RE: Back when I was trying to get into SACD...

Digital Drive

Upsamplers, DACs, jitter, shakes and analogue withdrawals, this is it.

Posted by Tony Lauck (A) on July 11, 2015 at 13:34:19

In Reply to: Back when I was trying to get into SACD... posted by genungo on July 11, 2015 at 12:22:16:

It's hard to level match music with an SPL meter. This would work OK with test tones, down to the resolution provided by the readout. For fair comparison, levels need to be matched to 0.05 dB or better. If you have a digital voltmeter you can connect it in parallel to speakers to measure the voltage of a test tone.

If you want to compare levels with music, then the best way is to take the output of the player(s) and loop them back into a sound card. Record both analog signals this way with identical settings. Then use an audio editor such as Audacity or Soundforge to examining the waveforms, calculate peak signal values and RMS average signal values, etc.. Anyone with a computer and some extra interconnect cables has all the necessary hardware lying around and the software is either free or free on introductory trial. This is a quick and easy test if you have the equipment already around and more or less setup and if you are familiar with the use of the necessary software. If not, it will be an interesting learning experience.

I have never had an SACD player nor purchased an SACD. Nor will I ever do so because of the DRM. I have dozens of DSD downloads that I play on a DAC that plays both PCM and DSD from my computer. On my system there are big differences between levels when playing DSD and PCM. The relative gain depends on my software settings as well.

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 Full Thread

Topic - Loudness - SACD versus CD - murali 05:28:12 07/10/15 (14)

RE: Loudness - SACD versus CD - Thorsten 10:11:29 07/12/15 (2)

RE: Loudness - SACD versus CD - Tony Lauck 06:45:06 07/13/15 (1)

RE: Loudness - SACD versus CD - Thorsten 07:03:37 07/13/15 (0)

I agree too!!!! - Robert J 03:50:59 07/11/15 (0)

That's funny. - Dave Pogue 19:33:58 07/10/15 (0)

RE: Loudness - SACD versus CD - yage 12:33:23 07/10/15 (5)

RE: Loudness - SACD versus CD - genungo 14:01:22 07/10/15 (4)

RE: Loudness - SACD versus CD - Tony Lauck 10:05:15 07/11/15 (3)

Back when I was trying to get into SACD... - genungo 12:22:16 07/11/15 (2)

RE: Back when I was trying to get into SACD... - Tony Lauck 07/11/1513:34:19 07/11/15 (1)

RE: Back when I was trying to get into SACD... - genungo 14:30:28 07/11/15 (0)

6dB lower - Neil G 06:34:37 07/10/15 (1)

RE: 6dB lower - AbeCollins 09:49:40 07/10/15 (0)

RE: Loudness - SACD versus CD - layman 05:57:16 07/10/15 (0)

Follow Ups

RE: Back when I was trying to get into SACD... - Tony Lauck 07/11/1513:34:19 07/11/15 (1)

RE: Back when I was trying to get into SACD... - genungo 14:30:28 07/11/15 (0)

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