Post by ralphpnjReally what difference does it make? The world of audiophiles is filled
with disinformation and outright nonsense. The USB protocol is filled
with digital nasties and thus presents many opportunities for
enterprising companies and individuals to address these issues. To me
the real issue is why is are USB DACs even used when there are other
ways to transmit digital audio data without all of the baggage that USB
brings. And as I stated in another post USB is just the tip of the
iceberg since the next big thing in audiophilia will be trying to turn
the sow's ear known as bluetooth in a silk purse. However this will only
make the purses of many manufacturers into gold.
Remember that the start of most, if not all, of these audio wild goose
chases can be traced to the various clowns in the high end audio press
since they so willingly repeat rumors and subjective opinions as if they
were scientific facts.
I tend to agree with a good part of what you say, Ralph. For good or
bad, I happen to own a server that has only analog and usb output. So,
for me, USB out it is to the dac. Honestly, I think the sound of my
music system is extremely good--at least to my ears---and I've been
super happy with it. I don't share any belief that USB is a data
transmission protocol that is horribly burdened with all manner of
issues that compromise the audio quality. Quite the opposite, in fact.
It sounds damn good!
I also agree with your first question. What, indeed, is the difference?
What is the bfd if I, or anyone else, for that matter want to try a
relatively inexpensive device (which, btw, hasn't, to my knowledge, been
touted by any of your clowns--at least not yet) that purports to make it
sound a little better? I will be the judge of that regardless of what
you, Arny, JohnS, or anybody else attempts to program me to think. I've
seen absolutely nothing from JohnS OR Arny that proves or disproves that
the device in question empirically does or does not deliver a solution
to a problem, or whether the problem does or does not even exist. But,
like Archimago, here, who is at least willing to try some testing on it
(if he can lay hands on one) before he dismisses it out of hand, I'm
willing to spend a bit of my money and have a listen. If it's
inconclusive, I may wait to see if JohnS and/or Archimago do publish
some measurement data that does or doesn't back up the many subjective
claims out there on CA as to whether the gadget actually does something.
Absent that and absent my own (albeit, very individual and subjective)
impression of any distinct change for the better, it gets returned.
Apparently, in the enlightened world of clarity that Arny inhabits, this
causes some monumental affront and automatically earns derision and
affixes me with all manner of, ahem, less than complimentary labels.
In terms of the economic value of my time, I've spent 100X the cost of
the device in question playing around with minute and very subjective
adjustments to my speaker positioning. There are many different "how to
manuals", consultants, and opinions as to how one positions speakers and
the fact that somebody uses one method vs. another and achieves their
version of success/improvement doesn't seem to bother anybody in the
least. I'm sure there are 20 people who would both look and listen and
tell me I've got the positioning wrong based on all manner of both
science and subjectivity and that I am trying to solve problems that
don't exist. But, hey, the process was interesting, and I learned
something. The speakers sound really good to me right where they are
now and I'm quite o.k. with that. Tomorrow, well....that's another
matter, heheh.
Arny's going to do what he does and entertain people until his dying
day....of that I'm quite sure. But I object, out of principle, to
somebody trying to take down a person, company, or product by hiding
behind a construct of rationality and dodging in and out of from behind
that construct to take potshots at anybody and everybody who doesn't
happen to agree with his opinion. And that would be the case for me in
ANY similar situation (audio-related or not) as I've got no skin in with
either Arny nor the Uptone folks. And, for now, opinion is all that
Arny has as, in this case, he has neither proved nor disproved ANYTHING.
He is, in fact and in this case, no different than the device and
organization he's trying to disparage.
Rg
System information
------------------------
Main: Vortexbox/Squeezelite > USB> Benchmark DAC2 D > LFD LE IV
Signature amp > Revel Performa F208 speakers.
Home Theatre: Touch (Wired) > Pioneer VSX 919 > Energy Take 5 Classic
5.1, Touch FW 7.8.0-r16754.
LMS 7.9.0 - 0.71.20150313git1426153261 on a 1TB Micro Vortexbox
Appliance, V 2.3.
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