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r010159

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  1. Hello! I have been comparing the output of two different music players using ALAC files. I use DiffMaker to compare the two results. I then play the resulting difference file. I find if I turn up the gain on my amplifier enough I can hear the music that I used in the comparison. What does this mean? Shouldn't there be a null result, or a different result if the two files do not compare? I am thinking that this may be due to software type of jitter. But when I have the DiffMaker adjust for these timing and volume discrepancies, I still get the same result. I do align the two audio files very carefully in Audacity. What gives here? Thank you! Bob Graham
  2. Hello! I have been comparing the output of two different music players using ALAC files. I use DiffMaker to compare the two results. I then play the resulting difference file. I find if I turn up the gain on my amplifier enough I can hear the music that I used in the comparison. What does this mean? Shouldn't there be a null result, or a different result if the two files do not compare? I am thinking that this may be due to software jitter. But when I have the DiffMaker adjust for these timing and volume discrepancies, I still get the same result. I do align the two audio files very carefully in Audacity. What gives here? Thank you! Bob Graham
  3. I guess I was wrong. I have never heard anything better than the O2, and understanding just the basics of DACs, I thought it would be straightforward to implement. I guess I am expanding my horizons and seeing things differently now. But I still cannot understand what is so difficult with implementing a well-performing DAC. There are DAC chips that do most of the work. Bob
  4. I owned an O2/ODAC for several months. That was the first time I heard a transparent amp that was fun to listen to. But I tried to correct what I heard with some music by trying plugins to warm up the sound. It has this "edge" to some sounds. On some vocal passages in the higher registers, like with Enya, there is a type of "distortion" that can get on the way. This also can show up with Bob Seger singing Hollywood Nights with his gravely voice for instance. And the sound can come across a bit "thin". I next tried the Apogee Duet 2. I immediately noticed that a soundstage can have depth. This really threw me for my initial time with this unit. I also noticed that "edge" to sounds disappeared and has a more "refined" sound with better nuances in its place. Saxes come across not raucous like they can with the O2/ODAC. There is a different tonality between the two units, the Apogee much nicer. But I cannot define what is this difference in tonality. I am trying to describe the differences which I only partially can identify and understand. I cannot put my finger on the differences in tonally between the two. But there is an obvious difference to me. Can anyone help me by making ann attempt to understand what I am trying to say? How about relating what you notice as the differences in this tonality between the two? Boy, I am hard pressed to discern the differences that I am hearing. Bob Graham
  5. You gave me good advice! The O2 is the one with distorted HF. I also found that if I go up to a 600-ohm phone, most of the problem disappears with the Apogee. I think this is because of the higher damping ratio. IMO what remains is a problem with the O2. Bob
  6. I need help figuring this out. I have been comparing the O2/ODAC to the Apogee Duet 2. The Apogee is obviously the more expensive DAC that is also used by mobile professionals. Apogee converters (DAC and ADC) are legendary in the high pro end. So I expected a significant difference between the two. I did get this result. But there have been a couple of surprises. The Apogee DAC has also a headphone amp section. The Apogee representative told me the sound would be close between the headphone out and the line out, the line out being the better SQ. So I played the same music through the headphone out of both DACs. I first discovered that the soundstage of the Duet has much more depth. There was more of an analog coloration to the sound. Some higher frequency sounds were clearer like that of a cymbal. The ODAC/O2 on the other hand seemed to be brighter. This does not make sense if when I looked at the FR graphs of both DACs. This examination showed the Duet to have the high frequencies boosted, not the ODAC/O2. Also, there were sounds that would show up more clearly with this ODAC/O2 compared to the Duet. In one case, there was a sax playing the melody and a guitar playing counterpoint. On the O2/ODAC, the counterpoint showed up clearly. On the Duet, this guitar was much more subdued and at times was almost lost in the other background instruments being played. Also a specific example of the differences is with the song "Old Time Rock and Roll" by Bob Seger. There is allot of reverb used at the start of the song. With the O2, you can hear the definite echo, but on the Duet, the echo effect is noticeably more subdued. Now this is comparing the headphone out on both DAC/amps. The line outs may tell a different story which should be the case with the Duet. So what is going on here? Is this due in part to the depth of the soundstage with the Duet? Is the reverb more obvious because the ODAC/O2 appears to have higher frequencies emphasis compared with the Duet? Even though this does not make sense? I personally like the sound of the Duet better for some sounds seem to be more natural and accurate. In the comparison I am using the same Mac mini, player, audio file, headphones, and cables. Isn't this a little inexplicable? Bob
  7. The DACs in question are the O2/ODAC and the Apogee Duet 2. I am getting that artifice with the ODAC. Bob
  8. I have two DACs. I have been playing the same material, first on one DAC, and then the other. One DAC has a type of distortion, kind of an inharmonious quality to the sound in the highest register of a singing voice. The other DAC does not have this problem. I did check for clipping but where this happened had no evidence of clipping. Could this be aliasing? How would this be possible for a DAC? I thought oversampling and the reconstruction filter takes care of this? Can there be a difference in how one DAC reconstructs the analog signal compared with another DAC? Thanks! Bob ​PS: I wonder what aliasing actually sounds like?
  9. I agree with this persons post. There is not much "magic" and technical "wizardry" that goes into the design of a DAC. IMO it is the analog amp part that would make the greater difference. So it would not be the mini's DAC that I would first replace. I also think a person should ultimately go by their ears. What difference would anything else make, beyond this and reliability and features? And I suspect it will cost the audiophile much less than they expect in order to satisfy their ears in a DAC. Anything else is the "whipped cream" of the banana sundae, so to speak. I personally go without the "whipped cream". It imply costs too much with a very debatable difference. JMO. BG
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