22-Feb-2016, 12:59
(22-Feb-2016, 03:23)Pim van Vliet Wrote: Here's something to contemplate. If it's so obvious that an incoming signal needs 'work done', shouldn't a good DAC maker do that themselves? I guess what I'm trying to say is that if (and that's a big if) all DAC makers solved the problems that are now solved by Regen, Mutec etc. There wouldn't be a market for them.
And that theory could also explain why some people hear bigger differences on their equipment than others, after installing such devices. After all, the best DAC makers out there should know how to deal with 'difficult' data.
The problem of the DAC doing everything can not be always and robustly solved.
There is no reason why the DAC, Devialet in our case, should not be properly isolated from cable borne interference. In my opinion it is a poor design if it is badly affected since it is basic well understood engineering. It is my view that the Devialet is well engineered.
When it comes to jitter things are more complex, re-clocking sometimes comes with unacceptable latency. Firstly there is not good agreement as to where the audibility threshold is with jitter with wildly varying claims. In fact jitter is the only mechanism I am aware of which can cause the output analogue signal to differ from the recorded original in a properly engineered digital system.
Jitter in the record ADC will mean the digital file is -not- an accurate representation of the analogue input, but there is nothing we can do about that.
So, does the Devialet re-clock the input data to an inaudibly low level of jitter without latency, or not?
I have no idea personally, but the Mutec has a very good jitter spec, so there will probably be a theoretical improvement.
Whether the improvement is an audible one is another story, but at least it is a technically valid tweak, which is rare in hifi IME.
Devialet Original d'Atelier 44 Core, Job Pre/225, Goldmund PH2, Goldmund Reference/T3f /Ortofon A90, Goldmund Mimesis 36+ & Chord Blu, iMac/Air, Lynx Theta, Tune Audio Anima, Goldmund Epilog 1&2, REL Studio. Dialog, Silver Phantoms, Branch stands, copper cables (mainly).
Oxfordshire