I wouldn't know and I really dont care about MSB. I build to my personal standard. This I know well. Even better after having heard Bruckner 2nd this evening from center row 8 in the very same hall that the Nobel prizing ceremony is held.
I'm also beginning to think that when I'm not satisfied with the sound, it might actually be due to the source material. After all, how can we blame only one component out of maybe 50 (counting rec. and repl. chain) for poor sound? I think this DAC is so good that I start to hear all sh*t that has been recorded. I base this on my own recordings which I know there has been no tampering with and there is zero upper harshness on these but many commercial do have a tendency to not be really clean upwards.
How's that for an Occams Razor
?
//
I'm also beginning to think that when I'm not satisfied with the sound, it might actually be due to the source material. After all, how can we blame only one component out of maybe 50 (counting rec. and repl. chain) for poor sound? I think this DAC is so good that I start to hear all sh*t that has been recorded. I base this on my own recordings which I know there has been no tampering with and there is zero upper harshness on these but many commercial do have a tendency to not be really clean upwards.
How's that for an Occams Razor
?//
The thing is, that some here call them output Cs but. They are not. They make a RC filter and an output capacitor (we’ll bite me if I’m wrong) is in the signal - you would have no sound if you’d remove it.
As I have a tube buffer connected to the dam which already has a low pass Filter cause of grid resistor and tube capacitance - I don’t need one more filter on the board.
As Jogi showed me, it’s the left ones circled on the picture. Similar position to the ones on 1021.
But. I haven’t done it, and I don’t know if someone has. It would be advisable to get a confirmation from Soeren that it is the one and it is no problem to remove.
(If he’d answer my question about how to wire the 4 dams from my earlier question Id be also very pleased
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I'm also beginning to think that when I'm not satisfied with the sound, it might actually be due to the source material. After all, how can we blame only one component out of maybe 50 (counting rec. and repl. chain) for poor sound? I think this DAC is so good that I start to hear all sh*t that has been recorded. I base this on my own recordings which I know there has been no tampering with and there is zero upper harshness on these but many commercial do have a tendency to not be really clean upwards.
How's that for an Occams Razor
//
This matches my experience. I actually have a comparison vs. the analog feed in the studio and I have done a lot of critical listening with lot's of studio gear and worked on a lot of it, too.
The DAM1021 at 44,1khz is probably not as good as it gets, but it is really good and - as I've written before - much better than most of what is going on in the long chain from recording to the final mastered product.
You wouldn't believe what the signal is subjected to in a typical production - conversion, op amps, up-and downsampling, "bad" ceramic caps and "bad" electrolytic caps etc. Forget about all the deliberate processing with compressors, EQs etc. making their mark on the music.
Classical recordings get mix treatment as well, it's rarely a Blumlein pair going straight into a neutral preamp into a great ADC. And as I said before, usually even a symphonic orchestra sounds better through Neve preamps mixed on a big old console tracked to tape with added reverb...
I wouldn't know and I really dont care about MSB. I build to my personal standard. This I know well. Even better after having heard Bruckner 2nd this evening from center row 8 in the very same hall that the Nobel prizing ceremony is held.
I'm also beginning to think that when I'm not satisfied with the sound, it might actually be due to the source material. After all, how can we blame only one component out of maybe 50 (counting rec. and repl. chain) for poor sound? I think this DAC is so good that I start to hear all sh*t that has been recorded. I base this on my own recordings which I know there has been no tampering with and there is zero upper harshness on these but many commercial do have a tendency to not be really clean upwards.
How's that for an Occams Razor
//
It’s usually easier to simply not care and for this reason I’m often wary of it. But in this case, I have to agree that unless MSB or any other manufacturer provides a good explanation on why their products are technically superior and audibly so, there is too much uncertainty in the audiophile game for me to care to join.
I have you and living sounds to thank for convincing me that a large part of what we hear comes from the recording process - it’s quite dangerous to believe otherwise and worry unnecessarily over a DAC or any part of the reproduction chain. I guess this is what Soren meant when he claimed on forums that his DAC produces exactly what the recording and artists intended (for which he received no little criticism of course). I have to agree with Soren, at least until that good day comes when we find out what exactly can be improved on the Soekris DACs.
I’m sure that concert was enjoyable! Lucky Swedes
Yes, it's the ones between the msb resistors marked with a green circle, the one marked with red is a resistor.... Std is 1500 pF NP0 ceramics, they should have minimum impact on the sound, but several people here can hear everything as long as it's not done in a ABX test
I should add that on latest dam1121 rev2 the capacitors have been moved to next to those resistors....
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Thanks Sören!
I might change them... Coming home from concert and sitting back in my sofa playing B2 I must say that I do recognise a concert hall and an orchestra as I heard it 20 minuts ago. The balance is there, the resolution, dynamics and effortless. It's just that the real stuff is kind of one scale more. I don't blame the DAM DAC for that - rather, I feel that the DAC could do it if the rest of the gear - mainly loudspeakers - could.
My ESS 9018 could not - it was always to "soft". Reality is so hard.
//
I might change them... Coming home from concert and sitting back in my sofa playing B2 I must say that I do recognise a concert hall and an orchestra as I heard it 20 minuts ago. The balance is there, the resolution, dynamics and effortless. It's just that the real stuff is kind of one scale more. I don't blame the DAM DAC for that - rather, I feel that the DAC could do it if the rest of the gear - mainly loudspeakers - could.
My ESS 9018 could not - it was always to "soft". Reality is so hard.
//
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Thanks Sören!
I might change them... Coming home from concert and sitting back in my sofa playing B2 I must say that I do recognise a concert hall and an orchestra as I heard it 20 minuts ago. The balance is there, the resolution, dynamics and effortless. It's just that the real stuff is kind of one scale more. I don't blame the DAM DAC for that - rather, I feel that the DAC could do it if the rest of the gear - mainly loudspeakers - could.
My ESS 9018 could not - it was always to "soft". Reality is so hard.
//
C'mon reality isn't so bad!
The recording wasn't made in the Stockholm Concert Hall. Wouldn't the comparison be more interesting if it were by the same orchestra and in the same hall? But I think I'll enjoy this recording, having heard only a Karajan version for too long now...
Actually, I deleted one of my earlier posts asking Soren about the impact of sampling rate on channel delay because I thought it was irrelevant, but it's not. I can ABX 20uS reliably (10/12 in Fb2k and errors were at the beginning). Haven't tried 10uS yet but dam1021 dual mono's "few microsecond" is getting rather close to the hearing limit... In fact, with the potential errors in dam1021 signal lock I probably shouldn't even try to test 10uS on the system...
Here's the link to discussions and test tracks: Audibility of phase shifts and time delays - Page 2
Here's the link to discussions and test tracks: Audibility of phase shifts and time delays - Page 2
Check the link. Hydrogenaudio folks really did a great job and provided bunch of test samples. Then you ABX with reference. I'm 5/6 so far on 10uS...
Maybe you meant the test wouldn't reflect the real dam1021 listening situations? I'm not sure about that, tbh it probably doesn't matter. Microphone positions in recordings are not meant to be exact either. But I think it's somewhat good to know if we can hear the difference in a controlled environment. Plus research says you can't tell below 50uS, and it's always fun to prove people wrong
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