Thank you again sir. This as in the past has been an outstanding expression of thought and logic There are times when I listen to your broadcast and it puts me in this space where it is if you are lecturing from the platform of an audio philosopher. Stay strong stay well; CD
Wonderful video Hans. I really appreciate your approach with thoughtful, frank and clear commentary. I had never considered that the benefit of DSP might depend on the time accuracy of the equipment being used in addition to the room modes. As always I always learn something from your videos. I look forward to the next episode on this topic. All the best. Gino
Very interesting video. Looking forward to the part 2. I find this so much more informative than the over done "best of gear for 2021" approach. Well done.
Thank you again Hans, yet again your videos continue to broaden and deepen my knowledge and understanding of a subject which sadly is all too scantly deal with by others, or simply referred to by subjective and ambiguous terms which don’t mean anything to me other than what can sound like pretentious audiophile speak. Your analytical approach and systematic explanation of the principles has been a breath of fresh air to help me understand why one device sounds better than another (instead of simply having to take the item price as a ‘reliable’ guide, which leaves me sceptical). I have the Auralic Altair G1 (sadly the G2 version or G2 Vega are currently beyond my reach) which I’ve recently acquired and play this direct through a pair of Auralic Merak monoblocks in to a pair of Focal Sopra No.3’s - I sounds terrific, but I’ve been considering how much better it may sound using Dirac room correction to further improve what I may be loosing to the room (a pure gut instinct opinion - though there are a lot of hard, reflective surfaces). My question is whether you think the Altair G1 is still in the lower bracket of streaming DAC’s that will benefit, given your references to it’s higher performing siblings, or if given the likelihood of large sound reflections in my room it’s likely to improve matters anyway. On a side note, I only today found your older video on DBS treatment, which then made sense of the tremors I was sorry to notice in more recent videos together with all your weight loss - I initially was concerned you were very unwell until I heard you’d been trying to lose the weight, but didn’t want to mention the tremors out of respect for your privacy. Anyway, my mother had Parkinson’s (which I understand is different) and so inevitably the topic of DBS was raised in what turned out to be one of many false hopes for an improvement in her health. Nonetheless, much respect for putting out the video on DBS treatment and, only if you feel you want to comment I would be very interested to hear your long term thoughts on the DBS treatment both for you and others. Take much care
It is virtually impossible to give personal advise since the 'personal' factor is unknown to me. I still judge the Altair the same as I did in the review. DBS has made my life a lot more pleasant. Did it fix my essential tremor fully? No. But where my hands were only functional for 30 to 40%, after the DBS procedure they are nog 90% usable. What it does for others I can's say. Combined with my weight loss, I never felt better in my life. I do fitness twice a week adn cycle 5 miles every day, whether permitting. Thanks for caring.
Hans, your attitude to acoustic room correction rang so true with me. I have an L-shaped living room 21 feet by 18 feet with the foot of the L being 12 feet and the ceilings being 7 feet 6 inches high. Walls are plasterboard whilst the floor is solid concrete set on a block and beam foundation, this being a ground floor apartment. The floor is surfaced with hard wood cladding and a thick solid concrete ceiling separating us from the apartment above. One of the 21 feet walls is all window from above 3 feet. As you can gather, far from ideal. I have absolutely no acoustic treatment other than a large plush rug placed in front of and between my floor standers! I know the room can make a huge difference. I recently upgraded my old leather suite for a smaller lighter suite. It killed the room. Deadened the ambiance. Made the musical performance more, well, intimate. I knew I was going to have to grow to like this new intimacy, the new suite was the wife’s choice and here for the long hall. I have improved the ambiance of the musical production by upgrading the DAC to the Denafrips Venus 2 and by adjusting the position of my Rel subs. I believe you to be correct in saying that the better quality and more accurate your equipment is, the need for room correction be it clever digital electronics or other, is substantially reduced, or even negated! Keep up the good work Hans, but most of all, enjoy the music.
Greetings from the future. 5:09am Saturday in Australia. Despite being a vinyl listener your videos have so much information about listening, rooms, recordings and other audio components etc that every video is informative. Thanks again, have a bonza year mate.
Thanks for another fascinating video Hans. As usual I find myself nodding in agreement as I watch - which is very odd behaviour when I know you can't see me! Looking forward to pt 2 and many more to come in 2022!
Fascinating information Hans. I really enjoy listening to you process of discovery regarding the complexities associated with the developments within digital audio. I look forward to upcoming description and comparison videos. Best wishes to you Hans in this new year 2022!
Standing waves are my biggest concern with respect to timing. I place my speakers on the long wall with their faces out about three to five feet from the back wall. It sounds better than placing them on the short wall. I shift my seating position forward and backwards to fine tune bass levels (just six inches makes a difference for me). The speakers are about five feet apart on center. I sit about five to six feet from them. They are JBL L100a loudspeakers.
Hi Hans and a happy 2022 to you. I am glad to see that the procedure you had in 2021 is working for you. I recently bought a Topping d70s with MQA and it sounds great, the unit seems to breath life into old CD's it sounds analogue and beat the pants off a top of the line oppo universal player I believe the CDP 103 maybe a CDP 203 which is ESS Sabre based which doesn't sound analogue at all. The only MQA source we have is Tidal. That said the 65th anniversary Remaster sounds awesome. I can't really afford a upscaler. I still enjoy your channel very much. Peace love and granola from Canada 🇨🇦.
Hello Hans, I wonder on your opinion why the mscaler is superior to roon or hqplayer upsampling ? In principle, given enough processing power, upsampling could be done even offline on the music file and achieve the same output, isn't it ? and given the extra interconnects maybe even better ? Another thought is that the implication of jitter on a pcm sample is greater than a dsd one, so assuming a fixed jitter rate one would prefer upsampling to dsd at the source. I would be interested in your opinion.
