External DAC with Connect
I am looking to add a DAC to my SONOS - Nak RE1 - KEF Q70 system, and am considering the Schiit Bifrost. My source is a wide range of ALAC, MP3 and AAC material. Any advice, is it worth it? Am I likely to hear the "wider, more detailed, deeper, etc." sound the reviewers write about.
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The problem most people have with cabling is they expect to hear "more bass" or "more treble" but they don't understand the changes are much more subtle than that, and just putting an expensive cable in the system doesn't necessarily make it a "balanced" system. A cable is as an important component in the system as anything else as the system will not function without it.
Measuring 20hz-20khz sine wave sweeps just creates confirmation bias.
If this is the case, then why can't trained listeners in ABX testing hear a difference between cables when everything else in the system remains constant? Meaning that your "tuned circuit which will change the audio performance" remains exactly the same, except for the cables. Surely, even with "subtle" differences, these so-called "golden eared" audiophiles should be able to discern the differences without knowing which cable they are listening to, right?
Onlyclave
Absolutely right! The cable has all those characteristics, which are dwarfed by the similar characteristics in the crossover. Big L and Big C.....
So reduce them and use actives with v short leads, and digital filters at the input to the amplifiers.
How could this not be better?
Absolutely right! The cable has all those characteristics, which are dwarfed by the similar characteristics in the crossover. Big L and Big C.....
So reduce them and use actives with v short leads, and digital filters at the input to the amplifiers.
How could this not be better?
Userlevel 2
Between a source and amplifier you have an output impedance, and input impedance and a component (the cable) which has capacitance, inductance and resistance which is a filter. That combination creates a tuned circuit which will change the audio performance.
The problem most people have with cabling is they expect to hear "more bass" or "more treble" but they don't understand the changes are much more subtle than that, and just putting an expensive cable in the system doesn't necessarily make it a "balanced" system. A cable is as an important component in the system as anything else as the system will not function without it.
Measuring 20hz-20khz sine wave sweeps just creates confirmation bias.
If one does the calculation, there is a slight, barely measurable, difference in the conductivity of lamp cord and other simple speaker wires at 60Hz and 20KHz. This gives the fanatics some fuel for their unreasonable claims. I'd love to see some good data about what fraction of the population can detect a very, very small fraction of a dB difference between two 20kHz tones. It would also be very interesting if the age and noise exposure history of the tested individuals is logged. Even more interesting would be to follow these individuals over the decades.
In my opinion, most of the "magic" associated with changing to a super premium speaker cable is due to the accidental cleaning of the contacts while the cables are swapped. Of course the new cable sounds better and the user never swaps back. If the user does swap back, they will discover that the original cable sounds better too.
Dirty contacts cause significant sonic damage and the fix is free.
The problem most people have with cabling is they expect to hear "more bass" or "more treble" but they don't understand the changes are much more subtle than that, and just putting an expensive cable in the system doesn't necessarily make it a "balanced" system. A cable is as an important component in the system as anything else as the system will not function without it.
Measuring 20hz-20khz sine wave sweeps just creates confirmation bias.
In my opinion, most of the "magic" associated with changing to a super premium speaker cable is due to the accidental cleaning of the contacts while the cables are swapped. Of course the new cable sounds better and the user never swaps back. If the user does swap back, they will discover that the original cable sounds better too.
Dirty contacts cause significant sonic damage and the fix is free.
I agree. But where improvement is required is in what is the weakest link today - the speaker/room response part of the chain. And building more and more strange looking cabinets with a plethora of drivers doesn't seem to be the way forward.
Perhaps a chip implant that takes the ears and the room out of the equation - with the risk of ending up hearing the microwave as well:).
Maybe this link will be of interest for those who havent seen it.
http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html
http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html
I dont think we should be so smug as to think audio reproduction cannot be improved, far from it, for me the listening experience has a long way to to reach that of the concert hall. Indeed that may be a false target, as its difficult to create something of that scale.
