1 bit vs 24 bit DAC

[tee 10+ year member]

I've searched along and read that the DAC is basically the brains of the HU. I just wanted to know if the would be a big increase in SQ going from 1 bit to 24 bit. I have an Alpine 9881 (1 bit) and I'm now looking at Wkbdkid's Kenwood Excelon KDC-x889. Would I hear the difference going from the Alpine to the Kenwood?

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[benzmansl65amg 10+ year member]

the 24 bit converter is really nice i have it in my kenwood excelon headunit and it sounds great

 

[Haunz 10+ year member]

Dude, you are basically comparing a single 1bit deck to a dual 1 bit deck......

Most people don't have a clue about DACs, and all the BS marketing out there is pretty sad..... But at the end of the day I can assure you that there will be no audible difference between the two decks....

 

[whitemax 10+ year member]

I had an older Alpine system that would let you choose wether to have the HU use it's built in 1bit DAC's to do the conversion or pass the signal down to the processor in the digital domain. The processor had four 20bit Burr Brown DAC's. There was an audible difference in sound when switching from one to the other. The difference were not huge, but there were subtle nuances that I could here when the higher bit DAC's were doing the conversion. This can be either attributed to the DAC's, the other components inside the processor, or a combination of both, point is that there was an audible difference.

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

I had an older Alpine system that would let you choose wether to have the HU use it's built in 1bit DAC's to do the conversion or pass the signal down to the processor in the digital domain. The processor had four 20bit Burr Brown DAC's. There was an audible difference in sound when switching from one to the other. The difference were not huge, but there were subtle nuances that I could here when the higher bit DAC's were doing the conversion. This can be either attributed to the DAC's, the other components inside the processor, or a combination of both, point is that there was an audible difference.

Of course there is. But the higher bit converters are NOT always the answer. It is also about the quality of the parts that make up the converter. I have a Denon DVD-3910 home universal player with 24bit converters. I can also feed the signal digitally from that to my Denon receiver via the "Denonlink" connection to the receiver's 24bit converters. I also have an Audio Alchemy DDE v1.0 outboard D/A converter. It is a 1 bit converter. When I hooked this up to my universal (and in effect used my universal as a transport) with a coax digital cable the results were astonishing. The Audio Alchemy brought out a lot MORE detail in the music than the Denon did.

So I guess I would say word length (bits) isn't the MOST important factor in D/A conversion.

 

[whitemax 10+ year member]

Reason I stated the DAC, other components, or a combination of both.

Just stating what I have heard, as there are many people who say that there is no difference. I know that older setup sounded better than my CDA-7998's.

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

Reason I stated the DAC, other components, or a combination of both.
Just stating what I have heard, as there are many people who say that there is no difference. I know that older setup sounded better than my CDA-7998's.

Don't get me wrong I was agreeing with you. Too many people these days fall for the marketing hype. 24 bit @ 192khz is MOSTLY if not ALL hype.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Neither is really better or worse.

Also keep in mind that a DAC is only as good as the surrounding design & implimentation.

So a "better" DAC implimented poorly will have worse results than another lesser DAC implimented into a good design.

Moral of the story; Don't base your decision solely off of the DAC. There's far more to the story.

 

[sqhertz 5,000+ posts]

Neither is really better or worse.
Also keep in mind that a DAC is only as good as the surrounding design & implimentation.

So a "better" DAC implimented poorly will have worse results than another lesser DAC implimented into a good design.

Moral of the story; Don't base your decision solely off of the DAC. There's far more to the story.

where is the pic in your avatar from?

i remember seeing some of this guys work ( cant remember the name for the life of me) and alot of it looks like that. mark something? mike? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[whitemax 10+ year member]

Don't get me wrong I was agreeing with you. Too many people these days fall for the marketing hype.

Agreed.... I would consider other things as well, such as processing abilities, and ease of use.

For me ease of use is one the biggest things I consider. To some this may not be very important, but to me messing around with the HU is not something I really want to do while driving at highway speeds.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

where is the pic in your avatar from?i remember seeing some of this guys work ( cant remember the name for the life of me) and alot of it looks like that. mark something? mike? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

http://www.alexgrey.com

He did the cover art for some of Tool's albums.

 

[2kchevy06civic 5,000+ posts]

http://www.alexgrey.com
He did the cover art for some of Tool's albums.

Indeed!

 

[sqhertz 5,000+ posts]

http://www.alexgrey.com
He did the cover art for some of Tool's albums.

THATS IT!!! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/veryhappy.gif.fec4fed33b4a1279cf10bdd45a039dae.gif

he had a huuggee article in an older high times issue i have boxed up somewhere. excellent surrealist.

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

Agreed.... I would consider other things as well, such as processing abilities, and ease of use.

For me ease of use is one the biggest things I consider. To some this may not be very important, but to me messing around with the HU is not something I really want to do while driving at highway speeds.

Yes, ease of use is huge uless its a set it and forget it unit. Another big thing for me is BUILD QUALITY. A unit that has nice DACs and is built like shit would be defeating the purpose as well.

 

[Justintoxicated 10+ year member]

From my understanding you will hear a difference in sound when chanign from one 24 bit Dac to anotehr as well. Many people into HT, or headphones seem to not like BB DACS for whatever reason. Saying the sound is too warm or what have you.

I dunno myself.

But 20+ bit DAC's do seem to have more potential than a 1bit DAC. But as with anything implementation could definately make more of a difference than the DAC itself.