NOS DACs

[walpurgis]

DAC's can never sound analogue. They are digital!

But I do know what people mean. Many DAC's sound a bit lean and 'in yer face'. Fortunately mine don't.

[Macca]

DAC's can never sound analogue. They are digital!

They just output electricity with a varying voltage. Exactly like a phono stage, or a tape deck does. Why would eschewing oversampling make this sound 'more analogue?' (That's rhetorical because I know the answer will be 'It just does'). In a blind comparison between an unfamiliar nos dac and an unfamiliar oversampling dac would you really be able to tell which was which?

If you want the sound of vinyl, listen to vinyl records!

[walpurgis]

In a blind comparison between an unfamiliar nos dac and an unfamiliar oversampling dac would you really be able to tell which was which?

Good question.

[Yomanze]

Good question.

Yes. I used to do blind tests with my DAC in NOS vs 2x oversampling (88.2 kHz) to correct the treble droop, which at 44.1kHz is -3.2dB at 20kHz. The rolloff is clearly audible, just listen to some cymbals, but for me, things were more musically correct and ‘together’ with no oversampling. In any case one can just apply DSP, like I do via JRIver, if one wants to try.

The Foobar2000 ABX plugin is invaluable for blind testing, just encode one file at 44.1kHz, another at 88.2kHz, and compare. Try to avoid non-even oversampling like 96kHz or the original bits will not be preserved.

[montesquieu]

Yes. I used to do blind tests with my DAC in NOS vs 2x oversampling (88.2 kHz) to correct the treble droop, which at 44.1kHz is -3.2dB at 20kHz. The rolloff is clearly audible, just listen to some cymbals, but for me, things were more musically correct and ‘together’ with no oversampling. In any case one can just apply DSP, like I do via JRIver, if one wants to try.

The Foobar2000 ABX plugin is invaluable for blind testing, just encode one file at 44.1kHz, another at 88.2kHz, and compare. Try to avoid non-even oversampling like 96kHz or the original bits will not be preserved.

You can hear 20khz? I'm impressed.

[Yomanze]

You can hear 20khz? I'm impressed.

Yes I can hear 20kHz, it’s not exactly a tone I hear though, more like a presence. It’s there though...

Also, don’t forget that a NOS DAC will start rolling off around 16kHz.

[Jimbo]

They just output electricity with a varying voltage. Exactly like a phono stage, or a tape deck does. Why would eschewing oversampling make this sound 'more analogue?' (That's rhetorical because I know the answer will be 'It just does'). In a blind comparison between an unfamiliar nos dac and an unfamiliar oversampling dac would you really be able to tell which was which?

If you want the sound of vinyl, listen to vinyl records!

If they could convert analogue into analogue perfectly without missing any of the original recorded information at all they would sound analogue but this is their main downfall. They cannot achieve this without missing information or just buggering it up!

[walpurgis]

If they could convert analogue into analogue perfectly without missing any of the original recorded information at all they would sound analogue but this is their main downfall. They cannot achieve this without missing information or just buggering it up!

I'm not sure I have a clue what you just said!

[Jimbo]

I'm not sure I have a clue what you just said!

Think about what digital audio is and what job the DAC has to do. The analogue waveform is captured digitally (sampled and sliced up) It is then read from a file or CD and reconstructed by the DAC back into analogue. But digital cannot sample the sound infinitely so it misses some of the information (apparently we can't hear this) and then the DAC tries to reconstruct the information and produce an analogue output.

Our hearing can tell the difference which is why I think analogue sounds better. OK even the best analogue systems do not capture everything but even though information is missing our brain/hearing doesn't notice it so much.

[walpurgis]

So what information is missing from the reconstructed analogue waveforms?