Aune X8 DAC

[witchdoctor]

Not well regarded by me if that is true.

They have many dacs and prices, I have not auditioned one though.

 

[fmw]

Let us not forget that the high end audio industry designs and makes some things with the sole goal of making them expensive to buy. In order to convince me that these companies make something that sounds better I would need to see bias controlled listening test results.

Back when I did bias controlled listening tests we did a group of DACs. We had almost random results which means no audible differences with one exception. That exception was a product called the Sony Walkman which was a portable battery powered CD player. It got results that perhaps did slightly better than random. A couple of listeners preferred it over a high end external DAC from Audio Research.

Designing and building a product to be expensive is trivial. I'll tell you a true story. I visited a high end audio dealer friend one day and he invited me back to the service room. There he had two Sony CD players open on the bench. He pointed out that the circuit boards were identical. Even the part numbers were identical. One of the units was Sony's high end player and the other was a unit often sold for less than half the price. The high end unit was significantly heavier and had a nicer looking front as well as a taller case. Why did it weigh so much more? It had a steel plate mounted beneath the circuit board. Did the steel plate help the sound? Not that we could tell.

So hopefully you will pardon my skepticism. If there are well conducted bias controlled comparisons available I would be interested in reading them.

 

[Kvn_Walker]

Chord is another company I know of using proprietary dacs that is well regarded:

Home review

Chord has done it again - another superb DAC sets the benchmark.

www.whathifi.com

Whathifi?

Any site that reviews and provides no measurements is just a BS peddler. You can judge an audio "reviewer" by its advertising. If the page is wall to wall flashy ads from Wilson and Audioquest, you can easily judge the validity of their subjective reviews.

 

[witchdoctor]

Whathifi?

Any site that reviews and provides no measurements is just a BS peddler. You can judge an audio "reviewer" by its advertising. If the page is wall to wall flashy ads from Wilson and Audioquest, you can easily judge the validity of their subjective reviews.

Do you realize that you just provided a "review" of what hi fi, with no measurements? fmw asked me about dacs that use proprietary chips so I posted the article. As for flashy ads this website has ads from blue jeans cable and rbh, so what?

So, this is a thread about dacs, not magazines, are you going to contribute something more relevant? How about something about a dac ok?

 

[Kvn_Walker]

Do you realize that you just provided a "review" of what hi fi, with no measurements? fmw asked me about dacs that use proprietary chips so I posted the article. As for flashy ads this website has ads from blue jeans cable and rbh, so what?

So, this is a thread about dacs, not magazines, are you going to contribute something more relevant? How about something about a dac ok?

Since google is hard for you, here's a real review.

Review and Measurements of CHORD Qutest DAC

This is a review and detailed measurements of CHORD Qutest DAC. It is on kind short-term loan from Gig Harbor Audio. I previously tested a the older generation, Chrodette and 2Qute DACs so naturally members were curious how the current product line performs. The retail price of the Qutest is...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I never said the DAC wasn't good, I said that the lousy advertiser-driven "audiophile" review websites that provide zero data are the problem. Send them a boxed unit and a check, and everything can be 4 or 5 stars.

 

[witchdoctor]

Since google is hard for you, here's a real review.

Review and Measurements of CHORD Qutest DAC

This is a review and detailed measurements of CHORD Qutest DAC. It is on kind short-term loan from Gig Harbor Audio. I previously tested a the older generation, Chrodette and 2Qute DACs so naturally members were curious how the current product line performs. The retail price of the Qutest is...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I never said the DAC wasn't good, I said that the lousy advertiser-driven "audiophile" review websites that provide zero data are the problem. Send them a boxed unit and a check, and everything can be 4 or 5 stars.

Uhhhh, why would I consider an article from an ex-Microsoft executive turned audio dealer who prefaces his "scientific" reviews with "I am a dealer so read as much bias into this as you like", that isn't science I don't care what you call your website. Uhhh would you care to see the "measurements":

Audio Science Review Review

A while back, a few members suggested that we do a review of Audio Science Review. I didn't think it was a good idea back then because I wanted to...

www.superbestaudiofriends.org

 

[witchdoctor]

Since google is hard for you, here's a real review.

Review and Measurements of CHORD Qutest DAC

This is a review and detailed measurements of CHORD Qutest DAC. It is on kind short-term loan from Gig Harbor Audio. I previously tested a the older generation, Chrodette and 2Qute DACs so naturally members were curious how the current product line performs. The retail price of the Qutest is...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I never said the DAC wasn't good, I said that the lousy advertiser-driven "audiophile" review websites that provide zero data are the problem. Send them a boxed unit and a check, and everything can be 4 or 5 stars.

Dude, did you know Audioholics is advertiser driven (by GOOD advertisers), if you got an issue with ads don't read them.

 

[fmw]

Uhhhh, why would I consider an article from an ex-Microsoft executive turned audio dealer who prefaces his "scientific" reviews with "I am a dealer so read as much bias into this as you like", that isn't science I don't care what you call your website. Uhhh would you care to see the "measurements":

Audio Science Review Review

A while back, a few members suggested that we do a review of Audio Science Review. I didn't think it was a good idea back then because I wanted to...

www.superbestaudiofriends.org

I remember when the high end audio world was immersed in "jitter." Perhaps it still is. Honestly I don't know. But there were all kinds of articles with measurements of this digital timing problem. While people were successful at measuring it I don't think anybody was able to hear it. So much of this stuff is a solution looking for a problem.

To me the most salient thing said about the Chord DAC measurements posted above is that the the engineer who designed it could likely have used a DAC chip and arrived at a product that was just as good but cheaper. Couldn't agree more.

 

[witchdoctor]

I remember when the high end audio world was immersed in "jitter." Perhaps it still is. Honestly I don't know. But there were all kinds of articles with measurements of this digital timing problem. While people were successful at measuring it I don't think anybody was able to hear it. So much of this stuff is a solution looking for a problem.

To me the most salient thing said about the Chord DAC measurements posted above is that the the engineer who designed it could likely have used a DAC chip and arrived at a product that was just as good but cheaper. Couldn't agree more.

I never tried one, but their Mojo Dac is much cheaper.

 

[fmw]

I never tried one, but their Mojo Dac is much cheaper.

It may be right up your alley but not mine.

 

[witchdoctor]

It may be right up your alley but not mine.

I am not the OP

 

[fmw]

I am not the OP

True. But you appear to be a supporter of the sonic characteristics of DACs. They simply decode digitally encoded sound. They reverse what the ADC did. One could put something in the unit that fusses with the analog signal like a tone control but that is beyond the decoding process. The idea is to decode the the data accurately and DACs do that. I'm not aware of any that fail to do that.

It reminds me of people who believe that digital cables have a sonic signature even though they don't carry any sound. They just carry data like the connection between the optical drive and motherboard in your computer.