![]() ![]() Through the DAC3, percussive upper-midrange/lower-treble sounds took on a 3D quality, a shape in space, that I've come to associate, ironically, with MQAironic because Siau is one of MQA's most vocal online critics. With "Gaslighting Abbie," from Steely Dan's Two Against Nature (CD, Giant 7599 24719 2)a well-recorded song that nevertheless should display intersample oversthe voices through the DAC1 were a little splashy, but sounded much more natural through the DAC3. The DAC3 was all about depths, in several respects: the sound was weightier, with a darker frequency balance the soundstage was deeperI heard deeper into the music. The DAC1 was brighter, all sheen and surface. In fact, I found the sounds of the two DACs quite different. According to Siau, there are two possible ways the DAC1 and DAC3 could sound different: those intersample overs and a possible channel imbalance, most likely at the low end of the volume knob. ![]() Problem solved.īecause of my intersample-over experiments, I now had my old DAC1 in the system, and decided to give it a listen. But now I can produce intersample overs, and DSD files play just fine. Whether this was happening inside the DAC3 or in the Linux-based drivers that control the DAC3, is still in dispute as I write this (footnote 7). Apparently, the volume was being fixed at less than 100%not bit perfect. It was Danny Dulai, Roon's COO, who found the solution: "Set Max Device Volume at Playback Start" in Roon's DAC3 settings. I contacted Roon and Benchmark, seeking guidance. ![]() I'd followed all instructions and correctly set Roon's settings, including "Fixed Volume" output, so this was a mystery. Either the server or the DAC itself was altering the data. I got musicnifty!but when I sent the DAC1 a test signal designed to produce intersample overs, I got a clean spectrum with none of the expected distortion.īoth the DAC3's failure to play DSD and my inability to reproduce intersample overs with the DAC1 via the DAC3 suggested that the DAC chip wasn't receiving bit-perfect data. My first-generation DAC1 lacks a USB input, so, following instructions in the DAC3's manual, I set up the DAC3's D4 digital input as a digital output and used that to feed the S/PDIF input on my DAC1. Intrigued by intersample overs, I wanted to see if I could reproduce their characteristic distortion pattern with the DAC1. I decided to move on and come back to this later. All sample rates and bit depths of PCM worked fine, but when I sent the DAC3 a DSD track via DoP, all I heard was quiet static. Using the DAC3's ≡0dB attenuators kept me at or near the top half of either volume control at ≢0dB, the volume maxed out a little too soon.Īfter that, I went through the whole menu of inputs and formats, with files sourced from a Roon RockRoon's Intel-based dedicted audio computerto ensure that everything worked as specified: PCM to 24-bit/192kHz single-rate DSD over PCM (aka DoP). It worked fineno overloadbut was limited to the first quarter or so of the volume control's travel, whether the DAC3's own knob (with the DAC3 feeding amplifiers directly, as recommended for lowest noise) or my preamp's knob (with the DAC3 set to fixed volume). With the DAC3 HGC set to its highest output levelthe default settingit was much too "hot" in my system. Any sound attributed to it isn't really the sound of the DAC but the sound of the recording, or the room, or other components, or the reviewer's expectations. By pass 17, that "sound of its own" would be so exaggerated that it would mask everything else.īut if the DAC3 HGC performs as its designer claims it does, it's a chameleon that precisely reproduces the sound it's been fed. Now imagine that the DAC3 has a sound of its own that is audible in a single pass. What if you were to listen to, say, the 16th recording and find you can't distinguish it from the original LP? Siau says that, with the DAC3 HGC (footnote 6), he can detect the difference only on pass 17. Here's an experiment: Record your favorite LP with a high-quality analog-to-digital converter, then play that digital recording with a DAC and digitally record the DAC's outputagain and again, with an ADC/DAC loop. ![]()
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