Message to golden-eared audiophiles posting at ASR for the first time...

[QuadDiffusor]

The DACs (alone) have a price differential of 100x. Do they sound the same? Of course they do... NOT !!

 

[Robin L]

The DACs (alone) have a price differential of 100x. Do they sound the same? Of course they do ! NOT !!
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The price differential is meaningless. The odds are in a DBT the only ones that would consistently sound different would be the broken designs. Arim has tested some very expensive DACs with broken designs.

 

[boselover61]

The DACs (alone) have a price differential of 100x. Do they sound the same? Of course they do ! NOT !!
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Price is not equal to quality. In audio you really don't get what you pay for.

 

[StuartC]

As with anything in engineering, excessive retail cost is only paying for exotic materials, expensive manufacturing processes and extensive human labour. So if your component is made from a CNC'd block of unobtainium, with hand wound silver transformers, and loads of random bits of vajazzle that take an age to assemble then of course its going to be expensive. But ultimately, its no different to a hand made car; the majority of the time they look great and there are bragging rights, but they tend to have worse ride, comfort and quality than an efficiently engineering mass production alternative.

 

[Loathecliff]

The DACs (alone) have a price differential of 100x. Do they sound the same? Of course they do ! NOT !!
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It's the wooden structure behind that intrigues me.
So much so that my 'posting on ASR' timidity has by-passed itself!
(& Hi Guys)

 

[QuadDiffusor]

The wooden structures are quadratic diffusors, designed to decorrelate and randomize reflections.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...e-to-do-it-architecturally.21167/#post-704178

 

[David Harper]

I would very much like to get some informed opinions here on this question;
Do hyper-expensive high end CD players like the Marantz SA 10 ($6999) or the Ayre D-1 xe ( $8000 ) "sound better" than mainstream CD players?

 

[Frank Dernie]

I would very much like to get some informed opinions here on this question;
Do hyper-expensive high end CD players like the Marantz SA 10 ($6999) or the Ayre D-1 xe ( $8000 ) "sound better" than mainstream CD players?

Almost certainly not based on blind level matched comparisons I did 10 years or so ago on DACs and CD players varying from £14,000 to £1200, so no real budget ones but a broad range.
The more expensive ones were much nicer made and styled IMO though but no sound difference I could reliably recognise.

 

[egellings]

Damping factor is the ratio of speaker load impedance to the amplifier's output impedance, so that's covered in my design criteria for a power amp.

 

[Inner Space]

Do hyper-expensive high end CD players ... "sound better" than mainstream CD players?

In terms of reliably detectable superior audio output, no. Testing and unbiased experience overwhelming says not. But two notes:

First, build quality and smooth operation adds considerable pleasure in a non-audio way, which (for me at least) enhances the ownership experience.

And second, discussions about "which player sounds better" are the equivalent of trying to determine the mass of two grains of sand, while standing in the shadow of Mount Everest - which is your room. It's an audio paraphrase of Parkinson's law - discussion expands to fill only what we can easily do something about, while ignoring vastly more important things.

Really, for the next ten or twenty years we should ignore gear completely and focus on rooms alone. Especially background noise - right now I have a spectacularly silent room, and it's by far the biggest, hugest, most dramatic upgrade I have ever experienced.

 

[richard12511]

The DACs (alone) have a price differential of 100x. Do they sound the same? Of course they do... NOT !!
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Unless one of them is severely broken, I have a hard time believing they'd sound different at all under blind conditions. If you could show otherwise, though, that would be awesome. We know that the $9 apple DAC is already audibly perfect, so price means little here. Can't get more perfect than perfect, at least until we get robot ears.

Under sighted conditions, I'm sure they sound very different, especially to a brain that knows the price difference between them .

 

[Deleted member 21219]

In audio you really don't get what you pay for.

