Gray
Well-known member
There's a real lesson there that might help to avoid complacency in others
For sure, even myself. I wish I'd have acted faster on the uptakes in early December. By the time I looked into it a couple of weeks later they had all gone.There's a real lesson there that might help to avoid complacency in others
Oh no! Thats sad. Originally I thought you were referring to Pursuit perfect sytem guy, glad hes ok! Well I'll definitely check out the vid.
Wil
Well-known member
Pardon, that KI part was really for Doug (because he has…
Actually, Ken addressed "the-problem-of-Hi-Res-audio" (now time-coded for you) at 29m26s:
insider9
Well-known member
Cheers appreciate the reply. Don't worry about however long it took.
I'm glad to hear you're ok and I sincerely hope you're back to 100% in no time. Just the fact you're on a hifi forum is great news indeed.
I don't see the correlation between bit depth and sampling rate and sound quality.
I appreciate that we'd all want music to sound the best it can. But all that matter is if it moves us irrespective of how good it sounds. Often the charm is in the imperfections.
Limitation will always be at the point of recording. And if it was a digital 16/44.1 recording it will be all it can ever be.
If the recordings were done at 24/192 and we can buy them great. But I object to being sold 24/192 version of a 16/44.1 recording. I can do the conversion myself at no charge, thank you. Not that I'd want to.
The transparency with these things is not great and there is misconception that because it is "hi-res" it will sound better. I would also not assume that different automatically means better.
Oldfart
Well-known member
Hi radiorig,
re: upscaling RP. The Marantz KI Ruby pictured above is a good example of the various approaches to improve, or perhaps smooth without loss of detail is more appropriate, 16/44.1 Files. Ken Ishawata , RIP, adopted up conversion of PCM to high speed 1bit DSD (SACD is DSD). It then does not need a DAC chip, just filters to output analogue. First player was the SA10 and others have joined the Marantz range. PS audio have been doing this for years and UKs high end dCS has its own proprietary ring DAC which can upsample to DXD.
My streamer/ DAC is a more modest TEAC. it has dual AKM4497 chips that were top of the range and can upsample to either DSD512 or up to 8 times PCM. Ie 352.8. Have tried both and stuck with the PCM. There are then 5 pcm filters and 2 DSD! I’m listening to RP as I Write and sounds nearly as good as the Mark Knophler SACD I listened to earlier, but I’m not really concentrating so not a fair comparison! I cannot quantify the benefits of upscaling, or the various filters - just hit on a combo that sounds right and resist the temptation to fiddle.
I agree with insider9, in that it ultimately matters little about the numbers, if it sounds right, I would disagree,however, that 16/44.1 files cannot be improved.
Edit to add:
the akm4497 has been superseded by the 4499. Nothing stands still for long in DAC world so better to keep them separate from your amp, imho. Even better potentially, is a more sophisticated dual chip combo which separates the upsampling from the DAC chip, the AKM4498 and this
Delta sigma upconverter
how good will RP or a CD sound when played through these upscaled by 256 times is anyone’s guess.
re: upscaling RP. The Marantz KI Ruby pictured above is a good example of the various approaches to improve, or perhaps smooth without loss of detail is more appropriate, 16/44.1 Files. Ken Ishawata , RIP, adopted up conversion of PCM to high speed 1bit DSD (SACD is DSD). It then does not need a DAC chip, just filters to output analogue. First player was the SA10 and others have joined the Marantz range. PS audio have been doing this for years and UKs high end dCS has its own proprietary ring DAC which can upsample to DXD.
My streamer/ DAC is a more modest TEAC. it has dual AKM4497 chips that were top of the range and can upsample to either DSD512 or up to 8 times PCM. Ie 352.8. Have tried both and stuck with the PCM. There are then 5 pcm filters and 2 DSD! I’m listening to RP as I Write and sounds nearly as good as the Mark Knophler SACD I listened to earlier, but I’m not really concentrating so not a fair comparison! I cannot quantify the benefits of upscaling, or the various filters - just hit on a combo that sounds right and resist the temptation to fiddle.
I agree with insider9, in that it ultimately matters little about the numbers, if it sounds right, I would disagree,however, that 16/44.1 files cannot be improved.
