As with "Confused", I don't see any practical conflict either, between the technical claim that AIR is measurably 100% bit perfect and the listening claim that Totaldac sounds better than AIR.
But in the overall scheme of things, here is a minor section of the audio chain (code on a CD moving to an analogue output from a DAC) preceded by, at the start, the recorded musical event, which none of us has ever heard, and concluded with the reproduced musical event, in a flawed and different listening environment with flawed loudspeakers and (probably) far from perfect and different ears.
I know nothing about digital transmission but it seems to me that you surely do not build a system which collapses entirely if it fails to transmit 100% of the data 100% of the time. And at 16/44.1, there are 7 million alternative codings per second, rising to 3.5 billion at 24/96. So if the odd few are wrong, you surely do not want a system which shuts down. There must be some tolerance/redundancy in there somewhere. So I doubt AIR is really 100% bit perfect.
Likewise I know nothing about human hearing apart from knowing it is fragile, inconsistent and not wholly reliable. So if two guys prefer "a" to "b" on certain music at a certain time with certain peripheral kit and listening room, that tells us simply that.
Where I differ a bit with "Confused" is his conclusion that the Totaldac clocking ability is superior to AIR. Surely it is just audibly different to two individuals' sets of ears in a way which pleases them!
But in the overall scheme of things, here is a minor section of the audio chain (code on a CD moving to an analogue output from a DAC) preceded by, at the start, the recorded musical event, which none of us has ever heard, and concluded with the reproduced musical event, in a flawed and different listening environment with flawed loudspeakers and (probably) far from perfect and different ears.
I know nothing about digital transmission but it seems to me that you surely do not build a system which collapses entirely if it fails to transmit 100% of the data 100% of the time. And at 16/44.1, there are 7 million alternative codings per second, rising to 3.5 billion at 24/96. So if the odd few are wrong, you surely do not want a system which shuts down. There must be some tolerance/redundancy in there somewhere. So I doubt AIR is really 100% bit perfect.
Likewise I know nothing about human hearing apart from knowing it is fragile, inconsistent and not wholly reliable. So if two guys prefer "a" to "b" on certain music at a certain time with certain peripheral kit and listening room, that tells us simply that.
Where I differ a bit with "Confused" is his conclusion that the Totaldac clocking ability is superior to AIR. Surely it is just audibly different to two individuals' sets of ears in a way which pleases them!
Innuos Statement 2TB SSD with Next-Gen PSU (with Roon lifetime)
MacBook Pro (with Air)
Draytek Vigor 2860v-Plus/Devialet Original d'Atelier CI Nos. 54A&B/Magico M3 pair
Shunyata cables (digital/interconnect/loudspeaker/power)/Shunyata power units (Triton/Typhon)
Dialog/Phantom Gold/Tree pair
Missing Link cables (power)
England
