2. digital
  3. 160424-115562

Thinking about getting a R2R DAC

Dear community,

I currently have a chord qutest DAC. I like it a lot, very full sound, accurate detailed and exciting.  However, whenever I go back to vinyl (with a well-recorded nice pressing) I find the sound so much more satisfying.  There is a warmth, yes, but there is a presence, a 'there-ness' that I just don't get with the digital.  I'm wondering if an R2R DAC would get me closer to that?  my budget would be around the same as the qutest.  I was looking at the MHDT Orchid or the Border Patrol.  Don't get me wrong, I really like the Qutest.  I am thinking of putting it in the upstairs system to pair with the Node2i I have up there.  Any thoughts?  Will analog always just be a different animal than digital?

Currently in the main system I have a Sonore uRendu feeding the Qutest which is going to a LTA MZ2 going to a Pass XA 30.5

thanks!
adam8179

Showing 2 responses by dougeyjones

dougeyjones's avatar
dougeyjones
163 posts
 
I can’t believe that someone in this thread tried to state that R2R DACs are “bit perfect”, implying that they’re more accurate than Delta Sigma, which is actually the opposite of the truth.

This place is a caricature of itself sometimes.
dougeyjones's avatar
dougeyjones
163 posts
 
@fsonicsmith 

I actually know exactly what “bit-perfect” was originally intended to mean, and it has nothing at all to do with what’s being discussed in this thread. 

Bit perfect originally described software that could faithfully play back or pass on a digital signal to an outboard DAC without performing any resampling in the process. This only became necessary when people started using computers seriously as digital front ends and realized that Microsoft’s “DirectSound” resampled everything to 48khz before output. The solution was “KernelStreaming”, then ASIO and eventually WASAPI. 

So, the way it’s been used in this thread, including your post is inaccurate. 
More to discover