I have not reviewed HQPlayer. The algorythm is the big secret, next to the hardware. A PC might be powerful, it's not able to do many parallel processes like a well programmed FPGA can. But the exact reasons are difficult to find since algorythms are the secret of a good design and thus will not be public.
I think you are really on to something regarding the importance of the time domain. I to have realized I am quite sensitive to that as well. Your videos have helped me understand what I hear and why. Keep it up.
Nice summary. I have had a similar experience. I had chord m-scaler with a chord qutest. I needed room correction. I upgraded the DAC to a chord HTT2 and could never get the room correction to sound good. Had MiniDSP then Roon convolution filters. In the end I cut the room correction out because the room problems were much reduced with the better dac and the room correction became the weakest link. That made no sense to me until this video. Cheers!
Bravo, Hans, on a very, clear, informative, and well developed presentation. I have a sinking feeling, though, that What You Learned in 2021 is taking you out of the realm in which what you learn in the future will be of any real use to me, outside of relatively abstract intellectual delight. I am, you see, not in a position that makes the availability of high end audio gear a likely condition. Ah, well. I am also a lifelong motorsport enthusiast, an the astronomical odds against me ever even sitting in a Ferrari haven’t reduced my abiding fascination with the marque. All the best!
One thing I don’t understand about “the room mode is less exercised with my DAC”. And here’s my thinking: With room modes we’re talking low frequency bass. If a synth or organ is playing a five second low frequency rumble (and the room mode add 5-10 dB at that frequency making a horrible bump), how can add DAC possible make any practical difference with the room mode when the time shaping is in the milliseconds range?
Hello Hans, I previously owned the "original" upsampling Chord, the DAC 64 (predecessor to the QDB 76) and liked it, but it was surpassed (for me anyway) by an Empirical Audio Overdrive, which was about as good as it got in 2012 when I purchased it. I'm now using the Metrum Pavane (a Dutch Design!) and like it, but I still have s soft spot for Robb Watts designs and thus wanting to hear the Chord Dave in a reference system (I heard a Dave at an audio show but it sounded bad because it was being used to drive headphones, possibly of the wrong impedance), and, I have not heard the Dave with the companion M-Scaler in a good reference system and wonder how it compares to my Pavane Level 3. I also respect Audiopheliac's opinion and he thinks highly of the Denafrips R2R Terminator Plus (as do other reviewers) and the very expensive Mula Mula. As both of these are somewhat in the price range of the Dave and/or + the M-Scaler... it would be great if you could test those two Dacs alongside the Dave. I'm sure all three will sound very good... but different. I would gladly enjoy doing the comparison myself at a national audio show, but Covid has robbed us of all of that joy, so we are dependent on logical reviews by those such as yourself who have no vested interest in promoting one product over another. I hope you can test and compare a few more of the current high-end Dacs shortly?
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel ...thanks Hans, that was the comparison I was looking for... and the not-so-subtle answer to my question above is that you kept the Dave/M-scaler over the other two?
Really interesting observations and shared in a digestible way by people like myself with a serious interest in music as well as listening to digital sources. I was indeed curious whether Dirac still had a place. Also your observations about standing waves is fascinating and seems to make sense with my personal experience- thank you!
Thanks again for another awesome session. Please do similar comparison -refreshed - with the Terminator 2 DAC with Gaia instead of the preferred chord combo -with this new criteria
Hey Hans, thank you for your good work, I am learning a lot about digital, highly appreciated. What you said about room acoustics is so true. It is our desire for ever smaller boxes with ever lower frequency responses that gives us trouble. If you have a 38cm (15inch) bass in a small room it usually generates less trouble than a 15cm (6inch) chassis with the same frequency response. I have the feeling that our ignorance of the importance of dynamics is ruining our hifi experience for almost 40 years now.
My head says thank you Hans. My wallet is screaming at you! So basically what you are saying is that expensive high end equipment sounds great and even lowers the need for room correction? Surprise surprise, the journey to audio Nirvana just keeps on hitting my wallet harder and harder. I liked that you mentioned that there are also ways to do this cheaper i.e. MQA with a more affordable DAC. Thanks again Hans and I am looking forward to part 2.
Hi Hans - thank you for another thought provoking video. The volume and room reverb energy somewhat explains why music can sound better at higher levels - more is reflected and comes closer to matching the original hall/chamber reverb energy levels. The extended reverb smear makes sense too - but would never have realised it without your educational sessions. I don't know if you'll have time to comment on the following comments/questions, but here goes: a) MQA - I am a fan of MQA - even with the lower end Bluesound Node. However, I am deeply unhappy with the Warner/Tidal efforts to sausage machine the Warner back catalogue and other recordings. I've listened to a number of these from Maria Callas, Haitink, Klemperer, Karajan etc, and whilst they may have been well conducted and played in their day, the recording quality does not match modern recordings for detail, and seem utterly disappointing. It seems to me that a lot of time has been wasted trying to upgrade old recordings of inferior quality, and doing so has added zero or little value from the MQA process. Listen to the Unamas label Four Seasons in MQA and the timbre from the instruments is exceptional. Listen to Dark Side of The Moon MQA on Tidal and it somehow seems dull. In fact my S-VHS Nicam stereo soundtrack sounds as good or better (and it's only c10 bit 700kb/s). Sausage machine processing doesn't, I feel, bring out the best in MQA. Original studio MQA processing (e.g. Amy Duncan - Lighthouses, Unamas, 2L etc) and hand crafted MQA correction seem to be far better. - Any thoughts on this? b) Up and coming Asian Dacs - such as Topping D90SE and SMSL products using AK4499 or ESS 9028EQ chips etec seem to be creating a storm on some audio review sites - but they seldom explore the MQA capabilities. Any chance of reviewing these two DACs with a focus on MQA quality? Thanks, keep up the good work.
