When the transparent component has its own problem that can be considered to have more weight than e.g. THD+N. Ime, no transparent amp can be had with low bandwidth amplifiers. But high bandwidth means tendency for oscillation, intermodulation, etc., which is not a static measure.
Don't forget that transparent amps also have the capability to display beauties (in some recordings) where other amps cannot! (I believe only a few people know this).
I have personally seen and also heard of situations with DACs where a better measuring DAC sounds worse than a lesser measuring one. It tends to happen when design of a product is optimized primarily by measurements with listening tests for confirmation only at the end. I also know of successful audio equipment design that was optimized for sound quality by ear, and only checked with measurements at the end.
IMHO, probably best if measurements are used along with listening tests throughout the design and development process, but sound quality should win out over measurements if both can't be optimized at once.
To change the subject a bit, what it sort of looks like in this thread is there are too many variables in play at once for people to learn much from the comparisons here. For one possible example, I don't know what sound is coming out of Bob's speakers vs what would come out of mine.
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In real life you don't make preference based on a single recording!I very recently prefered a poorer measuring component, in this very thread in fact, go figure
I, otoh, have had many amps where each of them has strength and weaknesses. I have always wanted to make my best amp to also have high transparency using 60 or 90MHz device, but for a long time my favorite have always been using 20MHz devices. Only recently I think my favorite has become an amp with the faster device. Problem was that I found the fast output requires fast driver but non of the sanyo video transistor 'easy' to work with. The standard A1381/C3503 is 'mediocre' sounding. My old favorite A1361/C3423 is better sounding but tend to have weak bass drive which i attributed to low current rating. But recently i could solve the low drive issue with A1360
People learn different things in different ways. For me, i completely understand why people like #1 (even with the first bad recording). But may be not many can understand why i like Claire#2 or why not Claire#1.
For me, what i have learnt from this thread is a 'confirmation' that (1) Critical frequency for 'correctness' is below 1kHz (2) Problem associated with high bandwidth is usually perceived in LF not in HF.
It’s more about hearing the differences was it not?
No matter the signature of your system the difference should be apparent.....
Unless your system is just horrifying to start with
Suppose I posted recordings made from the output of Benchmark DAC-3 and from AK4499. When played back through your dac do you think you could really hear what they sound like, or exactly how they are different when played live?
If it were same recording presented through different equipment or processing (as Pavel did) then probably yes.......it of course would not be the same sound you started with if listened to on your system but the differences should come across in some semblance on mine.
In that case they probably both sound really good though
In that case they probably both sound really good though
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How might the A/D converter I use affect what you hear?
How would you hear the effects of ultra low jitter if your jitter is much higher?
How would the dynamics sound if your system sounds flat?
What if one recording is 0.1dB louder than the other, how will that affect what you hear?
The idea that you could accurately hear the difference between two very low distortion systems when played back on a much higher distortion system seems unlikely. At a minimum there would be a lot of masking by your system to hear through. Maybe you could hear some tiny difference, but you still wouldn't know what ultra-low distortion sounds like, how could you?
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