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Digital Drive Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it. |
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Digital Drive Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it. |
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In Reply to: RE: And so? ... posted by unclestu on January 25, 2015 at 20:09:14:
"Throw away bits and you throw away data."
Depends. If there was 16 bits of data to start with and you convert it to 24 bits and then turn this down -24 dB and send the result to a 24 bit DAC you will still have 20 bits of data left, more than you started with. In other words, you will have lost no data. In the case of DACs using the SABRE chip the internal data path is 32 bits, so 24 bit audio files can be turned down a similar amount without any loss.
If the lower output from the DAC causes you to increase the volume control on your preamp then you may hear more noise out of your speakers. This depends on the gain staging of the entire playback chain. With my SABRE based DAC direct into powered speakers there is no audible noise out of my speakers even with an ear 2 inches from a tweeter when playing a quiet 24 bit track and even with the volume control turned all the way up. Normally, the volume control never gets above -5 dB (when playing some Mahler symphonies), -25 dB for harpsichord music, etc... So there is no loss of resolution, either, due to noise floor.
If you have a 16 bit DAC then any kind of digital volume control is a bad idea, because there aren't enough bits to start with. If you have a 24 or 32 bit DAC it is possible that a digital volume control may sound better than an analog one, especially if it eliminates entire stages of analog gain. The only way to tell is to listen and compare. (My DAC allows the choice of an analog volume control or a digital volume control.)
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
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Follow Ups
- RE: And so? ... - Tony Lauck 01/27/1513:37:42 01/27/15 (0)
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