Not sure we mean the same thing by room modes. To me, room modes are a harmonic resonance of standing waves. All rooms have these though they are minimised if the room is near the proportions of the Bolt plane. The effect can be attenuated if no two surfaces are parallel and if the surfaces are less acoustically reflective. If the sound source is not aligned with a standing wave node, that helps too, by being out of phase with the standing wave. However, this is difficult to arrange across all octaves as the wave length becomes shorter with frequency, resonance becomes almost inevitable at some point, though we can at least minimise it in the lower frequencies. In my PA work, I have checked out room modes some. Absolutely amazing how a loud sin tone can completely disappear just be moving your head a little bit. Most people are completely oblivious. Generally an upright Piano is against a wall & walls tend to be nodal points. I would have thought this a recipe for generating a room mode standing waves. Generally room mode diagrams show the wall as a zero pressure node, but my understanding of air columns in flute bores etc suggest that is probably incorrect & the wall is most likely a Hi-Lo pressure node. That wound seem confirmed by boundary mics. Any idea? So, why is a piano not subject to room modes? Anyway, thanks for the talk, I'm really interested in getting MQA up and running. I am just can't see how that's possible with windows 10 because it does not appear possible to make it pass through the incoming bit stream. Your only option is to set the output bitrate and it just rescales to that. There is no way as far as I can see to pass the stream through unadulterated. Software running on top of windows 10 must have the same limitation surely?
You might want to read this: facebook.com/download/1622525047796730/A%20Suggested%20Explanation%20For%20%28Some%20Of%29%20The%20Audible%20Differences%20Between%20High%20Sample%20Rate%20And%20Conventional%20Sample%20Rate%20Audio%20Material%20-%20%20Mike%20Story.pdf?av=100002397700078&eav=AfbrcT5WQnGIbHVujnGajIWu0UO0zTmWoUt3oC2OjiW8-F3KIcwHNaJFj4N2G9BDZvE&hash=AcqS33D_3H9aHWeIzqg&__cft__[0]=AZVDi7SfKsH9zUDGdOGU5ryQJ8sCmA6l9JRx3m_cJ4GYuWW11CaJMSQWZ6bgdzJF9xBSVfwjk33a9mNe1pyhbSifSr86Lux1f3-jZm_uP8-mXkPyQosf3Oe4ojTAh4KsJsQy2JFCibY3T69BdpaSArYl&__tn__=H-R
Sir, on the topic of DSP being less useful in higher end systems: room modes aside, DSP still provides an EQ, and - in case of Dirac at least - more importantly, promises time alignment (phase optimization) in order to enhance stereo image and soundstage. Did switching to Dave combo and getting rid of Dirac improve or worsen the soundstage for you?
Dear Hans, are you planning to review the new Ifi Zen One Signature? It seems great, but I only trust your opinion. Currently I have the Allo Signature One and was wondering which one is better, and how it holds up next to higher prized DACS. Thanks for all the great videos!
Hans, bottom line, in your opinion, do the time accuracy, time smear reduction qualities of the Chord Dave and mscaler combo require 24/96 or higher digital sources or would a typical audiophile CD collection have audible benefits with the chord combo, ripped or played realtime via coax?
In 2022 here are a few dacs to possibly review that you may find surpass the dave + m scaler: Berkeley Alpha DAC Reference Series 2 Nagra HD DAC + MPS Mola Mola Tambaqui Aries Cerat Kassandra II Ref G2 Totaldac D1-Direct Rockna Wavedream Signature Bal
Thanks for the video Hans! Nevertheless I really don't get why different DACs and/or upscalers should have a significant effect on room modes and thus make Room-EQ like Dirac obsolete. To me it more sounds like the typical audiophile dilemma.... the more money you spend on audio equipment, the better it will sound...? BTW... What about analog sources?
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel no, l haven't, but I don't need to if there's no explanation for it. I can just speak from experience, that the use of a miniDSP (with or without Dirac, as I have both) made a hell of a difference with regard to room modes. This is impossible to achieve with the change of a DAC that has no, or less "time smearing" (whatever that is...). The effect of Room-EQ in bass is easily measurable (e.g. frequency response and impulse), but I can't see any evidence of a similar effect from a DAC.
Hello Hans, thanks for this new interesting video, I personally never realized before that acoustics issues could be increased by a Stereo vs real instrument playing in the same room ! Concerning CD rips - supposed to be done correctly (lossless format, error free verification by a reference DB such as AccurateRip ...) : is it possible (as some people pretend) that higher sound quality may be achieved playing the CD with a CD transport vs streaming the rip with a Streamer transport of same level - both connected to the same DAC with same cables etc ? I would rather say the opposite as the optical CD player mechanism would only add digital failures. And do you experienced sound quality differences between streaming from a local Drive (Home-NAS ...) vs external platforms (Qobuz ...) using the same resolution ? Thank you beforehand !
The optical disk (CD) is far les reliable than a hard disk. Its laser has to read 5µm small pits on a wobbly disk at 5 kmh/3mph. There is no re-reading and so on. A hard disk is far more reliable and even streaming services on the web are more reliable as a system. Of course, if you compare a poor streamer to a high-end CD player, the latter wins.
Very informative. What is not yet clear to me is what is the best hardware solution to time smearing - a good master clock or upsampling, or are both needed?
Thank you for your insights Hans! What are your thoughts or have you experimented with buffer length of bits during transport? Is there a way to compare how such a mechanism 9buffer in software or preferably hardware) may have an effect on jitter and thus time smearing? Thank you for your time.