Edit to add:
the akm4497 has been superseded by the 4499. Nothing stands still for long in DAC world so better to keep them separate from your amp, imho. Even better potentially, is a more sophisticated dual chip combo which separates the upsampling from the DAC chip, the AKM4498 and this
Delta sigma upconverter
how good will RP or a CD sound when played through these upscaled by 256 times is anyone’s guess.
Last edited:
GSV Ethics Gradient
Moderator
Turns out you can choose with the OPPO, so I spent half an hour trying to get it set up properly - time wasted alas. The output was quiet, and had an echo in it that was present whichever layer was chosen. Utterly inconclusive.
Terry Webb
Well-known member
I have seen something called, "MQA CD". That is supposed to have higher quality playback with the CDs playable on standard players. But sadly, I haven't seen much choice.
TrevC
Well-known member
I'm sure anyone can imagine they hear a difference.
iMark
Well-known member
Especially if their player is connected to the mains with an ultra special power lead.
Confirmation bias is a wonderful thing.
Confirmation bias is a wonderful thing.
Oldfart
Well-known member
michael hoy
Well-known member
There is definitely a difference to be heard on the blu ray audio and you can change it on the fly.
TrevC
Well-known member
Oldfart
Well-known member
TrevC,
You are obviously a discerning gentleman, so would highly recommend that you try some rather than spouting relentless, dismissive, mocking criticism at other people’s choices. As we do not know your set up, have to guess that it highly resolving and thus would make even small improvements obvious If they make no difference to your system, fair enough, but I have no regrets whatsoever in adding them to mine. My ears, my money and very happy indeed with my SQ
You are obviously a discerning gentleman, so would highly recommend that you try some rather than spouting relentless, dismissive, mocking criticism at other people’s choices. As we do not know your set up, have to guess that it highly resolving and thus would make even small improvements obvious If they make no difference to your system, fair enough, but I have no regrets whatsoever in adding them to mine. My ears, my money and very happy indeed with my SQ
Last edited:
iMark
Well-known member
However, the fact simply remains that there always was and will be confirmation bias when it comes to audio equipment. I really don't care what people spend their money on regarding audio equipment.
What I don't like is when tinkerers with a load of cash start advising other people on a limited budget on what to buy and start recommending esoteric cables that people really don't need.
What I don't like is when tinkerers with a load of cash start advising other people on a limited budget on what to buy and start recommending esoteric cables that people really don't need.
Wil
Well-known member
Recalling your initial question, regarding the 12cm disc, I notice companies adopting D+M's SACD-M3 transport mechanism e.g. dCs & Playback Designs.
From my own player's product description:
"This new mechanism promises exceptional sound quality from conventional CD and SA-CD discs and allows listeners to create their own high-resolution audio compilation discs using a computer DVD burner. The SA-KI Ruby supports FLAC files from 44.1kHz to 192kHz at up to 24-bit resolution, DSD2.8MHz and DSD 5.6MHz, ALAC (Apple Lossless), AIFF and MP3 files. Creating and playing hi-res disc compilations is as simple as it is enjoyable."
iMark
Well-known member
IMHO it's a lot of faffing about. You get the best sound from a CD by ripping it with error correction on to lossless files. Then move the lossless files to a USB device or stream them lossless to your audio system. Simply eliminate the spinning disc from the equation.
TrevC
Well-known member
What should I try? Mains leads don't affect performance because they can't. You've been had old chap.
Friesiansam
Well-known member
Friesiansam
Well-known member
I've just started trying Exact Audio Copy on the PC. Seems to work rather well, though takes a lot of faffing going through the myriad settings and that is with a walkthrough to guide me.
On the first CD I tried ripping to FLAC with EAC, it found 988 more samples than the existing rip, suggesting the old rip may have been lacking some detail. Whether that would be noticeable is another matter...
BTW, I ran the rip twice and it found the same number of samples both times. It also spent some time error correcting in the same place both times, despite the CD being spotless.
michael hoy
Well-known member
EAC is a very good piece of software, been using it for years with great success. Once you've entered your drive details and selected user preferences it's really easy to use, plus has plenty of tools at your disposal. Does exactly the same job as dBPoweramp, but it's free. I've had several used CDs which my player has refused to play but EAC managed to rip them all. I run it in the test and copy setting.
Similar threads
Question
Underpowered amp?
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram