4250270e   
   XPost: sci.electronics.misc, rec.audio.pro   
   From: kludge@panix.com   
      
   RichD   wrote:   
   >Have you seen - or listened  to - those separate D to A   
   >converters?  Do they justify the price?  Especially, a   
   >$400 DAC connected to your laptop, playing through   
   >$50 speakers -   
      
   Which ones?  I have used separate D/A boxes since the mid-eighties.   
   Mind you, I have never used them through $50 speakers.   
      
   >Have there been any double blind listening tests of   
   >these critters, or is this another case of the power of   
   >suggestion?   
      
   Which critters?  Frankly, listening through $50 speakers it can be hard   
   to tell the difference between music and noise.   
      
   I have done double blind tests for years between D/A units and many of them   
   sound different.  Is different better?  Sometimes.   
      
   >What lab measurements would you make (and   
   >presumably done by the engineers at the companies),   
   >to test their superior performance?   
      
   Superior to what?  I'd certainly do all the usual D/A tests, linearity,   
   clock phase noise rejection, etc.   
   --scott   
   --   
   "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)