Buffers are necessary in many cases but only short ones. And they can not solve jitter of the sending devices completely. They can even introduce jitter when not implemented with care.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel could an experiment be devices to compare different buffer lengths? Or some reference/article you can refer me to read. Thanks Hans.
MQA makes lower priced DACs sound better has always been my argument. But in this hobby, budget and audiophile are words rarely used in the same sentence.
@@mattkaye6559 yes that’s true. Although it’s more fashionable and much easier to hate something that you lack understanding about. Especially if it’s tied to a service that you may already had strong convictions against for one reason or another. So jumping on the MQA hate bandwagon is simply an easier option IMO.
What I have learnt in 2021 is the limitations placed by my hearing at my age on what I can achieve in improving my system. If my memory is correct you have commented on this subject once before.
Interesting info on time domaine accuracy. From memory, you recently speculated that a good switch mode supply may perform better with a dac than a linear one of similar quality. Any further thoughts on this?
Great video thank you! I love MQA and listen almost exclusively to Tidal MQA’s. I don’t get involved with the haters, too my ears in most cases they sound amazing. Cheers Hans 🍻
I am not an MQA hater but I did switch from Tidal to Qobuz a few month before the youtube fight, and because I was dissapointed with the quality of many masters. I found my home at Qobuz. The war on youtube went some way to explaining the differences
@@BERTVVANHORCK Hey Ya that’s cool man. I think people should find their own way to what they enjoy most when listening to music. We’re all different and hearing is subjective, so what ever floats your boat is great! All the best man.👍😎
This episode was extremely illuminating for me. The fact that time smearings can more excite room modes allow me to understand much better the relationship between electronics and listening room. I bring you my experience: despite having a good performance system regarding time smearings, this week I still installed a complete and calculated acoustic treatment in my room and the gates of heaven opened for me !! Thanks Hans, a great episode, as usual!!
Great video Hans when using a well implemented DAC fitted with a high accuracy clock together with a high quality power supply all high resolution music weather it be MQA or PCM will sound very good I've found these 3 components if done right will yield great sound
Exactly, Hans. Mqa truly benefits sq with cheaper dac's is also my finding. Starting with mqa through a meridian dongle dac a couple of years ago, the benefits of mqa were obvious. My current mytek brooklyn bridge still offers a better sq with mqa, but far less obvious. Having owned a Mojo, I also understand your choice for the chord products. The more difficult the recording (for instance a choir or marimba with a lot of room acoustic) is magic with a mojo or qutest. That is as far up the chord ladder I've been. My wallet tells me it's best to leave It at that. If chord had a dac with streamer, preamp and phono input at mytek's price, I might be tempted. Actually, having Mola Mola build such a device would be cool as well.... For now, the mytek serves me fine. Thanks for this video. Part 2: bring It on!
Hans, I know they do. And they are on top of my 'if only' list. I've even asked Mola Mola last week if a more entry level (pricewise) version might be planned. The honest answer was no. But Hans, you've already made video's on the next best way forward for me. The syntaxx or hypsos. Those are within range somewhere this year. So many thanks for those video's as well. Being at 1b level is nothing to lose sleep over.... Fantastic times we audio lovers are living in.
@@mark.harding I do the same with SHD Studio and Schiit Yggdrasil. I'd say the bottlneck rule applies. The best improvement one will get addressing the weakest element of their audio. If this is the room acoustics, proper treatment will give the highest return.
The Terminator Plus is a great DAC ans I would have loved to have it in between the Mytek ans the Chord DAVE/M Scaler but unfortunately I lack both physical and financial room to realize that.
I promise to behave. Thanks, again. Great observations. The price / step up to Chord isn't for the meek. I truly hope you are continuing to benefit from your DBS implant.
As usual: concrete, educative and enjoyable video. I missed your content when you were out. It is nice to have you back.
Thank you kindly!
Thank you again sir. This as in the past has been an outstanding expression of thought and logic
There are times when I listen to your broadcast and it puts me in this space where it is if you are lecturing from the platform of an audio philosopher.
Stay strong stay well; CD
Most obliged
Wonderful video Hans. I really appreciate your approach with thoughtful, frank and clear commentary. I had never considered that the benefit of DSP might depend on the time accuracy of the equipment being used in addition to the room modes. As always I always learn something from your videos. I look forward to the next episode on this topic. All the best. Gino
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very interesting video. Looking forward to the part 2. I find this so much more informative than the over done "best of gear for 2021" approach. Well done.
That’ll be next year?
Thank you again Hans, yet again your videos continue to broaden and deepen my knowledge and understanding of a subject which sadly is all too scantly deal with by others, or simply referred to by subjective and ambiguous terms which don’t mean anything to me other than what can sound like pretentious audiophile speak. Your analytical approach and systematic explanation of the principles has been a breath of fresh air to help me understand why one device sounds better than another (instead of simply having to take the item price as a ‘reliable’ guide, which leaves me sceptical).
I have the Auralic Altair G1 (sadly the G2 version or G2 Vega are currently beyond my reach) which I’ve recently acquired and play this direct through a pair of Auralic Merak monoblocks in to a pair of Focal Sopra No.3’s - I sounds terrific, but I’ve been considering how much better it may sound using Dirac room correction to further improve what I may be loosing to the room (a pure gut instinct opinion - though there are a lot of hard, reflective surfaces). My question is whether you think the Altair G1 is still in the lower bracket of streaming DAC’s that will benefit, given your references to it’s higher performing siblings, or if given the likelihood of large sound reflections in my room it’s likely to improve matters anyway.
On a side note, I only today found your older video on DBS treatment, which then made sense of the tremors I was sorry to notice in more recent videos together with all your weight loss - I initially was concerned you were very unwell until I heard you’d been trying to lose the weight, but didn’t want to mention the tremors out of respect for your privacy. Anyway, my mother had Parkinson’s (which I understand is different) and so inevitably the topic of DBS was raised in what turned out to be one of many false hopes for an improvement in her health. Nonetheless, much respect for putting out the video on DBS treatment and, only if you feel you want to comment I would be very interested to hear your long term thoughts on the DBS treatment both for you and others. Take much care
It is virtually impossible to give personal advise since the 'personal' factor is unknown to me. I still judge the Altair the same as I did in the review.
DBS has made my life a lot more pleasant. Did it fix my essential tremor fully? No. But where my hands were only functional for 30 to 40%, after the DBS procedure they are nog 90% usable. What it does for others I can's say. Combined with my weight loss, I never felt better in my life. I do fitness twice a week adn cycle 5 miles every day, whether permitting. Thanks for caring.
Hans, your attitude to acoustic room correction rang so true with me. I have an L-shaped living room 21 feet by 18 feet with the foot of the L being 12 feet and the ceilings being 7 feet 6 inches high. Walls are plasterboard whilst the floor is solid concrete set on a block and beam foundation, this being a ground floor apartment. The floor is surfaced with hard wood cladding and a thick solid concrete ceiling separating us from the apartment above. One of the 21 feet walls is all window from above 3 feet. As you can gather, far from ideal. I have absolutely no acoustic treatment other than a large plush rug placed in front of and between my floor standers!
I know the room can make a huge difference. I recently upgraded my old leather suite for a smaller lighter suite. It killed the room. Deadened the ambiance. Made the musical performance more, well, intimate. I knew I was going to have to grow to like this new intimacy, the new suite was the wife’s choice and here for the long hall.
I have improved the ambiance of the musical production by upgrading the DAC to the Denafrips Venus 2 and by adjusting the position of my Rel subs. I believe you to be correct in saying that the better quality and more accurate your equipment is, the need for room correction be it clever digital electronics or other, is substantially reduced, or even negated!
Keep up the good work Hans, but most of all, enjoy the music.
Enjoy the music.
Thank you Hans. Music lives in time!
Music IS air pressure variation in time😀
Greetings from the future. 5:09am Saturday in Australia. Despite being a vinyl listener your videos have so much information about listening, rooms, recordings and other audio components etc that every video is informative. Thanks again, have a bonza year mate.
Are you sure you're from the future? Vinyl....😂
Thanks for another fascinating video Hans. As usual I find myself nodding in agreement as I watch - which is very odd behaviour when I know you can't see me! Looking forward to pt 2 and many more to come in 2022!
Excellent
Fascinating information Hans. I really enjoy listening to you process of discovery regarding the complexities associated with the developments within digital audio. I look forward to upcoming description and comparison videos. Best wishes to you Hans in this new year 2022!
Many thanks!
Digital vibrational isolation has been my great achievement in 2021. Thanks for your insights Hans.
What did you do?
@ Hey Markus. Placed rubber foot extensions under CD transport and DAC. Amazon. Miner vibration can cause jitter. Noticable improvement of soundstage.
@@dbrodbro1 oh Great! Has some video on this topic?
Not yet
Standing waves are my biggest concern with respect to timing.
I place my speakers on the long wall with their faces out about three to five feet from the back wall. It sounds better than placing them on the short wall.
I shift my seating position forward and backwards to fine tune bass levels (just six inches makes a difference for me).
The speakers are about five feet apart on center. I sit about five to six feet from them. They are JBL L100a loudspeakers.
Hi Hans and a happy 2022 to you. I am glad to see that the procedure you had in 2021 is working for you. I recently bought a Topping d70s with MQA and it sounds great, the unit seems to breath life into old CD's it sounds analogue and beat the pants off a top of the line oppo universal player I believe the CDP 103 maybe a CDP 203 which is ESS Sabre based which doesn't sound analogue at all. The only MQA source we have is Tidal. That said the 65th anniversary Remaster sounds awesome. I can't really afford a upscaler. I still enjoy your channel very much. Peace love and granola from Canada 🇨🇦.
Enjoy the music!
Hello Hans, I wonder on your opinion why the mscaler is superior to roon or hqplayer upsampling ? In principle, given enough processing power, upsampling could be done even offline on the music file and achieve the same output, isn't it ? and given the extra interconnects maybe even better ?
Another thought is that the implication of jitter on a pcm sample is greater than a dsd one, so assuming a fixed jitter rate one would prefer upsampling to dsd at the source. I would be interested in your opinion.
I have not reviewed HQPlayer. The algorythm is the big secret, next to the hardware. A PC might be powerful, it's not able to do many parallel processes like a well programmed FPGA can. But the exact reasons are difficult to find since algorythms are the secret of a good design and thus will not be public.
I think you are really on to something regarding the importance of the time domain. I to have realized I am quite sensitive to that as well. Your videos have helped me understand what I hear and why. Keep it up.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Hans, glad your in good health!
Thanks
Thanks Hanz, i hope that Your doing well. Great video, thanks for sharing this great summary of learnings.
My pleasure!
Thanks so very much for this. Again, you have given me a LOT to think about.
You are so welcome!
Nice summary. I have had a similar experience. I had chord m-scaler with a chord qutest. I needed room correction. I upgraded the DAC to a chord HTT2 and could never get the room correction to sound good. Had MiniDSP then Roon convolution filters. In the end I cut the room correction out because the room problems were much reduced with the better dac and the room correction became the weakest link. That made no sense to me until this video. Cheers!
Thanks for sharing!
