DennyL;234088 Wrote: > Digital information is a stream of numbers. > > I assume that when a CD is ripped to FLAC then both the CD and the FLAC > generate the same stream of numbers - that would be the FLAC-developer's > goal if the FLAC is to be the computer-file embodiment of the CD. > > I notice that no-one in this thread has suggested in any specific > technical way why the two identical streams of numbers sound different, > but one person has suggested that maybe they don't, that the perceived > difference could have been psychological. > > Digital technology is very good at handling numbers - you can copy a > piece of software from one computer to another and load it on the > second computer and it won't crash, when just one bit in error could > have crashed it. In the world of computing much digital data is being > routinely transmitted and stored accurately and I don't know why in > music reproduction it should be any different as long as the equipment > is working properly. Red Book CDs have very powerful error correction, > even if it is less powerful than Yellow Book computer CDROMs, and they > shouldn't allow more than about one error bit per second, which I doubt > could be audible.
I have no idea "why" transports sound different though I have read lots of theories that try to explain why. Having said that, they DO sound different, to me anyhow. I recently purchased a CEC belt drive transport out of curiosity. I was rather happy with my Squeezebox but had always lusted after a CEC transport and one came up at a price I couldn't resist. I expected small differences, small enough that one could ignore them if they had to. Not the case unfortunately (I really wanted to believe that the Squeezebox was as good and I could continue to enjoy it's conveniences and I did spend alot of time ripping my cd collection). The CEC's sound is substantially different than that of my Squeezebox or my Oppo DVD player, all feeding the same DAC (using either a DHLabs D-75 coax or a cheapo glass toslink cable). One would have to be deaf not to hear the differences because they are not at all subtle. We aren't talking 2 shades of black that are very close, so close that either could pass for the other. The differences are clearly evident. Is it more accurate? I can't say in absolute terms. I can only say that it sounds superior to me, by a substantial margin. I haven't sold the Squeezebox yet, but I haven't turned it on in weeks other than to compare it's sound to my CEC just to make sure I am not hearing things. I'm not. -- SatoriGFX ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SatoriGFX's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=8852 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=39113 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