However, the non scientific claims of a bunch of well fed hifi mag so called gurus dont help when they are all so lazy, if they "think" that something is better then conduct scientific tests and publish the results for peer review. That is the way scientific advances have been made in the last several hundred years.
In the UK i think the industry is slowly dying. The number of "hifi" dealers is dropping dramatically, and maybe thats no surprise when you have to make a margin of 40% or more to survive in the high street now., and support stock levels for demo. So its not in their interest to push cheaper products where any difference is marginal.
Many manufacturers have outsourced assembly to china and low cost countries, with R&D maybe still done in the UK or other high wage economies, and the model that Sonos adopt of direct sales with returns is probably more where it will go. What exactly do you need a hifi dealer for now? To tell you where to put BluTak under your speakers? I think not!
However, the non scientific claims of a bunch of well fed hifi mag so called gurus dont help when they are all so lazy, if they "think" that something is better then conduct scientific tests and publish the results for peer review. That is the way scientific advances have been made in the last several hundred years.
In the UK i think the industry is slowly dying. The number of "hifi" dealers is dropping dramatically, and maybe thats no surprise when you have to make a margin of 40% or more to survive in the high street now., and support stock levels for demo. So its not in their interest to push cheaper products where any difference is marginal.
Many manufacturers have outsourced assembly to china and low cost countries, with R&D maybe still done in the UK or other high wage economies, and the model that Sonos adopt of direct sales with returns is probably more where it will go. What exactly do you need a hifi dealer for now? To tell you where to put BluTak under your speakers? I think not!
+20
^^^
Deoxit D5 & Gold are my friends 😉
Deoxit D5 & Gold are my friends 😉
If one does the calculation, there is a slight, barely measurable, difference in the conductivity of lamp cord and other simple speaker wires at 60Hz and 20KHz. This gives the fanatics some fuel for their unreasonable claims. I'd love to see some good data about what fraction of the population can detect a very, very small fraction of a dB difference between two 20kHz tones. It would also be very interesting if the age and noise exposure history of the tested individuals is logged. Even more interesting would be to follow these individuals over the decades.
In my opinion, most of the "magic" associated with changing to a super premium speaker cable is due to the accidental cleaning of the contacts while the cables are swapped. Of course the new cable sounds better and the user never swaps back. If the user does swap back, they will discover that the original cable sounds better too.
Dirty contacts cause significant sonic damage and the fix is free.
In my opinion, most of the "magic" associated with changing to a super premium speaker cable is due to the accidental cleaning of the contacts while the cables are swapped. Of course the new cable sounds better and the user never swaps back. If the user does swap back, they will discover that the original cable sounds better too.
Dirty contacts cause significant sonic damage and the fix is free.
But there isn't much point reasoning with them, all one can do is offer rational solutions to people that are new to the home audio subject and perhaps save them some money.
Well, I did say "One shouldn't be so condesceding towards others when one cannot back up their words with proof." Condescension in response to extraordinary claims with absolutely no theoretical or experimental scientific basis is quite deserved, IMHO. 😉
IMO, it is the other way around in this instance for sure. One can only laugh at the credulity levels of people who buy high end, expensive speaker cables as misled snake oil customers.
But there isn't much point reasoning with them, all one can do is offer rational solutions to people that are new to the home audio subject and perhaps save them some money.
Userlevel 1
No, we can't, DAC chips are cheap (maybe not cheap as chips but it's a nice image!), that isn't a matter of opinion, that's a fact.
Have you signed up for James Randi's challenge yet? One shouldn't be so condesceding towards others when one cannot back up their words with proof. It is very easy to prove there are differences between lamp cord and multi-thousand dollar cables, and you can win $1 million doing it. Of course, you will be the first one in history to ever do it, but hey! Shoot for the skies!
Since you have agreed to let me, I disagree:).
There will certainly be better units in the future, but I haven't come across any that tick all the boxes that Sonos does till now.
I am not a unreserved fan - for example, I don't think that my Sonos Sub is as great a product for music as many here seem to think, and it hasn't changed my feelings towards subs in general for high quality music at home. I also think that some useful features are missing - it would be very useful to have a minimal display on each unit that shows the information on the track playing and volume level.