Bravo, Hans, on a very, clear, informative, and well developed presentation. I have a sinking feeling, though, that What You Learned in 2021 is taking you out of the realm in which what you learn in the future will be of any real use to me, outside of relatively abstract intellectual delight. I am, you see, not in a position that makes the availability of high end audio gear a likely condition. Ah, well. I am also a lifelong motorsport enthusiast, an the astronomical odds against me ever even sitting in a Ferrari haven’t reduced my abiding fascination with the marque. All the best!
The video prior this one was about a € 24 DAC!
One thing I don’t understand about “the room mode is less exercised with my DAC”. And here’s my thinking: With room modes we’re talking low frequency bass. If a synth or organ is playing a five second low frequency rumble (and the room mode add 5-10 dB at that frequency making a horrible bump), how can add DAC possible make any practical difference with the room mode when the time shaping is in the milliseconds range?
Perhaps harmonics play a role? 🤷♂️
That's a very good question. It does say 'less exercised' which is also specific per room. We are talking small percentages here, imo, if any at all.
Audio quality lies in the small percentages. At least above a given sound quality.
Hello Hans, I previously owned the "original" upsampling Chord, the DAC 64 (predecessor to the QDB 76) and liked it, but it was surpassed (for me anyway) by an Empirical Audio Overdrive, which was about as good as it got in 2012 when I purchased it. I'm now using the Metrum Pavane (a Dutch Design!) and like it, but I still have s soft spot for Robb Watts designs and thus wanting to hear the Chord Dave in a reference system (I heard a Dave at an audio show but it sounded bad because it was being used to drive headphones, possibly of the wrong impedance), and, I have not heard the Dave with the companion M-Scaler in a good reference system and wonder how it compares to my Pavane Level 3.
I also respect Audiopheliac's opinion and he thinks highly of the Denafrips R2R Terminator Plus (as do other reviewers) and the very expensive Mula Mula. As both of these are somewhat in the price range of the Dave and/or + the M-Scaler... it would be great if you could test those two Dacs alongside the Dave. I'm sure all three will sound very good... but different.
I would gladly enjoy doing the comparison myself at a national audio show, but Covid has robbed us of all of that joy, so we are dependent on logical reviews by those such as yourself who have no vested interest in promoting one product over another. I hope you can test and compare a few more of the current high-end Dacs shortly?
You might to watch ruclips.net/video/mhi1iFKRyB4/видео.html and the videos linked to it at the end.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel ...thanks Hans, that was the comparison I was looking for... and the not-so-subtle answer to my question above is that you kept the Dave/M-scaler over the other two?
Really interesting observations and shared in a digestible way by people like myself with a serious interest in music as well as listening to digital sources. I was indeed curious whether Dirac still had a place. Also your observations about standing waves is fascinating and seems to make sense with my personal experience- thank you!
My pleasure.
Thanks again for another awesome session. Please do similar comparison -refreshed - with the Terminator 2 DAC with Gaia instead of the preferred chord combo -with this new criteria
Both denafrips devices had to return to Vinshine so that’s not a viable option anymore.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Hi Hans, Alvin said he'd check in with you.
Man I learn a lot from you.. understanding the context and remembering it all😂🤯🙏🙏🙏
You can always play the video again. But perhaps even better is listen to music.
Hey Hans, thank you for your good work, I am learning a lot about digital, highly appreciated.
What you said about room acoustics is so true. It is our desire for ever smaller boxes with ever lower frequency responses that gives us trouble. If you have a 38cm (15inch) bass in a small room it usually generates less trouble than a 15cm (6inch) chassis with the same frequency response. I have the feeling that our ignorance of the importance of dynamics is ruining our hifi experience for almost 40 years now.
Thanks for sharing
You keep me rethinking. Thanks
Glad to hear it
My head says thank you Hans. My wallet is screaming at you! So basically what you are saying is that expensive high end equipment sounds great and even lowers the need for room correction? Surprise surprise, the journey to audio Nirvana just keeps on hitting my wallet harder and harder. I liked that you mentioned that there are also ways to do this cheaper i.e. MQA with a more affordable DAC. Thanks again Hans and I am looking forward to part 2.
Sorry😁
Hi Hans - thank you for another thought provoking video. The volume and room reverb energy somewhat explains why music can sound better at higher levels - more is reflected and comes closer to matching the original hall/chamber reverb energy levels. The extended reverb smear makes sense too - but would never have realised it without your educational sessions.
I don't know if you'll have time to comment on the following comments/questions, but here goes:
a) MQA - I am a fan of MQA - even with the lower end Bluesound Node. However, I am deeply unhappy with the Warner/Tidal efforts to sausage machine the Warner back catalogue and other recordings. I've listened to a number of these from Maria Callas, Haitink, Klemperer, Karajan etc, and whilst they may have been well conducted and played in their day, the recording quality does not match modern recordings for detail, and seem utterly disappointing. It seems to me that a lot of time has been wasted trying to upgrade old recordings of inferior quality, and doing so has added zero or little value from the MQA process.
Listen to the Unamas label Four Seasons in MQA and the timbre from the instruments is exceptional.
Listen to Dark Side of The Moon MQA on Tidal and it somehow seems dull. In fact my S-VHS Nicam stereo soundtrack sounds as good or better (and it's only c10 bit 700kb/s).
Sausage machine processing doesn't, I feel, bring out the best in MQA. Original studio MQA processing (e.g. Amy Duncan - Lighthouses, Unamas, 2L etc) and hand crafted MQA correction seem to be far better. - Any thoughts on this?
b) Up and coming Asian Dacs - such as Topping D90SE and SMSL products using AK4499 or ESS 9028EQ chips etec seem to be creating a storm on some audio review sites - but they seldom explore the MQA capabilities. Any chance of reviewing these two DACs with a focus on MQA quality?
