AndrewFG;360440 Wrote: > What is the exact end-to-end signal path when using M4A alac encoded > files? > As I understand it, alac files are not decoded natively in the > Transporter? So is it true that SqueezeCenter converts alac to flac and > sends that to the Transporter? Does the Transporter then convert flac to > some kind of raw binary bitstream? And does the Transporter then apply > the variable volume control settings in the digital domain before the > signal is converted to the variable analog output signal? > > If so, then it seems that there is a lot of digital processing going on > in real time, in at least two different CPUs, that gives plenty of > opportunities for rounding errors, timing errors, error correction > artifacts, and jitter to creep in. (Not to mention any prior artifacts > introduced by iTunes in the ripping process). > > Did anyone do proper end-to-end tests on the path CD - iTunes - alac - > flac - volume - dac in real time, real world conditions? Can one be > sure that the process is REALLY lossles? Any thoughts? If the definition of "real time" is "while the signal is transcoded to SPDIF", in other words "synchronous and subject to clock errors", then no, there's no real-time processing anywhere up to SPDIF.
In fact, the only real-time processing is this very transcoding FLAC/WAV -> SPDIF. All the rest (reading from HD, transcoding ALAC to FLAC/WAV, sending through the network, receiving from the network, reconstructing the FLAC/WAV stream) are background processes, immune to clock. So, theoritically, there can be only be software errors, no jitter or other digital sound artifacts. -- Themis SB3 - North Star dac 192 - Denon 3808 - Sonus Faber Grand Piano Domus ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Themis's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=14700 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=55137 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
