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If you’re reasonably handy, you can probably build your own digital-to-analog converter. It won’t cost much, and if you’re careful, and knowledgeable enough to understand and follow some rather technical instructions, or if you have patience enough to follow advice from a few different online discussion forums—and the judgment to distinguish the good advice from the bad—then the DAC you make may end up sounding very good.
So it’s no surprise that you can buy very good Chinese-made DACs that measure very well, very cheaply. Those Chinese DACs are probably designed by first-rate engineers, and while extracting maximum technical performance from a good DAC chip requires care and attention, it isn’t rocket science.1
What, then, is the point in paying tens of thousands of dollars for a D/A converter?
Bu hikaye Stereophile dergisinin February 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye Stereophile dergisinin February 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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The Beatles in Mono according to Kevin
It's almost too easy to make Dave Dexter Jr. the villain in the story of the Beatles' fumbled introduction to America.
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Stromtank S-4000 ProPower MK-II XT
COMPUTER-CONTROLLED BATTERY POWER SOURCE
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Aurorasound HFSA-01
INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
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Transforming the music
One of my favorite things about this pastime is the modesty of its aims.
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Lou Donaldson
Years ago, at one of the milestone NYC anniversary parties for Blue Note Records, a piercing voice burst out above the clinking glasses and chattering tongues, loudly declaiming (quoted here with several profanities omitted), \"Blue Note never gave me a dime!\"
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EMM Labs DA2i
Among the many reasons to be grateful for audio shows,' one stands out: They allow me to set reasonable expectations of what components and whole audio systems can or cannot achieve. They have helped me set standards.
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POLICED
THAT'S PRETTY ODIOUS,\" ANDY SUMMERS SAYS TO ME. \"AN ODIOUS COMPARISON.\" HIS BLUEISH EYES DARKEN. ROUGHLY AN HOUR INTO OUR 90-MINUTE FACE-TO-FACE INTERVIEW, I'D ASKED IF IT BOTHERS HIM THAT IN TERMS OF REACH AND STAYING POWER, HIS SOLO OEUVRE WILL NEVER MATCH HIS WORK WITH THE POLICE.
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Focal Diva Utopia
WIRELESS STREAMING ACTIVE LOUDSPEAKER SYSTEM
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An ultrasonic bargain
The first album I ever bought with my own money-cash earned mowing neighbors' lawns-was a British plum-label pressing of Led Zeppelin II.
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MoFi Electronics Source Point 888
A recent high point in my career as a reviewer was writing about the MoFi Electronics SourcePoint 10 standmount loudspeaker for the February 2023 issue of Stereophile.'