Thanks, keep up the good work.
Don't focus on cheap sets but on how they are implemented
Not sure we mean the same thing by room modes. To me, room modes are a harmonic resonance of standing waves. All rooms have these though they are minimised if the room is near the proportions of the Bolt plane. The effect can be attenuated if no two surfaces are parallel and if the surfaces are less acoustically reflective. If the sound source is not aligned with a standing wave node, that helps too, by being out of phase with the standing wave. However, this is difficult to arrange across all octaves as the wave length becomes shorter with frequency, resonance becomes almost inevitable at some point, though we can at least minimise it in the lower frequencies.
In my PA work, I have checked out room modes some. Absolutely amazing how a loud sin tone can completely disappear just be moving your head a little bit. Most people are completely oblivious.
Generally an upright Piano is against a wall & walls tend to be nodal points. I would have thought this a recipe for generating a room mode standing waves. Generally room mode diagrams show the wall as a zero pressure node, but my understanding of air columns in flute bores etc suggest that is probably incorrect & the wall is most likely a Hi-Lo pressure node. That wound seem confirmed by boundary mics. Any idea?
So, why is a piano not subject to room modes?
Anyway, thanks for the talk, I'm really interested in getting MQA up and running. I am just can't see how that's possible with windows 10 because it does not appear possible to make it pass through the incoming bit stream. Your only option is to set the output bitrate and it just rescales to that. There is no way as far as I can see to pass the stream through unadulterated. Software running on top of windows 10 must have the same limitation surely?
You might want to read this: facebook.com/download/1622525047796730/A%20Suggested%20Explanation%20For%20%28Some%20Of%29%20The%20Audible%20Differences%20Between%20High%20Sample%20Rate%20And%20Conventional%20Sample%20Rate%20Audio%20Material%20-%20%20Mike%20Story.pdf?av=100002397700078&eav=AfbrcT5WQnGIbHVujnGajIWu0UO0zTmWoUt3oC2OjiW8-F3KIcwHNaJFj4N2G9BDZvE&hash=AcqS33D_3H9aHWeIzqg&__cft__[0]=AZVDi7SfKsH9zUDGdOGU5ryQJ8sCmA6l9JRx3m_cJ4GYuWW11CaJMSQWZ6bgdzJF9xBSVfwjk33a9mNe1pyhbSifSr86Lux1f3-jZm_uP8-mXkPyQosf3Oe4ojTAh4KsJsQy2JFCibY3T69BdpaSArYl&__tn__=H-R
Sir, on the topic of DSP being less useful in higher end systems: room modes aside, DSP still provides an EQ, and - in case of Dirac at least - more importantly, promises time alignment (phase optimization) in order to enhance stereo image and soundstage. Did switching to Dave combo and getting rid of Dirac improve or worsen the soundstage for you?
As I said, the sound quality overall improved and that includes the sound stage
Dear Hans, are you planning to review the new Ifi Zen One Signature? It seems great, but I only trust your opinion. Currently I have the Allo Signature One and was wondering which one is better, and how it holds up next to higher prized DACS. Thanks for all the great videos!
We shall see
Hans, bottom line, in your opinion, do the time accuracy, time smear reduction qualities of the Chord Dave and mscaler combo require 24/96 or higher digital sources or would a typical audiophile CD collection have audible benefits with the chord combo, ripped or played realtime via coax?
The DAVE/M Scaler makes the difference in sound quality between CD and high res audio very small.
In 2022 here are a few dacs to possibly review that you may find surpass the dave + m scaler:
Berkeley Alpha DAC Reference Series 2
Nagra HD DAC + MPS
Mola Mola Tambaqui
Aries Cerat Kassandra II Ref G2
Totaldac D1-Direct
Rockna Wavedream Signature Bal
Thanks for the list. I'll see what I can do. For now, watch this: ruclips.net/video/mhi1iFKRyB4/видео.html
Thanks for the video Hans!
Nevertheless I really don't get why different DACs and/or upscalers should have a significant effect on room modes and thus make Room-EQ like Dirac obsolete. To me it more sounds like the typical audiophile dilemma.... the more money you spend on audio equipment, the better it will sound...? BTW... What about analog sources?
Have you tried?
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel no, l haven't, but I don't need to if there's no explanation for it. I can just speak from experience, that the use of a miniDSP (with or without Dirac, as I have both) made a hell of a difference with regard to room modes. This is impossible to achieve with the change of a DAC that has no, or less "time smearing" (whatever that is...). The effect of Room-EQ in bass is easily measurable (e.g. frequency response and impulse), but I can't see any evidence of a similar effect from a DAC.
Hello Hans, thanks for this new interesting video, I personally never realized before that acoustics issues could be increased by a Stereo vs real instrument playing in the same room ! Concerning CD rips - supposed to be done correctly (lossless format, error free verification by a reference DB such as AccurateRip ...) : is it possible (as some people pretend) that higher sound quality may be achieved playing the CD with a CD transport vs streaming the rip with a Streamer transport of same level - both connected to the same DAC with same cables etc ? I would rather say the opposite as the optical CD player mechanism would only add digital failures. And do you experienced sound quality differences between streaming from a local Drive (Home-NAS ...) vs external platforms (Qobuz ...) using the same resolution ? Thank you beforehand !
The optical disk (CD) is far les reliable than a hard disk. Its laser has to read 5µm small pits on a wobbly disk at 5 kmh/3mph. There is no re-reading and so on. A hard disk is far more reliable and even streaming services on the web are more reliable as a system. Of course, if you compare a poor streamer to a high-end CD player, the latter wins.
