clarion ? WHY is the question

[Mark_ab 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by GSteg my point was that if you're comparing multi-bit DAC and single bits for sound quality, they will sound the same. the differences are inaudible so it wouldn't really matter as much which converter you pick. of course all headunit will sound the same because of the features like treble and bass adjustments, but the DAC alone will not change the "sound quality" between one headunit and another.

 

btw, richard clark's test was to prove that a watt from "x" brand is the same as a watt from "y" brand. too many people were saying, "well JBL watts are much dirtier than JL's watts". he' wasn't saying that all amps will sound the same.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I realize what his test was about, and that's why I compared your statements to the logic behind his experiment and nothing more.

I also disagree with your first statement, as experience tells me otherwise. This includes simply swapping HU's and nothing more. I'll take my experience. You can have you 1bit DAC's on a cheap HU, and I'll take my quad 20's and be content knowing my ears can tell the difference. Real world application is more important to me.

 

[GSteg 10+ year member]

cheaper headunits usually come with less features than more expensive headunits. your ears tells you that there are differences since you have all these features working together to make it sound good accordingly to your ears. real world, there are no better sound quality headunits since everyone has different ears. just like speakers, people have opinions on which has better sound quality. so if the opinion applies to speakers, then there shouldn't also be a better sound quality headunit.

thats my take though.

 

[Mark_ab 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by GSteg cheaper headunits usually come with less features than more expensive headunits. your ears tells you that there are differences since you have all these features working together to make it sound good accordingly to your ears. real world, there are no better sound quality headunits since everyone has different ears. just like speakers, people have opinions on which has better sound quality. so if the opinion applies to speakers, then there shouldn't also be a better sound quality headunit.

 

thats my take though.

You're being too presumptuous about my statements. You don't know how I had each HU setup, or if every feature was turned off on both. Although sound quality is subjective, the way you have described it, any SQ competition would be moot. This is not the case. You failed to mention the many objective qualities that separate head units as well. Just because people have varying opinions doesn't mean that they cannot be incorrect.

 

[GSteg 10+ year member]

i don't know if it had effected you or not, but my friends and i had a case where the judges were biased towards brand. we had 2 cars available for the competition (a 95 and a 97 honda accord.) both were equipped with an alpine cda-7850 and MB quarts PSC 213 componenet speakers. the system were exactly the same, except one car (the 95) had Jensen speaker grills instead of the MB quart. and guess which car had the better sound quality according to the judges?//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif anyways..thats another story..

yes i didn't mention any other things that seperates headunits, but we were only talking about DAC and only DAC. if we were to talk about DAC with other different features, then we would be comparing apples to oranges wouldn't we.. 1-bit (single bit) and multi-bit (was it ladder or successive approximation?) converts digital waveforms differently, but their final analog waveforms will be identical. the multi-bit may create SOME waveforms better, but the difference is inaudible, especially with music. if multi-bit converters had better sound than 1-bit, why wouldn't we be using stock headunits since most of them have 16-bit DAC? remember..we're only talking about DAC here..

 

[Mark_ab 5,000+ posts]

The IASCA judges are told what's in your system, are they not? Was it the same judge doing both vehicles?

This is where the confusion lies. You're focusing soley upon your DAC discussion, which, after some looking into it, is valid. My discussion is based upon your previous statement of:

Originally posted by GSteg and why won't single bit DAC headunits compete with the C-90? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

Which I think is quite silly.