DACs...DACs...DACS

It's been a mere 28 years since the introduction of the compact disk and after all of this time one would presume that the bugs have been worked out of the standard. But such is not the case, although it looks like the engineers are getting closer and actually listening to what they are building and at least understanding what the problems are.

Two new advances have appeared that - from the design perspectives - are finally addressing issues surrounding the D-A conversion anti-aliasing filtering issues. The Ayre MP series (see http://www.ayre.com/pdf/Ayre_MP_White_Paper.pdf) describes clearly what one of these issues is regarding phase shift and ringing and what they plan to do about it.  The Resonance Labs Invicta (see http://resonessencelabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/InvictaMeasNotes.pdf) describes another issue regarding head room. Hopefully, I will be able to audition these two units side-by-side at an upcoming audio club meeting and report about their audible differences and contributions.

It's too bad that someone has not incorporated both concerns into one unit, but hey, that's what the high end is all about, right? Progress, not perfection!

Over these 28 years, we have come a long way from the first generation brick-wall anti-aliasing filters designed in the original generation CD players. Moving from fingernails on the blackboard to tolerable sound is a huge advance and one that deserves recognition. Hopefully soon, someone will design an A-A filter that addresses these and other unresolved issues, but I believe the recording sampling rate standard is now the big bottleneck (most agree that 16-44.1 was a mistake). With most artists and studios embracing 24-192 and better standards, one day we should see a new generation of players and software introduced as the state of the art spirals upward.

Until then, I'll still have to spin my old vinyl to hear how far digital has to go.

Yours for higher fidelity,
Philip Rastocny

I do not use ads in this blog to help support my efforts. If you like what you are reading, please remember to reciprocate, My newest title is called Where, oh Where did the Star of Bethlehem Go? It’s an astronomer’s look at what this celestial object may have been, who the "Wise Men" were, and where they came from. Written in an investigative journalism style, it targets one star that has never been considered before and builds a solid case for its candidacy.

My other titles include:

• Althea: A Story of Love
• Build an Extreme Green Composter
• The Extreme Green Guide to Wind Turbines
• Build and Extreme Green Hot Water Solar Collector
• The Extreme Green Guide to Solar Electricity
• The Extreme Green Guide to Improving Mileage
• Meditation for Geeks (and other left-brained people)
• Build an Extreme Green Raised Bed Garden
• Build an Extreme Green Rain Barrel
• Build an Extreme Green Squirrel-Proof Bird Feeder
• Extreme Audio 1: House Wiring
• Extreme Audio 2: Line Filtering
• Extreme Audio 3: Chassis Leakage
• Extreme Audio 4: Interconnect Cables
• Extreme Audio 5: Speaker Wires
• Extreme Green Organic Gardening
• Extreme Green Organic Gardening 2012
• The Extreme Green Appliance Buying Guide

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