I2S connection inferior to XLR?

Audio Components DACs
81

Maybe what needs to be done is something where you can toggle Pre-emphasis auto / off / on so that you can turn it on when needed if no flag is sent. So leave the icon there all the time but have the auto / off / on under it depending on what you have selected with auto as default

82

Pre-emphasis is a subcode on a CD. This info is completely lost once ripped. There is no metadata property to capture this.

If DB poweramp doesnā€™t show preemphasis when you rip it, and you donā€™t see the icon from your Sony CD player, then the odds are that the disk does not have pre-emphasis, but just happens to be one of those early CDs which could rip your ears out they were so harsh.

Some of those first CDs sounded really bad when they just took the LP masters and created CDs from it. This was a real problem in the early days of CDs because most mastering engineers were in the habit of adding a treble boost to LPs masters to try to compensate for the stampers wearing out over time. But on CD, this just made them sound painful.

1 Like
83

How would dBpoweramp show pre-emphasis? What do I look for? You say that there is no metadata property to capture it, but there is a selectable pre-emphasis option in the Write ID tags list in the ripping options. I would expect the Audio Info codec utility to display it if it was there, but thereā€™s nothing displayed for my CDs that are included in the list of known PE discs. Or is it simply that the master had pre-emphasis applied, but no flags were set in the TOC data etc. to indicate this state?

84

Unfortunately Iā€™m and EAC user, rather than a DB poweramp user. And EAC will sometimes display this flag for each track, IF your drive is capable of identifying it (many donā€™t, from what I understand). This flag appears in one of the far right columns for each track in EAC.

Personally Iā€™ve found that EAC correctly identifies about 50% of my pre-emphasis CDs with my chosen drives. I believe that Iā€™m only seeing the TOC flags with it though, so the other 50% probably have subcodes which my drives donā€™t recognize.

Iā€™ve read that DB Poweramp can do all of this as well. But not being a user of that program, I canā€™t swear to this feature.

85

Thanks, thatā€™s helpful - Iā€™ll try Eac. (Itā€™s a long time since I used that). In any case, this is really somewhat OT here in this topic so Iā€™ll pursue the matter elsewhere.

86

After a bit more listening, I have to report that I donā€™t hear any difference between aes/ebu connection and I2S connection with the adapter - both sound pretty good! YMMV ā€¦

Perhaps I should toss a coin and disconnect one cable.

1 Like
87

Agreed. I used Shunyata Sigma AES/EBU between DMP and DSJ and it was superior to I2S.

88

There are exceptions. Esoteric SACD transports can send DSD to Esoteric DAC via AES/EBU, which is how Iā€™ve got mine connected.

89

I suspect youā€™ll hear a difference if you use one of those fancy Shunyata AES/EBU. Some on open box special on Music Direct here:

90

Which HDMI cable did you have in I2S ?

91

PS-12. This one here:

92

I asked because Iā€™m always interested in the possibility of getting a better sound. I only listen to SACD and CD discs, other sources do not interest me. Currently, DMP and DSD are connected by 50 cm WW Platinium Starlight 7 cable. If it could be better, I am asking for advice.

93

I was surprised to discover the Shunyata AES/EBU sounded better than the PS-12. It was something that was immediately apparent. It was not a case of ā€œmaybe better, maybe notā€. It was clearly better.

2 Likes
94

Yes that may be the case for the Esoteric but the handshake on the PS Audio is set up for the I2S connection only,

95

Yes, I understood that to be your point.

1 Like
96

Maxim-

Any issues with your CDT2-MK2? Mine died mid-track last night.

97

Hi Raymond,

Sorry to hear you CDT died.

I have been using mine regularly and had no issues so far. I am very happy with the sound. After many years of streaming I am back to playing CDs.

Please keep me posted on your experience with Jays Audio service.

Good luck!

M

98

Maxim-

Alvin responded within an hour and sent instructions (including photos) with a possible fix. Turned out to be a bad CDM4 unit (the laser head assembly/sled/etc) which fortunately is a modular piece. They are shipping a replacement CDM4 assembly to me at no cost and asked me to ship the defective CDM4 back to Guangdong.

Glad to hear yours is working fine. Same here on spinning. I have hundreds of CDs that I never ripped that I am (or was) enjoying again.

Stay tuned.

99

This sounds like an encouraging response from service.

I actually remember reading before purchase that the drive unit is modular and replaceable and thought it was a great feature.

Still, it is a shame the drive died so quickly.

100

Hi Raymond,

Any progress on replacing the drive?

M