Who Will Have The Best Sounding Next Gen AD/DA Chips?

[Johnny B]

We all know that technological progress waits for no man, no woman, no child, no corporation, and no government...it's unstoppable.

But out of the leading chip makers, who will use their R&D resources the best, who will come up with the best sounding chip(s) in the Next Gen? Will they ever bring in some of digital sound's harshest critics to act as consultants? Will they ever work closely with recognized "ear people," esp. those who still prefer the sound of analogue?

Please feel free to add to this list of chip makers. You can also speculate wildly, or, simply give your opinion of who the winner of the Best Sounding Next Gen Chip Contest will be.


In no particular order:

1. Burr-Brown:

http://focus.ti.com/analog/docs/anal....jsp?templateI d=1&familyId=2

2. Analog Devices:

http://www.analog.com/

3. AKM:

http://www.akm.com/index.asp

4. Crystal/Cirrus:

http://www.cirrus.com/en/products/


5. Wolfson

ADC page:

http://www.wolfsonmicro.com/products...al_audio/adcs/

[Bob Olhsson]

All I've seen recently is a race to the bottom to see who can make the cheapest, smallest, lowest power-consumption chip that'll go in a cell phone. Audio quality hasn't exactly been a prioriy.

[Johnny B]

Yeah, right you are, and "something must be done."

Something must be done to bump up the sound quality.

Maybe a new chip making company needs to be formed that puts the emphasis on higher and better digital sound quality.

Alternatively, the current chip makers could finally get their act together.

Perhaps, new and novel approaches need to be tried to attack and conquer the digital sound quality problem.

[Johnny B]

Hmmm, no one seems to be willing to bet or speculate on who the winner of the Next Gen's Best Sounding Chips will be.

[Dr Gruv]

mind you i'm talking from a point of ignorance

but it is the driver and other issues that help to make the 'sound' good or bad. i'm very very very happy with the lynx card, the card, drivers and sound are beyond reproach...

so things are very good now

[Johnny B]

Ok, why don't you tell us what converter chips they have on there.

[Mike O]

Originally Posted by Johnny B

Hmmm, no one seems to be willing to bet or speculate on who the winner of the Next Gen's Best Sounding Chips will be.

Hmmmm, maybe they actually have something to do?

[Johnny B]

That's good when you have something to do and good gear to do it on, but with such inferior sound quality coming from the current crop of converter chips, many people are wondering why the chip makers don't take high sound quality more seriously.

OTOH, maybe the Next Gen Chips will have some needed improvements re: higher digital sound quality.

[Dr Gruv]

Check out this link and look at the charts... THE best card was the lynx

http://www.pcavtech.com/soundcards/compare/index.htm

-michael

[dasbin]

Burr-Brown will have the best sounding stuff for a while yet I think, assuming they continue making converters (high-end BB converters aren't very popular in the mass market, I have a hard time understanding how/if they're drawing any profit from them).

AKM and Crystal will both continue to put out very comparable product ranges which spec very well, are easy and inexpensive to impliment, and in general hit the market a lot harder.

[dasbin]

Originally Posted by Dr Gruv

Check out this link and look at the charts... THE best card was the lynx

This list hasn't been updated in a while with new results, I think. The E-MU line (1212M and 1812M) measures even better than the Lynx 2 in most respects, and the 1212m is around $199.
Of course there are quite a few external DACs and ADCs which spec out (and certainly sound) better than both.

[dasbin]

Originally Posted by Johnny B

Alternatively, the current chip makers could finally get their act together.

They do have their act together. The current flagship chips from all the manufacturers are the best-performing chips the world has ever seen. Much of the R&D budget at AKM, Crystal, TI, etc goes towards pushing the envelope in terms of higher dynamic range and lower distortion. I think we'll see this continue for a while; they know that pros still demand high-quality stuff and they'll keeping feeding that need. The specs of the newest chips are incredible - it is fantastically difficult to achieve this kind of dynamic range in an electrical system.
The onus is on the implimenters to use those chips in a circuit which does them full justice.

[dasbin]

Originally Posted by Johnny B

Will they ever work closely with recognized "ear people," esp. those who still prefer the sound of analogue?

I really doubt it. The R&D drive of converter chips is towards accuracy and low error, not MORE distortion and less accuracy.
What you do with the signal after it's been converted is up to you. Maybe DSP people could start working with "ear people" in this respect. However the point of the converter is to be as accurate as possible. There's really no point in designing an ADC chip that intentionally colours the sound; any sort of colour you can possibly provide there would probably sound inherently bad anyway.

[jdunn]

dasbin has this subject correct on all counts as far as I know. The chips are improving, and I wouldn't say that the current crop sounds terrible. What have you been listening to?

These things take a few years to design and get to market, it doesn't happen overnight. Every few years they can get the distortion and noise floor down a bit, etc... I'd say that considering the size and complexity of these little chips, they're doing pretty well.

[Johnny B]

Originally Posted by dasbin

The current flagship chips from all the manufacturers are the best-performing chips the world has ever seen. Much of the R&D budget at AKM, Crystal, TI, etc goes towards pushing the envelope in terms of higher dynamic range and lower distortion. I think we'll see this continue for a while; they know that pros still demand high-quality stuff and they'll keeping feeding that need. The specs of the newest chips are incredible - it is fantastically difficult to achieve this kind of dynamic range in an electrical system.The onus is on the implimenters to use those chips in a circuit which does them full justice.

I don't think ALL "ear people" what distortion and color ALL the time, sometimes "yes" and sometimes "no." IOW, sometimes they want "uncoloured" or "transparent" sound quality. It all depends of their application and the results they desire.

Nevertheless, for the chip makers to simply ignore using the "ear people" as, at a minimum, consultants, seems short-sighted as the "ear people" influence the purchasing decisions of the "high quality stuff," the very market that some of these products seek to dominate.

And for many "ear people," All-Analogue is still "The" Gold Standard.

Think what it would mean if these "anti-digital sound" folks actually came to prefer digital. Precisely how a company could best utilise the "ear people" to get "There" ought to be something the leading chip makers give some serious thought to leading to effective action.

Since you seem to admire some of the latest Burr-Brown products, perhaps you would share with us the ones you like and share some of the specs with us.

Thanks.

[vital]

i really have great expectations to Manley to come up with the best converter ever soon!!

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by Johnny B

That's good when you have something to do and good gear to do it on, but with such inferior sound quality coming from the current crop of converter chips, many people are wondering why the chip makers don't take high sound quality more seriously.

OTOH, maybe the Next Gen Chips will have some needed improvements re: higher digital sound quality.

You know, Johnny, I've been looking across your threads for some time now and I have to say -- there's a lot of terrible sound coming from some very good gear and some great recordings coming from some very modest gear.


As others have pointed out -- it ain't the arrow -- it's the Indian.