jhm731;142498 Wrote: > Can anyone on this forum hear 5-10 db differences at a -130db noise > floor? > > Has anyone compared the DAC-1 to the DAC section of the Transporter?
I actually did exactly this prior to going to the CEDIA show. This is obviously going to sound like shameless marketing, but I was concerned that with my cloth ears I wouldn't be able to hear any difference . . so I wanted get the facts before engaging sales BS mode ;-) I hooked an SB3 + DAC1 to a pair of Swans S200's via balanced cables. I then connected the Transporter to the unbalanced inputs on the same speakers. I realize this isn't super audiophile kit but it was what was available. I then connected both players to the same source and selected the same flac file on both, before doing to jiggery pokery so that hitting pause on the remote set one playing and paused the other source. Well I have to admit I was very surprised that difference was noticeable to someone as deaf as me. It was more than noticeable, it was obvious . . . and yes the Transporter sounded the better of the two. On Dolly Parton's bluegrass version of 'Stairway to Heaven', the DAC1 setup made her voice really stand out - but through the Transporter she became a member of the band, with each instrument being defined and placed. I realized the DAC1 seemed to have muddied the backing instruments together somehow (is this the 'smearing' some refer to as a syptom of jitter?) and so her voice was what really stood out. Just to check I wasn't mad I got a couple of other colleagues to listen and they came to the same conclusion. I did a similar check with several tracks and the most interesting one was 'Crazy in Love' by Beyonce. For the most part it sounded great on the Transporter, really punchy and full of life. However the horn sample that forms one of the main hooks sounded flat as a pancake. It was so obvious that it was just a loop and not a great recording at that . . It really surprised me that a great pop record was being spoiled by what seemed like laziness on the production side. I guess they expect it to be played mainly on radio's and iPods but I figured beyonce was an artist that didn't need to do things on the cheap. I'm sure it's just an indication of the low esteem certain parts of the recording industry has for its customers. Anyway, I'm sure this post will be summarily dismissed as hype, but I really just wanted to chip in to offer one response to this question. -- Jez Jez Hildred Senior Manager - Sales & Marketing Slim Devices, Inc. http://www.last.fm/user/Kadosh/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jez's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4300 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=28126 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
