High Quality Signal Sources

[blockrocker]

This is just a curiosity question. What is your test and measurement setup dumdum? I would be curious as to how the apple HDMI -> Toslink setup measures. Are you able to measure dynamic range (S/N) between the interfaces and BER?

I have not seen a SINAD measurement in years, lol. I used to do SINAD measurements for military communication systems through encryption , various spread spectrum scenarios and interference scenarios. I do not have access to that measurement equipment anymore otherwise I would be experimenting myself.


It will be interesting to see if the Audiostage measures as well as a good cable (wired) connection straight to the DSP.

I hope you don't mind me asking, Audiogal, but what do you do for a living? Or where did you learn so much? Your technical understanding of this stuff is incredible. I've had to google a few things just to keep up, lol. If I had to take a guess, electrical engineer? Or if military, maybe an information technologist?

I don't mean to get too personal over the internet, but I have really enjoyed reading your posts and observations. It really blows my mind that you are "new" to the hobby, but you are clearly a very intelligent person.

[dumdum]

This is just a curiosity question. What is your test and measurement setup dumdum? I would be curious as to how the apple HDMI -> Toslink setup measures. Are you able to measure dynamic range (S/N) between the interfaces and BER?

I have not seen a SINAD measurement in years, lol. I used to do SINAD measurements for military communication systems through encryption , various spread spectrum scenarios and interference scenarios. I do not have access to that measurement equipment anymore otherwise I would be experimenting myself.


It will be interesting to see if the Audiostage measures as well as a good cable (wired) connection straight to the DSP.

mine is a very simple audio interface with rew... it’s not calibrated and I have no clue how accurate it is, all I know is the graphs in rew when measuring the input using the card and feeding the stereo and topping with a pre recorded sweep generated by rew it shows very clearly the ends of the free response falling off with the alpine

sinad measurements again I am relatively new to, it’s from audio science review which is a fantastic resource for physical measurements of devices using a 28k audio analyser with coax, usb, and all manner of stuff that’s way above my ability’s, I will be buying a new 192khz usb sound card with coax, optical, analogue ins and outs so I may just be able to measure a fair bit more in the future with more accuracy

[Jbird61801]

Sorry to butt in the conversation. Thought I would post my set up as well. Samsung Galaxy S10+ -->IFI Nano black label DAC -->Dayton Audio DSP. I exclusively stream Tidal while I'm in the car. Got a good deal on a subscription when I signed up with Sprint.

Some pros:
Maintain stock radio appearance. Every song I listen to is high res, better than CD quality. Mega library of songs to choose from. I didn't have to invest in a headunit so it was an easier pill to swallow investing a couple hundred in a quality DAC. The IFI nano is MQA compatible. The MQA tracks are noticeably very very good, creating an open soundstage deeper and wider. As well as very accurate imaging. Sorry if that sounds like a commercial for MQA. I'm a fan.

Some cons:
I trade off a lot of conveniences. No steering wheel radio controls, No android auto, can't charge my phone while using the DAC. And the DAC is battery powered so I need to take it out of the car and recharge every 8-10 hours of play. I don't even consider having to plug in my phone a con. I place it in the mount every time I get in the car anyway. Might as well plug it in.

I'm definitely not saying this is the best possible setup or that anyone should rush out to buy a DAC. This is just what works for me. And I really enjoy it.

[jrwalte]

Every song I listen to is high res, better than CD quality. Mega library of songs to choose from.

Just to clarify with Tidal, every song is at least cd quality at 16/44.1. Only songs labeled as MASTER are HiFi and would be above cd quality. Regardless, even cd quality from a streaming service is a great feature.

[Jbird61801]

Just to clarify with Tidal, every song is at least cd quality at 16/44.1. Only songs labeled as MASTER are HiFi and would be above cd quality. Regardless, even cd quality from a streaming service is a great feature.

Oops that is correct. I worded that wrong. CD quality, or better with masters tracks.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[dumdum]

I don’t think that’s accurate... normal subscription is 320kbps mp3, hifi subscription is flac so will unfold to cd quality 16bit 44.1khz.... master is files which can be anywhere upto 96khz I’ve found so far...

[jrwalte]

We are speaking of a HiFi subscription not normal. Considering he was talking about files in HiFi quality, the necessary subscription was a given and not mentioned.

[dumdum]

We are speaking of a HiFi subscription not normal. Considering he was talking about files in HiFi quality, the necessary subscription was a given and not mentioned.

I was correcting you... you said ‘only songs labelled as master are hifi’... I presume you (and possibly he) meant hi res and not hifi, hifi is a class of tidal file, and is not the same as master in tidal terms for clarification in case anyone else reads this about tidal ����

[preston]

I just started with tidal and I almost hate to mention it because it seems too good to be true but I"m using "audfree" a convertor program which will convert the tidal files to WAV or other formats at high res. To me it basically feels like piracy so I'm wrestling with it a bit. I feel ike they might figure out a way to block that one of these days.
But I really like it because I don't have to connect my phone or have a wifi connection or have to deal with a gui interface, I much prefer to run off a USB as my head units handle that internally (I normally listen to XM for normal driving so that's kind of like streaming).
My equipment will only play 44/96, so I've been converting it to WAVs at that resolution, but initial impressions are that a "master" quality recording down sampled to 44 still sounds better than a CD ripped using Exact Auido Copy. Probably just audio placebo but I"m sure its possible since the "master" may have things that were not mastered well during the original pressing of the CD.(I spend a lot of time listening in the car engine off as I don't have the room or privacy for home audio. In fact, I prefer the car as a listening environment, one reason I'm a car audio enthusiast ha ha)

[Audiogal]

I hope you don't mind me asking, Audiogal, but what do you do for a living? Or where did you learn so much? Your technical understanding of this stuff is incredible. I've had to google a few things just to keep up, lol. If I had to take a guess, electrical engineer? Or if military, maybe an information technologist?

I don't mean to get too personal over the internet, but I have really enjoyed reading your posts and observations. It really blows my mind that you are "new" to the hobby, but you are clearly a very intelligent person.

Well you are very kind!

I have held regulatory and interference solving roles in the Federal Gov ((Canada) in telecommunications and broadcast, test engineering, software and hardware development, product management in military defence, telecommunication, oil and gas and some other fields and now Intellectual Property and innovation management. I have always had a passion for music and hifi. Car audio has a lot of cool aspects and there is a lot of technology overlap, still a lot to learn

I am learning a lot from everybody so it has been awesome!!

No better way to learn than getting over your head