[jwvm]

On Dec 13, 7:47=A0pm, Audio Empire wrote:

snip

Not exactly true. While I agree that most DACs that are constructed using=
IC
converters sound so much alike that the differences (if any) are trivial,
high-end DACs using discrete, proprietary circuitry not only can sound be=
tter
than the mass-produced IC chip-based DACs, but they sound significantly
different from one another.

You will find that it is much harder to get uniform performance from
electronics using discrete parts compared to using integrated
circuits. The tolerance requirements are much harder to meet and
maintain with discrete components. Indeed, there is good reason to
believe that discrete converters will sound different from each other
since component tolerances will be much poorer.

These differences manifest themselves mostly as
differences in top-end musicality and sound-staging. The better the DAC, =
the
more real the top-end sounds, strings, even percussion such as high-hats,
take on a sheen and a realism that one generally only hears live. This is
hardly subtle, and in a DBT is jaw-droppingly and statistically apparent.

These are audiophile terms that are impossible to measure and have not
been demonstrated to actually be reliably perceptible in credible
double-blind tests.