[Audio Empire]

On Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:08:37 -0800, Arny Krueger wrote
(in article ):

"Audio Empire" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 11 Dec 2011 15:47:12 -0800, bob wrote
(in article ):

On Dec 11, 5:08=A0pm, "Chuck Finley" wrote:
I bought an Escient music server several years ago when hard drive space
was
still relatively expensive. Most of my music on there is encoded at 320
and
192. Reviews of DACs typically discuss how they can improve the sound of
CD
quality or hi-rez music, but I'm wondering what effect they would have
on
compressed music. Would some kind of up-sampling device have to be added
to
the DAC for this? Thanks.

Once an MP3 is made, the loss in sound quality is permanent. No way to
restore it.

That said, most of the time for most listeners, even a 192 kbps MP3
will be indistinguishable from a CD. So you haven't lost as much as
you think you have.

Also, don't read DAC reviews. They're essentially creative writing
exercises.

bob

I disagree with that. DACs differ quite a bit in their sound.

They can, as long as you stay clear of well-done bias-controlled tests.

They differ quite a bit when you DO conduct proper bias-controlled tests. I
would know, having done so.

If you don't think they do, then you probably haven't DBT'ed a DAC such as
a MSB DAC IV
against a Musical Fidelity V-DAC or a dCS Debussy against a Benchmark
DAC1
or a Music Streamer II!

I was unaware of such serious technical failings in such expensive hardware.

Not all of the DACs I mentioned, above, are expensive. The Musical Fidelity
V-DAC, for instance, is only about $300, the Music Streamer II DAC is only
about $350. Certainly the MSB and the dCS are quite costly by comparison. The
fact that inexpensive DACs are, well, let's be kind and just say
"compromised" in their performance, is, basically, my point.

They all sound quite different.

It is axiomatic that DACs can only sound different if they have serious
technical flaws.

And surprise, surprise, the $14,000 MSB DAC IV and and the $11,000 dCS
Debussy DACs DO sound MUCH better than any of the cheap IC-based DAC boxes
(including the $1000 Benchmark DAC1). All of which just reinforces your
comments, above. Cheap DACs DO have, compared to the expensive spread,
"serious technical flaws". In fact, I have found that the only IC DAC chip
that performs substantially better than the "usual suspects" from TI/Burr
Brown and Analog Devices and comes anywhere within a country mile of the
discrete "Ladder DAC" used by MSB or the discrete "Ring DAC" used by dCS is
the ESS 32-bit "SabreDAC". And it still has a long way to go to equal
either, sonically.