Does Improving PC PSU and Reducing PC EMI/RFI Improve SQ?

[PeterSt]

One addition to the previous post :

The guys at 2L are those who provoce DXD (352800) in the first place, and empirically they found that 352800 is the boundary where no filtering is needed at all (I have been on the phone extensivley somehwhere a year ago with the technical guy there).
By now I am a kind of sure that their empirical finding (listening) is based on sonething else : all decimated material just contains filtering and *that* is the reason why it doesn't sound better compared to the higher resolution 352800 they record in natively.

Looking at the measurements I personally don't see a single reason why e.g. 176400 would be worse than 352800 BUT assuming our amplifiers can cope with the left high frequency digital stuff (which for 352800 would be above that, and which for 176400 would be above just that).

And thus there is another reason (see previous post).

[earflappin]

I dunno....I think your post on how the Q sliders work rates pretty high on the most vague post ever as well...

I think you're on to something....because my ears are agreeing with what you're saying....but I guess most of us will have to wait until your NOS DAC1 is available to hear exactly where you're going.

BTW, I told the Berkeley guys how impressed I've been with XXHE and that I now use it over Samplitude as my reference player using their filter 2.....and some of their other customers have said the same thing....they were not surprised I prefered the filter 2 setting as it does the least amount of filtering of all 4 of their settings.

[AUDIODIDAKT]

Haha,

Thanks for your always interesting posts Peter, enjoyed reading it.

If I was a lawyer, I would say: you have a strong case there son.
And how does the industry plea, ....... ! hehe

The principle of Arc Prediction as how it works out net, 100% anticipates on no further filtering needed

This is most important ! that proofs why hires doesn't sound good, it is "touched" already.
But it also proofs that I (and many of us) like ARC prediction.
But as Peter said it works "theoraticly" (to preceive the best) only on NOS and non-upsampling DAC's.
No I start to understand why music sounded so "clumpy" for many years.
With all that filtering going on.
And there you have it music with those "wrong means" of filtering "baked" in to it, and its lost forever.
With lost forever, I mean, just get the 16/44 original version. (and use ARC)
I also dare to say, this also implies on those "24Bit/96Khz Remasters", those are tempered (touched) too.
Can we throw them out of our collection, hehe (me spending all those hours on getting "them", but I hope it helped)

With the danger of me myself not even being able to understand what I just wrote, I am convinced that something else is wrong.
I mean, the current means of this filtering s*cks all over in the first place and the people who should know do actually not (like D.L., your setting 1, name it),
but I am afraid there is something going on beyond (!!) the red book \

Understanding is one, yes, but just take a listen and anybody should easely understand why.

[AUDIODIDAKT]

I dunno....I think your post on how the Q sliders work rates pretty high on the most vague post ever as well...

LOL, 

That one is much harder to get a grip on,

Roy

[Per]

To my findings, batteries are not the best at all, and those with the proper math can point that out (someone in here can do that, but I forgot who it is). This is speed related.

Peter, I think the Danish DACT guys discuss what you are talking about in this link:

http://www.dact.com/html/ct102_vs_batteries.html

Per

[Fidelio]

I dunno....I think your post on how the Q sliders work rates pretty high on the most vague post ever as well...

Hehe, it has that David Lynch-vibe to it, reading it reminds me of the time i watched Eraserhead slightly drunk. Pretty far out stuff.

[PeterSt]

hehehe, one big difference : with the Qs I know what I am doing but I don't want you to know, while with the filtering and stuff you ought to know how it works while I don't dig that.

This by itself is a big apple and a larger orange of course, but you'll get the idea.

One day this all will be sorted out I guess.
At least I try to work on just that.

[PeterSt]

Peter, thanks for sharing your experience.  Glad you didn't burn yourself up experimenting....   

Eager to hear the results of the outboard PCI card experiment.  BTW, I tried using some EMI/RFI shielding inside my Zalman, including on my Lynx card, and couldn't hear any improvements in SQ. 

Not to avoid this ...

