De-emphasis in DAC


Hello, I have the Burson Audio Swing DAC, it has the option to use de-emphasis, I would like to know if this option turned on, listening to FLAC, WAV, .dsf and .dff (DSD) files, makes the music lose information and details.

According to Burson Audio, this option is used when the source material is recorded on master tape, what it does is cut high frequencies and noise from the tape.


I have the Totem Acoustic Rainmaker loudspeakers, it sounds shrill and bright with many records, but when I use de-emphasis on the DAC those high frequencies are controlled and the shrill and bright sound is quite eliminated, but I don't know if the music loses information this way.

joser9616
It sounds like a high frequency roll-off filter... Many DACs have this kind of feature...

Are you loosing something? Yes, the difference in the frequency response between when it is off and on...

What ever sounds best to you is ok...  Whats a few dB among friends...


Quite a few CD’s were pre-emphised, especially from Denon they had rising HF to lower the play back noise, bit like Dolby.
But to play these without them sounding bright, your CD player needed to have auto de-emphasis circuit to make it flat again.
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/pre-emphasis-list.121188/page-58

Whats a few dB among friends...
Bit more I think, maybe even 10db at the peak

Cheers George

AFAIK, the sole purpose of deemphasis was to reduce tape noise in analog recordings - almost never used today, since most of recordings are digital.  CD players have deemphasis built in and engage it automatically (CD contains deemphasis bit).