in a 3 way or 4 way active 5.1 system things gets even more complicated . -------------------------------------------------------------------- Main hifi: Touch + CIA PS +MeridianG68J MeridianHD621 MeridianG98DH 2 x MeridianDSP5200 MeridianDSP5200HC 2 xMeridianDSP3100 +Rel Stadium 3 sub. Bedroom/Office: Boom Kitchen: Touch + powered Fostex PM0.4 Misc use: Radio (with battery) iPad1 with iPengHD & SqueezePad (spares Touch, SB3, reciever ,controller ) server HP proliant micro server N36L with ClearOS Linux http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mnyb's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4143 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=103842 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