I never experienced in practice that this "shielding" would help somewhere, but in the mean time I always thought it should.
Maybe, just maybe this is about the cr*ppy interfaces often provided on mobos, might that be sound devices or firewire outputs - they for 100% are not ok.
On this matter, my inboard PCI interfaces always surprised me on the sunny side, while remember, I ever back bought something like a 1400 euro Fireface800 to get it all out of there (just to SPDIF pass through).

When will you be shipping your DAC and what will one need to buy for the PC side of the i2S interface.  Is it possible to use the standard PC HDMI connector with special driver code?

Kind of definitive : production starts in January at an easy one unit per day, just to get aquainted with things.
Nothing further is required, and all what is needed will be in the shipment.
Buying can be done on-line, and in the next few weeks a webshop will be setup for that with real time insight in available stock etc. By that time you will see the options to choose from automaically, and I hope some things will be a nice surprise. Shipping world-wide.

All 'n all I hope to have worked on this long enough to offer something which is the best you ever listened to, against a price which only makes you smile.
No good within 45 days ? money back guarantee, but the shipping costs are yours.

Anything else ? the price maybe. Well, that will be very close to what I mentioned the last somewhere around these boards.

[earflappin]

Thanks.  I presume you just wish to stay silent on the interface we will need to connect to the NOS1....since you cite that everything required will be in the box then perhaps you're just going to use USB....

[Gerard]

production starts in January 

That will be a real fine new years present than! Sure the best one in have had in years!!

 

[PeterSt]

since you cite that everything required will be in the box

box - carton - plastic bag - cabinet ... yeah, I guess I said something like that. 

[manisandher]

... (thus, we feed both a 176400 Arc upsampled from 44100 and a native 176400 to the completely filterless DAC, and the upsampled sounds way better)
Now, how can it be that this native 88200 / 176400 through that NOS/Filterless DAC does NOT sound as good ? This can only be because it already contains some "filtering" in the material, which filtering is NOT there in 44100 material. It almost looks like the decimation process went via 44100 and is then upsampled by the wrong filtering means...

... If I am right on this, all currently produced hires material is lost forever already.

Peter, have you tried the Reference Recordings 176.4 material? It is the best hi-rez material I have come across (SQ-wise, not music-wise!). This may be because I am using the same ADC/DAC that is used to record it. It may also be because of the following, from one of the designers of the ADC/DAC:
"If it's going to be 176.4 or 192kHz, then we will not decimate that signal; we use a proprietary filter [non-oversampled] optimized to that sample rate."

When I have my system set up again (hopefully in next few weeks), I will record from LP at 44.1 and 176.4KHz rates and then compare Arc Prediction upsampled to non-upsampling.

Mani.

[earflappin]

Mani,

The Pacific Microsonics Model 2 is a nice piece.  I have the Berkeley Alpha DAC (the same guys that founded Pacific Microsonics) and to my ears I'm getting the best sound with Quad Arc and with my Berkeley on the filter 2 setting which is the same filter as the  Model 2.

[manisandher]

earflappin,

I like it. (Though I've never heard one, the Alpha is supposed to be pretty damn good too, no?)

But I always try to remain as objective as possible about gear - stuff that I once thought was good has turned out to be pretty mediocre... especially my old DAC compared to the Model Two.

In any event, I will buy a NOS1 DAC when it's released, and you know something, I will be genuinely pleased if it beats the Model Two. I won't sell the Model Two though - it's simply too 'special' to part with.

Mani.

[earflappin]

Mani,

Only heard the Model 2 once at Goodwins High End in Boston where I used to live (I mean Boston, not the Goodwins store, although I did spend a lot of time there too...).  The Alpha DAC is very, very good.  It has bested every other DAC I've thrown up against it, even my previous mega-expensive reference DAC/pre-amp. 

I agree with you about always remaining objective.  Just because something sounds better than what you had previously doesn't mean its the best in its overall class. 

I'll probably buy a NOS1 DAC as well based on how pleased I've been with the XXHE software.