The Myth of 'High Resolution' audio

[lurcher]

If you mean this article from 1993 http://www.stereophile.com/reference...ter/index.html then I am not sure what your point is?

I didn't say reducing jitter wasn't important, but that there is no reason why it can't be fixed, and if thats done then it wont matter what transmission medium is used.

Its how engineering works. You find a problem, then you find a fix, then you move onto the next problem. Jitter is not some special secret that DAC makers have been ignoring.

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Page not found

apologies here it is: http://www.stereophile.com/reference...ter/index.html

and Robert Harley's article http://www.stereophile.com/content/jitter-game-page-4
where he states:
"Because a CD player has no S/PDIF interface between the transport and processor, one would expect it to have low jitter at the DAC"

Leading to obvious meaning if you can avoid SPDIF, then digital integrity is far better. Accepting SPDIF
as a consumer add on is fine same as you accept your washing machine to do your clothes, but it should not be used
or taken seriously, if audiophile demands are to be met.

[lurcher]

TBH, as that article mentions, the bigger Jitter problem for us is not s/pdiff, its jitter at the original A to D stage of the recording. There is absolutely nothing we can do now to correct that now.

[mkrzych]

apologies here it is: http://www.stereophile.com/reference...ter/index.html

and Robert Harley's article http://www.stereophile.com/content/jitter-game-page-4
where he states:
"Because a CD player has no S/PDIF interface between the transport and processor, one would expect it to have low jitter at the DAC"

Leading to obvious meaning if you can avoid SPDIF, then digital integrity is far better. Accepting SPDIF
as a consumer add on is fine same as you accept your washing machine to do your clothes, but it should not be used
or taken seriously, if audiophile demands are to be met.

Another interface between A to D conversion is I2C, I think it's quite similar.

[Light Dependant Resistor]

TBH, as that article mentions, the bigger Jitter problem for us is not s/pdiff, its jitter at the original A to D stage of the recording. There is absolutely nothing we can do now to correct that now.

Very true, but there are a few good ways of appreciating labels who go the extra yard with quality like ECM
and not abandoning all hope of retrieving what is there as best we can. Methods including using single box CD players
and improving dynamic range which is resolution otherwise untapped and unheard I have covered ways of doing that already.

[mkrzych]

Very true, but there are a few good ways of appreciating labels who go the extra yard with quality like ECM
and not abandoning all hope of retrieving what is there as best we can. Methods including using single box CD players
and improving dynamic range which is resolution otherwise untapped and unheard I have covered ways of doing that already.

Ditto

[lurcher]

Another interface between A to D conversion is I2C, I think it's quite similar.

i2c is a control interface, you would not use that for data at audio rates.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%C2%B2C

Dac chips often have a a i2c interface, but its for things like setting up the chip and muting and volume control. Most audio DAC chips will use i2s or some variant of it, normally 4 single ended lines, bit clk, lr clk, data, and a mclk which is normally a multiple of the bit clock. The raspberry Pi is a good example of i2s, the processor has a built in i2s transmitter that is sent over the interface port and can be used by add on boards like Marco has discovered. The Pi in that case is a perfect example of what I am talking about, the music source is often remote and data is sent over ethernet or wifi, jitter and transmission errors are irrelevant to the final result as the pi can error correct, ignore jitter on the external interface and produce a high quality feed to the DAC. With a bit of work a s/pdiff receiver and a cpld you could do just the same, interface s/pdiff, convert to parallel in the cpld, then buffer in the pi, driving the i2s to the dac in the process removing any jitter on the s/pdiff interface.

[Gazjam]

Would agree than Spdif RCA isn't the ideal connection for digital audio, but Spdif BNC is another matter?..

In my own personal experience, a properly done 75ohm impedance matched BNC at both Dac and transport (transformer coupled BNC) is the best digital hookup I've heard in my system.
Looking a bit up market from my setup, the best digital guys in the game (probably) dCS, offer BNC connections as well as USB in their very high end DACs.
The Absolute Sound reviewed their Debussy Dac and BNC was the preferred digital connection saying the USB got close, but not quite. This was on an $11K Dac, so you'd reckon their USB implementation would be top notch?
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/arti...y-dac-tas-209/

This illustrates I think that you can't sensibly generalise about this stuff, which is what I feel some folk are maybe doing?

Sure, USB has the advantage of being able to pass higher sample rates and bit depths, but as this thread proves with talk of mastering quality etc, it's a moot point whether thats actually an advantage?
I can hear subjective improvements of a 24/96 track over 16/44 OF THE SAME RECORDING AND MASTERING, and really that all I need to know.
The recent Led Zep remasters are available in 16/44 and 24/96 and you can hear the difference.
Higher than 24/96...is good for recording engineers making what we listen to, but for home listening I wouldn't bother personally.


Spdif bad, USB good...Like all things audio it ain't ever quite that simple.

As Nick said, it's an engineering problem and it's all in the implementation.
Or as Banarama put it...

"it ain't what you do it's the way that you do it"

[awkwardbydesign]

apologies here it is: http://www.stereophile.com/reference...ter/index.html

I just read it. I had a headache by the end of page 3! I should stick to sawing and hammering.

[amigarobbo]

I just watched all 1hr 19min of this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXbH-yzGNfg From an engineer who cares, and there is a LOT more going on than just the mastering.
Recommended.

Hang on, isn't he the man responsible for Metallica's Death Magnetic, apparently one of the worst sounding albums eva?