Yup. Most of this technical chat, however, is going way over my big daft nut...Originally Posted by Welder
Funnily enough, this is my understanding of the checksum too. Checksum perfect may not be perfect at all.
But then again interpolation isn't perfect either and sound still seems to come out.
The bottom line for me is that when CDs are ripped by the process which the TFS uses, that process seems to be making a much better job of maintaining the integrity of the data (and subsequent music signal) than when my (very high-quality and highly modified) Sony CD player was reading that data and transferring it to my Sony DAC - and the same applies when other file-based systems I've heard so far do the same job.
Quite simply, NEVER have I heard computer audio sound *THIS* good!
I'm only guessing, of course, but for me the fact that the sound the TFS produces is completely devoid of any digital 'hardness', common in my experience to every other digital audio source I've heard since I first listened to CD back in 1983, seems to confirm that the way the TFS reads data from CDs, and processes that data, is more accurate than any other similar device I've heard so far.
In my opinion, the nasty digital 'hardness' (relentless quality) I'm referring to, which makes listening to music tiring on the ears (you should all know what I mean by this), is derived both from the switching noise I mentioned earlier, and the effect of 'jitter' (or whatever you want to call it); basically a sonically adverse effect imposed on the music signal, as a result of errors in reading the data encoded on CDs, which then 'pollute' the signal, significantly affecting its integrity, that is subsequently converted by the DAC. And our ears find the resultant sonic effect most irritating.
To my 'layman's' ears, the TFS seems to be doing the job of accurately processing the raw data right more than anything else that I've experienced to date, which is why, when that digital 'hardness' is completely absent, one can settle down and listen to music for many hours with zero listening fatigue, but with all the natural dymamics of the music still present and correct - and yes, why, in that respect, listening to the TFS is akin to listening to music played on a very good turntable!
Therefore, whilst all this technical speculating is fascinating, and no doubt of interest to some, the bottom line for me is that the TFS is one of the most musically convincing digital audio sources I've ever heard, and has been responsible for significantly reducing my sleeping hours over the last few days, because listening to music on it is so bloody addictive!!
Quite simply, no other digital audio component I've owned has EVER done that... I think that says it all
Marco.