Thanks for share your insights with us.
My pleasure!
Very informative. What is not yet clear to me is what is the best hardware solution to time smearing - a good master clock or upsampling, or are both needed?
Both and more
Thanks as always for sharing your wisdom!
My pleasure!
Thanks, again, for sharing your knowledge.
I’m glad I can share it this way.
Thank you for your insights Hans! What are your thoughts or have you experimented with buffer length of bits during transport? Is there a way to compare how such a mechanism 9buffer in software or preferably hardware) may have an effect on jitter and thus time smearing? Thank you for your time.
Buffers are necessary in many cases but only short ones. And they can not solve jitter of the sending devices completely. They can even introduce jitter when not implemented with care.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel could an experiment be devices to compare different buffer lengths? Or some reference/article you can refer me to read. Thanks Hans.
MQA makes lower priced DACs sound better has always been my argument. But in this hobby, budget and audiophile are words rarely used in the same sentence.
@@mattkaye6559 yes that’s true. Although it’s more fashionable and much easier to hate something that you lack understanding about. Especially if it’s tied to a service that you may already had strong convictions against for one reason or another. So jumping on the MQA hate bandwagon is simply an easier option IMO.
Well, some DAC's - like non MQA DACs - sound less convincing on MQA material.
What I have learnt in 2021 is the limitations placed by my hearing at my age on what I can achieve in improving my system. If my memory is correct you have commented on this subject once before.
Correct, it's this one: ruclips.net/video/JxFCnZ5pBp4/видео.html
If you can then I would highly recommend that you try Chords Ultima series of power amps.
I don't do 'normal' amp reviews, only digital front ends. hen there is a reason I might review an amp with digital front-end integrated.
@The Hans Beekhuyzen Channel I didn't mean for a review, it was a suggestion for you.
Interesting info on time domaine accuracy. From memory, you recently speculated that a good switch mode supply may perform better with a dac than a linear one of similar quality. Any further thoughts on this?
Absolutely, but I' already working on a video for over a year. It has to be good, it should explain it clearly....
Great video thank you! I love MQA and listen almost exclusively to Tidal MQA’s. I don’t get involved with the haters, too my ears in most cases they sound amazing. Cheers Hans 🍻
I am not an MQA hater but I did switch from Tidal to Qobuz a few month before the youtube fight, and because I was dissapointed with the quality of many masters. I found my home at Qobuz. The war on youtube went some way to explaining the differences
@@BERTVVANHORCK
Hey
Ya that’s cool man. I think people should find their own way to what they enjoy most when listening to music. We’re all different and hearing is subjective, so what ever floats your boat is great!
All the best man.👍😎
👍🏼
Any chance of listing the piano tracks you use as reference for testing?
I use Fazil Say's Chopin Nocturnes
This episode was extremely illuminating for me. The fact that time smearings can more excite room modes allow me to understand much better the relationship between electronics and listening room. I bring you my experience: despite having a good performance system regarding time smearings, this week I still installed a complete and calculated acoustic treatment in my room and the gates of heaven opened for me !! Thanks Hans, a great episode, as usual!!
Great video Hans when using a well implemented DAC fitted with a high accuracy clock together with a high quality power supply all high resolution music weather it be MQA or PCM will sound very good I've found these 3 components if done right will yield great sound
I second that
Good to know, what DAC’s that you have work with have you experienced this with?
Exactly, Hans. Mqa truly benefits sq with cheaper dac's is also my finding. Starting with mqa through a meridian dongle dac a couple of years ago, the benefits of mqa were obvious. My current mytek brooklyn bridge still offers a better sq with mqa, but far less obvious. Having owned a Mojo, I also understand your choice for the chord products. The more difficult the recording (for instance a choir or marimba with a lot of room acoustic) is magic with a mojo or qutest. That is as far up the chord ladder I've been. My wallet tells me it's best to leave It at that.
If chord had a dac with streamer, preamp and phono input at mytek's price, I might be tempted. Actually, having Mola Mola build such a device would be cool as well....
For now, the mytek serves me fine. Thanks for this video. Part 2: bring It on!
Mola Mola has such device, the Makua: www.mola-mola.nl/makua.php plus the DAC board option www.mola-mola.nl/dac.php
Hans,
I know they do. And they are on top of my 'if only' list. I've even asked Mola Mola last week if a more entry level (pricewise) version might be planned. The honest answer was no.
But Hans, you've already made video's on the next best way forward for me. The syntaxx or hypsos. Those are within range somewhere this year. So many thanks for those video's as well.
Being at 1b level is nothing to lose sleep over....
Fantastic times we audio lovers are living in.
Hans, be careful with picturing this black white. Dave will not solve the lowest room modes for sure. It still makes sense to deploy Dirac with Dave
This is true. I use DAVE/MScaler + miniDSP to tame a couple of modes in my room that are very audible and very measurable without correction.
@@mark.harding I do the same with SHD Studio and Schiit Yggdrasil. I'd say the bottlneck rule applies. The best improvement one will get addressing the weakest element of their audio. If this is the room acoustics, proper treatment will give the highest return.
Just experiment and choose what's best for you. I only report non my experiences.
Bits are bits, it is just a matter of finding the good bits.
No, it’s getting them on time ar the D to A conversion. And I mean exactly on time
No terminator plus?
The Terminator Plus is a great DAC ans I would have loved to have it in between the Mytek ans the Chord DAVE/M Scaler but unfortunately I lack both physical and financial room to realize that.
I promise to behave. Thanks, again. Great observations. The price / step up to Chord isn't for the meek. I truly hope you are continuing to benefit from your DBS implant.
DBS is great! Ill make a video reporting on my DBS adventure 6 months after the operation.