17-Dec-2020, 12:52
(12-Dec-2020, 12:58)ogs Wrote: Welcome here at DC. You do realise that the output of all the DA converters you tried was re-digitised to pass through ADH, which the so called magic wire DAC is part of?
The cleanest signal path with Devialet amplifiers is feeding them a digital signal. You have obviously discovered this
Welcome @Adam.
I originally thought the same as @ogs: of course it must make sense to skip a useless D/A->A/D conversion.
Then I realized: if the digitizing ADC in the Devialet is transparent enough (which would explain this choice of handling the analog input), it doesn’t add significant distortion vs the external and the Devialet DACs. So a higher distorsion when using an external DAC rather than via the Magic Wire only would come from the added external DAC.
Moreover, with a digital input, the jitter of the synchronous link (remaining after filtering) can also provide distortion, avoided when using the analog input and which could benefit the comparison.
So the magic wire or whatever it is called still looks like a key asset, not only because it is merged with the ADH, but as it outperforms at least many respected DACs.
Just my 2¢.
