[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] transporter: upsample files with sox and drop external DAC?

[posnos]

I am on a system simplifaction kick at the moment and have been debating
dropping my DAC (Bryston BDA-2)

The DAC does synchronous upsampling to 176.4k or 192k (i.e. has two
paths for 44.1k and 48k based files) noting that all my stuff is 44.1
and I run LMS on LInux.

My simple question is, all things being equal, would I lose anything
(with regard to SQ) by using sox asynchronously inline with LMS compared
to using a synchronous external DAC.

Sadly the transporter doesnt support 88.2k (as far as I know) so
upsamping needs to be asynchronous so any opinions on target rate: 48k
or 98K

Obviously on the plus side, dropping the DAC loses one point of
potentital jitter but asynchronous sox upsampling quality is a complete
unknown to me.

Thanks,

Peter


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[Apesbrain]

I'm sorry, after the "Windows Audiophile Edition" thread I guess we're
all out of gas for this one.


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[posnos]

Post by Apesbrain
I'm sorry, after the "Windows Audiophile Edition" thread I guess we're
all out of gas for this one.

hmm... didnt think I was spouting foofoo here... just asking if I would
lose any SQ doing upsampling with SOX inside LMS verses an external
DAC.

Unless you think upsampling is foofoo...or even extermal DAC's

Thanks for the comment anyways.

Peter


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[philippe_44]

Post by posnos
hmm... didnt think I was spouting foofoo here... just asking if I would
lose any SQ doing upsampling with SOX inside LMS verses an external
DAC.
Unless you think upsampling is foofoo...or even extermal DAC's
Thanks for the comment anyways.
Peter

synchronous vs asynchronous upsampling does not mean anything. it's a
transformation in the digital domain and only the precision of the
arithmetic use could make a difference which is far below anything you
will hear. Assuming the same precision, you can do it in the dac, in
sox, in AWS in the cloud, it does not make any difference (1+1=2,
wherever you calculate it). As far a upsampling is concerned, oh well
... any decent DAC+filtering, Transporter included put that problem an
order of magnitude below the distorsions that are introduced by the rest
of the analogue chain, your ears included.

don't know what I'm doing in the audiophile forum ;)



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[posnos]

Post by philippe_44
synchronous vs asynchronous upsampling does not mean anything. it's a
transformation in the digital domain and only the precision of the
arithmetic use could make a difference which is far below anything you
will hear. Assuming the same precision, you can do it in the dac, in
sox, in AWS in the cloud, it does not make any difference (1+1=2,
wherever you calculate it). As far a upsampling is concerned, oh well
... any decent DAC+filtering, Transporter included put that problem an
order of magnitude below the distorsions that are introduced by the rest
of the analogue chain, your ears included.
don't know what I'm doing in the audiophile forum ;)

Thanks for this reply, especially coming from someone as esteemed as
yourself.

I just retired early from a intensive job (sucked up many hours per day)
and have lots of stuff I want to try now that I have the time.

Simplifying my system is a key part of my initial endeavours and yes I
wlll obviously use my ears to benchmark an external DAC verses
transporter + sox verses transporter alone, but its good to understand I
wont be pissing away time on a dead end.

Peter


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[Fizbin]

I think you'll have a hard time finding a DAC that sounds as good as the
Transporter. Even finding one that's a minuscule better will cost a lot
of money. And no, I don't infer that all pricey equipment necessarily
sounds better or even good at all. I know people who have compared the
Transporter to DAC's that are twice as much and those DAC's are either
close or just a fraction better.

I've had one foot out the Squeezebox door for awhile, trying (sort of
like you) to simplify my setup and find smaller gear. I was hoping to
transition to a USB based setup but I don't think I'll find a DAC that
sounds as good as my Transporter that I can afford. Just for fun I
recently tried an inexpensive Topping D50 because it measured very well
over at audio science review. (I also heard reports of it sounding
better than the Oppo 105). I really wanted to keep this DAC, I liked how
it worked, but unfortunately it didn't come close to the
Transporter...which I seem to be stuck with. Of course it's not a bad
piece of gear to be stuck with. :)


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[darrenyeats]

For future reference, synchronous/asynchronous sounds more like a
description for whether the SRC occurs in real-time or is done
beforehand.

I believe you're referring to is an integer or non-integer
"up/down-sampling factor" or "sampling rate conversion factor".

Cheers, Darren



Check it, add to it! http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/

SB Touch
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