Mark, to be fair my DAC sounds O.K. but certainly not better than my LP gear.
So with my DAC I’m not yet at the end of the
line.
I’m still waiting for you to come with an ultimate solution that doesn’t mean going into astronomic costs like the Mola Mola.
Until then optical carts are not on my wishlist.
Hans
So with my DAC I’m not yet at the end of the
line.
I’m still waiting for you to come with an ultimate solution that doesn’t mean going into astronomic costs like the Mola Mola.
Until then optical carts are not on my wishlist.
Hans
YesAre you referring to the hifinews freq report?
Every cart has it's own personality
I almost bought the one you had for sale, but then remembered that I had not seen any frequency response curves on DS Audio stuff, so I looked it up and that is what I found.
Not interested in those curves...
Like the lack of noise as I have a headphone based system.
I use a Parks Puffin DSP phono stage into a MiniDSP SHD DSP preamp, which also has Dirac DSP equalisation. So I have at least 3 sledgehammers to crack that particular nut :-D
I think you meant to say:
An optical cart however is motional driven, the derivative of which is velocity driven.
I was convinced by couple of lencoheaven members to go with ds audio instead of Decca SG, overall it's a compromise with entry level DS-E1 still it brings out very pleasant sound (had a loaner SG but didn't compare directly).
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Sorry it's a bit off topic here, I've been using DSC2 for years with a DHT 801a preamp , should I go for Marcel's FIRDAC?Hans, if you want a problem to chew on, I would suggest dacs. Making a really good sounding dac at low cost can be plenty challenging. And how do you know when your dac is really good sounding? When it sounds better than your optical phono
I would. IMHO, Marcel's FIRDAC is almost certainly going to sound better than DSC2, but a lot is dependent on the diy'er implementation. If you use I2SoverUSB for galvanic isolation, if you use PCM2DSD or not, if you use Marcel's output stage board or not, the power and grounding implementation, etc., can have substantial effects on how the dac sounds. If you do everything well, it may be the best dac you have ever heard. However if you want even better sound and or a little more plug and play design, I would probably go for the latest from Andrea Mori, myself. That said, haven't heard Andrea's latest yet but probably will within the next week or so. If you would like more depth and or detail, please feel free to PM.
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A cartridge that has some great charach=teristics but can be really frustrating to set up and use.
My buddy with triple QUAD 57 has 3 Deccas rebuilt by Garrot Brothers and io battled a few in their heyday.
dave
Yes I saw you have some experience with them, that's why I reached out to you, technical information on the cartridges is rare.
Not enough info to know if its the cartridges or the equalizers that are causing the lack of flatness in the frequency curve, and I noticed that test pieces sent to reviewers (who measure) had unmatched balanced channel and tracking specs as well as lots of distortion with expensive price tags.
These kinda specs are expected with the cheap stuff.
The reviews are virtually unanimous on their awesomeness.
How can this be if the specs are not in the ballpark?
Because specs and standard tests by themselves are incomplete descriptors of performance. The same is true with DACs, speakers, amplifiers, etc. Its not unique to cartridges. However, the degree of correlation between specs, standard tests, and actual sound varies for different categories of devices.
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All ds audio products have similar freq responses so I suspect it can be the equalizer,
I can hear that clearly with DS-E1, but not much with 003 (my speakers roll off at 15khz)
Overall, the third generation is a big step up, especially if you don't consider the cost of equalizer.
I adapted first stage of LCR phono amp for the optical cart, most of time prefer it over friend's Soulnote E2 but it can be very subjective
.I know that we can use digital equalizers to to make the frequency response flat.All ds audio products have similar freq responses so I suspect it can be the equalizer,
I can hear that clearly with DS-E1, but not much with 003 (my speakers roll off at 15khz)
Overall, the third generation is a big step up, especially if you don't consider the cost of equalizer.
I adapted first stage of LCR phono amp for the optical cart, most of time prefer it over friend's Soulnote E2 but it can be very subjective
I am curious if we can make it flatter in the optical equalizer without messing up the phase or something else.
I know a lot of MC cartridges are not anywhere near flat above 10,000 , are they trying to emulate that or it is something to do with the way they are doing the equalizer ?
The derivative of velocity is acceleration.
Did you mean to write the integral of velocity? Optical cartridges are displacement ( distance ) driven, huh?
++
So, optical cartridges, being displacement driven, should be linear. Except for how the signal was encoded.
Does RIAA encoding take the non linear behavior of magnetic cartridges into account, Amplitude = F( f, input_amplitude ). or are they are based on just simple frequency manipulation? Ie: amplitude vs frequency. Amplitude = F( f )
I figure that magnetic cartridges exhibit amplitude compression whereas optical cartidges do not.
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I wouldn't say its that simple. Best is to find an opportunity to listen to one. Then you will know what people mean when they use the word transparency to describe the sound. It sounds closer to what CD is supposed to sound like if it were ideal. More of realism, dynamics, low level details, and natural tones and textures as opposed to magnetic. That's only if you do optical well of course.
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^
"Perfect Sound Forever"
Yikes.
I mean, I would love to hear one but even here in SoCal, listening to cartridges is like Not-Gonna-Happen.
Maybe I should join the local Hi-Fi group...
.. so a Magnetic pickup, operating on velocity, would be like a capacitor interface... shorting the DC and just measuring the change of signal. Or rather, a voltage is created when the relative position of the magnet and coils changes.
The optical cartridge is direct coupled, the output voltage is always the same for a given displacement.
Does this mean that the DC coupled optical cartridge is simpler and has less (no) phase distortion and lower noise? Hence your characterization of its sound?
"Perfect Sound Forever"
Yikes.
I mean, I would love to hear one but even here in SoCal, listening to cartridges is like Not-Gonna-Happen.
Maybe I should join the local Hi-Fi group...
.. so a Magnetic pickup, operating on velocity, would be like a capacitor interface... shorting the DC and just measuring the change of signal. Or rather, a voltage is created when the relative position of the magnet and coils changes.
The optical cartridge is direct coupled, the output voltage is always the same for a given displacement.
Does this mean that the DC coupled optical cartridge is simpler and has less (no) phase distortion and lower noise? Hence your characterization of its sound?
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