BK wrote:
"Using that sort of method I've been able to "prove" that monster cable sounds better than Radio Shack on one go round and the opposite on another. Even if the music is Philip Glass or Trance, if you play the end of it, pause for silence and then play the beginning of it, it will sound different even if it's identical!"I can assure you that Monster lightpipe > Apogee's newest lightpipe. I could care less how jitter-immune they "claim" their cables to be, for me, Apogee is definitely proving how full of shit they are. I already posted about the Big Ben and Antelope.
On the topic of ASIO and MME, here's what I think:
1) Henrik is not smoking his lunch when he says MME sounds more plastic-y than ASIO. Furthermore,
no one should assume anything in the digital world just because it's digital and the "program" tells us it's the same. I did a test with Nuendo's file types back on their forum last year and got tons of people (including Fredo and another moderator) claiming I was smoking something and imagining differences in the sound quality. Nuendo ironically, at the time (first v3), was playing back Wave64 in a superior fashion to the other formats (.bwav, .wav, .aiff)....and I had done the phase test, which of course churned out negative infinity results. I recorded using all the formats and played back all the formats, they all sounded very close but W64 was clearer. I finished that post with a statement revolvoing around the fact that Nuendo's code must treat the file types slightly differently, but still that W64 was/is superior (in Nuendo). Since then, Samplitude/Sequoia has won me over for the utmost critical applications.
2) I just had to assess this WDM, MME and ASIO situation for myself once more. Bob Olhsson: There is totally a difference between MME and ASIO simply from the fact that the MME driver uses a completely different buffer - fixed to my knowledge - and I am in the group that likes ASIO more. On the topic of Lynx sound cards (I have an AES16), I called and spoke with Paul (lead tech) and spent 20 minutes explaining how the sound card sounds less noticeably digital (which to me, is uh, better)
with busmastering off -- more like the source. However, at higher sample rates and an abundance of tracks, you'll need busmastering on unless you have a slammin' DAW. Further into this discussion with Paul, I talked about how Lynx's Mixer software sounds different depending on which
row you send the Digi left and right outputs. You'd think (and assume) that there can't possibly be a difference, but there is. It's definitely not the same type of difference as with RME's Totalmix when you 48-bit bus identical signals through their software, which was noticeably more digital to me...but it's more of a location-in-the-sound-field type of thing with Lynx's software. Also change from 70db to 96db to 114db in the level meter range -- there's totally a difference.
Problem with analog is noise. Problem with digital is phase. I try to get the best of both worlds and move on but these manufacturer's of our sound cards aren't doing enough testing. And the general consensus is taking it for granted that they have. Then we make faces like
when we find all this out.
For the record my chain is:
Furman IT-Ref 20Lynx AES16 -> AES -> Benchmark DAC-1 -> 3ft. Mogami Switchcraft (black) XLR's -> DACT CT-1 attenuator -> MLC Tannoy's
Something for Samp/Seq users: listen to something you like in the program with Loop off (and get rid of the transport). Wait 10 seconds, listen to the same passage with Loop ON (hide the transport) and hit play. Then tell me I'm full of shit
Something for DAC-1 people: if you're using AES as a feed, listen to a passage after moving the DAC-1 switch down to AES. Probably more focused. Now stop playback, move the switch down from Toslink back up to AES, listen again. Benchmark wrote me a silly email about the reaction time of their PLL. Unfortunately, they have a flaw in their design.
Nothing is perfect.