But for the flexibility of the system, range of price points, and ability to simultaneously do cheap and cheerful all the way to high end audiophile quality audio, on something like Sonosnet, Sonos remains the gold standard. With the option to also use wired, and eliminate interference completely.
What is surprising is that it has held this position for almost a decade - a very long time in this kind of tech.
Unless I'm going a considerable distance, lamp cord is exactly what I use.
Of course it is.
Gentlemen, I think we can all agree to disagree on this matter, at least to some point. Sonos is okay. It is not the best thing to ever come along. There will be other developments, new designs and different units. Look at Denon and Naim, for example. I for one will keep an open mind.
If it can't be ABX'd then the listener is unable to distinguish it anyway. Whether it's technically measurable or not is academic.
You're going to have to do a lot better than that.
Unless I'm going a considerable distance, lamp cord is exactly what I use.
+8
Docmark.. this is not an audiophile forum.. There are 3 basic types here: Sonos fanboys, that believe that Sonos can do no wrong. Those that need help with their Sonos setups of one sort or another. And those that believe if it can't be measured, or DBT'ed or ABX'ed then it doesn't exist or it's the placebo effect..
Thankfully, this forum is run by technically literate mods who discredit this sort of ignorance, which is, unfortunately, rampant on most audiophile fora.
+8
Actually silver is a better conductor..
All a speaker cable has to do is conduct electrons from one end to another. Nothing better than copper, for this, and the technology to make decent copper cables is not rocket science, which is why decent copper cables are now a commodity.
There are some speaker cables that have things added on to them that alter/shape the signal - by definition, these are not hifi. And if one were to want cables with built in tone controls, a better way to the same result is to have tone controls where they belong, in the amplifier. Seeing the prices at which these cables are sold, it would be cheaper too.
Funnily enough, audiophiles that fall for these cables also end up buying "purist" amps - those that don't have tone controls.
Speaker cable? Bwahahaha! With ears like yours, maybe you should take this challenge:
James Randi Offers $1 Million If Audiophiles Can Prove ...
You could win a cool $1 million. Certainly a cable that costs $7,250 (which contains copper stock that tops out at about 40 cents a foot :rolleyes:) can be shown to be superior by your standards. But watch out, both the cable manufacturer and the "audiophile" critic backed out of the challenge. I wonder why that was? 😃
I think modern micro-electronics has pretty much killed snake oil!
You think??:)
It has just mutated, like a virus.
A Wolfson WM8741 DAC cost £14 at a one off price in the UK, falling to under £10 for over 100 off. So thats about $10-7? This DAC is up to 24bit and quotes S/n of 128dB, dynamic range of 125dB, thd at -100dB etc etc etc. Providing the unit designer doesnt mis-design the board or psu, and fail to read the spec sheet properly, its all academic...
I think modern micro-electronics has pretty much killed snake oil!
Just off to buy my £500 mains lead for my £5 Tesco toaster.........and pop my tin hat on!
I think modern micro-electronics has pretty much killed snake oil!
Just off to buy my £500 mains lead for my £5 Tesco toaster.........and pop my tin hat on!
Modern day electronics can be surprisingly cheap.
An extreme example - I bought a Chinese FM stereo radio last week to release a Denon RCDM38 box that was being used for that duty - it cost me all of USD 5! Poor fit and finish, but does the job, and even if it works for just a few months, who cares?!
And the Denon is now for about USD 200. It includes a CDP, AM/FM radio, 30wpc Amp, DAC, and a front panel socket for iPods. It is currently installed in my main system, serving a pair of Harbeth speakers, supplied by Connect, where the SQ is just as as good up to moderately loud levels as the Quad 909 it has replaced. Outstanding build quality too, nothing cheap or cheerful in that respect. Mini component sized footprint, runs cool in play, and takes 0.3 watts of power in standby. And it has a full featured remote too. A steal at the price.
And if a lamp cable can carry electricity, it is perfectly suitable for speaker cable use, as long as it is of adequate thickness for the length of the cable run.
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