Thanks Andre.
All this only reinforces my experience over the years that different folks have different sensitivities to different aspects of sound. I know folks how love their flac files, some who would choose .wav over .aif, and others who love their DSD.
Similarly, I find folks select their DACs from one of what I think of as three different "schools": the "detail enhancers", the "silky smooth", and the "gets out of the way". This is why I always say that what is "good", "better" or "best" depends upon exactly what the listener is seeking. Same with different masterings of the same recording. With software and with hardware, one person's "highly detailed" is another person's "ear ripper" and vice versa.
So far, I have only found one component that, at least in my own experience, seems to garner universal praise from those who use it and that is the interface I use, which serves as my mic preamps and A-D converters and headphone amp during recording sessions and as my D-A converter, and sometimes external processor during mixes or mastering sessions.
(I know someone is going to ask so: That device is the Metric Halo ULN-8, the first recording device in my experience that--when used at 4x rates--has provided results I have not yet been able to distinguish from the direct mic feed. I never heard this before from any Ampex, Scully, Studer, MCI or other analog recorder and certainly not from any other digital recorder, regardless of price or format. My only complaint is that I can't blame the gear anymore for any possible flaws in my work. ;-{)
Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.soundkeeperrecordings.wordpress.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com
