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Post by housetech on Aug 3, 2020 10:34:52 GMT -5
Having tried different digital media, digital sources and Pre/pros using the same speakers over many years, the component I found makes the most difference to my ears are DACs. I still like the sound of Burr-Brown.
I do have some low-quality CDs that don't sound good regardless what they're played through- lack-luster dynamics.
Edit- My point is, if I wanted to A vs B amps, I would use as much analogue as possible.
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Post by Boomzilla on Aug 3, 2020 10:56:07 GMT -5
Hi Boomzilla(and BOY will THAT statement be click-bait!) You make me spills my coffee  . When you said this, you know that you'll probably be alone with this statement but despite everything you have the courage of your convictions. Bravo  Personally I have ripped my complete CD collection of 2000 CD's over with JRiver without any compression in WAV files (1 bit for 1 bit) and over the years I made many A-B comparaison between the original CD's and the ripped files and never heard difference between both, naturally I ever used the same DAC for the comparaison, the XMC-1. I conclude that anyone would hear a difference should be a placebo effect. I really don't want to start a debate with you on this, it's only my observations and my thoughts on this subject because in the past I myself asking about it and made the exercise of verified it by myself to know if it makes sense to rip all my CD's collection. I did and do know that there will be massive pushback against this statement. I said it because it's what I hear, and I stand by my statement. So let's clarify lest I be accused of comparing apples and oranges: The CD-player and the ripped file go through the same DAC. The rip was done with verification that the copy was bit-perfect. Both the CD-player and the computer playing the rip are connected to the DAC via USB. And what differences do I hear? The Disc-player direct-to-DAC connection sounds more dynamic. The source CD sounds more "liquid" and the copy more "digital." These are subtle changes, but repeatable once you learn to listen for them. What hardware differences might account for this? The buffer & USB chip on the disc player may be more stable than the one in the computer? The HDD where the copy is stored may trigger the buffer more frequently than the data stream coming off the disc? The power supply of the disc player may be better regulated than that of the computer? The disc player may have less jitter than the computer? But this is all speculation on my part. I really don't know why. But I do know what I hear. Boomzilla |
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Post by housetech on Aug 3, 2020 11:09:03 GMT -5
Boom, I tend to agree. PCs were not invented to play music, CD/DVD players were designed for music that's just a fact.
So many things can cause music played from a PC to not be as good- the Pwr Supply, buffering, drive, software.
I luv using a server (FLAC), so easy and handy. But critical listening, going to the source: CD/DVD
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Post by geebo on Aug 3, 2020 11:25:21 GMT -5
Hi Boomzilla(and BOY will THAT statement be click-bait!) You make me spills my coffee . When you said this, you know that you'll probably be alone with this statement but despite everything you have the courage of your convictions. Bravo Personally I have ripped my complete CD collection of 2000 CD's over with JRiver without any compression in WAV files (1 bit for 1 bit) and over the years I made many A-B comparaison between the original CD's and the ripped files and never heard difference between both, naturally I ever used the same DAC for the comparaison, the XMC-1. I conclude that anyone would hear a difference should be a placebo effect. I really don't want to start a debate with you on this, it's only my observations and my thoughts on this subject because in the past I myself asking about it and made the exercise of verified it by myself to know if it makes sense to rip all my CD's collection. I did and do know that there will be massive pushback against this statement. I said it because it's what I hear, and I stand by my statement. So let's clarify lest I be accused of comparing apples and oranges: The CD-player and the ripped file go through the same DAC. The rip was done with verification that the copy was bit-perfect. Both the CD-player and the computer playing the rip are connected to the DAC via USB. And what differences do I hear? The Disc-player direct-to-DAC connection sounds more dynamic. The source CD sounds more "liquid" and the copy more "digital." These are subtle changes, but repeatable once you learn to listen for them. What hardware differences might account for this? The buffer & USB chip on the disc player may be more stable than the one in the computer? The HDD where the copy is stored may trigger the buffer more frequently than the data stream coming off the disc? The power supply of the disc player may be better regulated than that of the computer? The disc player may have less jitter than the computer? But this is all speculation on my part. I really don't know why. But I do know what I hear. Boomzilla Have you tried playback from a hard drive connected to an Oppo or something like a Zidoo? What about ripping a CD and burning it to another CD for playback in the same drive as the original? |
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Post by Boomzilla on Aug 3, 2020 12:16:47 GMT -5
Have you tried playback from a hard drive connected to an Oppo or something like a Zidoo? What about ripping a CD and burning it to another CD for playback in the same drive as the original? Good ideas! I'll try them and listen. |
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Post by frenchyfranky on Aug 3, 2020 13:46:41 GMT -5
Laptops have external power supply filtered by their battery pack, it couldn't be better power supply situation.
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Post by ÈlTwo on Aug 3, 2020 14:20:42 GMT -5
The CD-player and the ripped file go through the same DAC. The rip was done with verification that the copy was bit-perfect. Both the CD-player and the computer playing the rip are connected to the DAC via USB. Boomzilla We should talk about your rip. What software did you use, what bitrate did you rip to, what other parameters did you use for your rip, what format did you rip to? If FLAC: What level did you rip to (0-8), can your hardware effortlessly decompress that level, what is the computer hardware you're using, are you using a spinning drive, a sata ssd, or a pcie ssd, is playback through your computer buffered, and how big is the buffer (it is on the CD)? There could be other questions. The comment about CDs being made for music playback is insightful; your CD player is only playing music, and only meant to play music, whereas your PC is doing hundreds of other things while playing music (unless you do a dedicated set up with an audiophile flavored linux). I experimented and set up an AP Linux machine (actually called Audiophile Linux - it's a p.i.t.a. to set up), and compared the same FLAC files on that machine and my everyday Win 10 pro i7 8600K. Linux machine with a spinning drive, Win 10 with an SSD, and the Linux machine handled the files better, with both going through the XMC-1 (even better when I used the USB from the Linux machine). It was a lot of work, but very revealing. For normal people the one time set up would be worth it, but I'm not normal (not news to anyone here), and I took apart that set-up because it was too big, and took used too much power to just put on some tunes. I've gone to FLAC stored on an external SSD connected to my Oppo. And it's staying that way for a while, since I got my first bill from Carnegie Mellon. |
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Post by Boomzilla on Aug 3, 2020 15:21:38 GMT -5
We should talk about your rip. Yes, we should. What software did you use, what bitrate did you rip to, what other parameters did you use for your rip, what format did you rip to? If FLAC: What level did you rip to (0-8), can your hardware effortlessly decompress that level, what is the computer hardware you're using, are you using a spinning drive, a sata ssd, or a pcie ssd, is playback through your computer buffered, and how big is the buffer (it is on the CD)? There could be other questions. My software is usually JRiver Media Center. But occasionally, I get a disc that will not rip there. In those circumstances, I use Exact Audio Copy (EAC). The bitrate is whatever the source is (and since I always rip CDs, that's 44.1/16-bit. I rip with confirmation & a second scan if the first scan isn't perfect I rip to uncompressed WAV files - No settings available - I never rip to anything else hardware includes a Memorex DVD-RW connected via USB A late 2014 Mac Mini A 7200 RPM Western Digital external USB drive with more than ⅓ of the space still available Playback on the Mac Mini is buffered via the default Apple cache Playback in Roon is buffered via Roon at 500ms |
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. When you said this, you know that you'll probably be alone with this statement but despite everything you have the courage of your convictions. Bravo 