What's the old saying? "You always pay for what you get, but you don't always get what you pay for." Jim

 

[charleski]

One of the sad things I'm beginning to see here is people who read this forum and think the reviews represent some new dogma which should replace the old dogma they found elsewhere. People who think that by buying an RME or Benchmark DAC they're getting better sound than the proles who buy stuff from Topping or JDS, but also spending far less than the nutjobs with dCS stacks.

Oh deary deary me. Talk about completely missing the point. Adopting a scientific approach doesn't mean you dump your old gang and just start waving a different flag. It means you look at the evidence, all of it, and see how it fits together. Audio electronics surpassed the threshold of hearing a couple of decades ago, what's been happening since then is that good electronics has been getting a lot cheaper.

You might buy an RME DAC because you have a real use for the extra functionality it offers. You might buy a Benchmark DAC because you're well-off and think it's worth rewarding a company that really pushes the state of the art. That's all fine. Just don't delude yourself that your system sounds better than Joe Bloggs down the road with some stuff from one of the better Chinese makers.

 

[CtheArgie]

Yes, right, except for the speakers.

 

[BDWoody]

The DACs (alone) have a price differential of 100x. Do they sound the same? Of course they do... NOT !!
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Uh huh.

 

[Deleted member 28849]

I don't believe I'm a Golden Ear but I listen for hours at a time for the last 20 years, since I invested in Home Audio. There is divide between mid-fi and hi-fi. Now how should I say this, there was a time where I could not distinguish a difference between a 320 mp3 and a cd. As my equipment improved over the years from progressive upgrades. I can hear the difference.

To say John Doe's mid-fi system is equal to my $40K system is a laugh. Each and every equipment purchase I have made over the years elevated the sound to a higher level. If this were not so I would have been content, without having spent mega bucks for better equipment.

Yes I'm fortunate to have the system I have and not everyone can divert their budget to Home Audio. You can enjoy what you have, I did for years. If you desire to upgrade there is always another level or improvement to audio sound that can be achieved.

 

[Emlin]

I don't believe I'm a Golden Ear but I listen for hours at a time for the last 20 years, since I invested in Home Audio. There is divide between mid-fi and hi-fi. Now how should I say this, there was a time where I could not distinguish a difference between a 320 mp3 and a cd. As my equipment improved over the years from progressive upgrades. I can hear the difference.

To say John Doe's mid-fi system is equal to my $40K system is a laugh. Each and every equipment purchase I have made over the years elevated the sound to a higher level. If this were not so I would have been content, without having spent mega bucks for better equipment.

Yes I'm fortunate to have the system I have and not everyone can divert their budget to Home Audio. You can enjoy what you have, I did for years. If you desire to upgrade there is always another level or improvement to audio sound that can be achieved.

I don't agree with those who equate cost and quality of reproduction.

 

[Deleted member 28849]

I don't agree with those who equate cost and quality of reproduction.

I didn't just throw money at equipment. I listened carefully for many hours determining the weakest link in my system. Then I purchased the product based on reviews to get an overall consensus of the product. Then I would listen at the Dealer then purchase. But as I mentioned, for me, it takes approx. 2 weeks of listening for either the equipment to break-in or for my mind to make the adjustment to the new sound. Sometimes I heard the improvement right out of the box.

Yeah I agree, just because something costs more doesn't make it better. Generally though a piece of equipment costs more because it is better quality. than mid-fi.

 

[danadam]

Now how should I say this, there was a time where I could not distinguish a difference between a 320 mp3 and a cd. As my equipment improved over the years from progressive upgrades. I can hear the difference.

Let me guess, you don't have ABX logs (and the files) showing that?

 

[Deleted member 28849]

Let me guess, you don't have ABX logs (and the files) showing that?

At the time didn't need to, since I could not hear a difference I went with 320 mp3 for storage because you could play it in the car.
Now I listen to Amazon HD which is the best I have ever heard from recordings that I am familiar. I am not fooling myself, I knows what I hears coming from my system.