DAC without pre-echo
DAC without pre-echo
Submitted by seacrest111 on Thu, 2010-04-29 11:03Has Benchmark considered producing a DAC without pre-echo similar to what is currently being done by Ayre, Meridian, Wolfson Micro, etc? A comparison between Benchmark DAC1 and the DAC in a Meridian CD player can be seen here http://www.stereophile.com/cdplayers/meridian_8082808i2_signature_reference_cd_playerpreamplifier/index5.html
Low pre-echo filters
Great question.
Take a good look at the waveforms posted in the link.
The Benchmark pre and post echoes are less than 0.5 ms in duration.
The frequency of the pre and post echoes is near 22 kHz - inaudible for most people.
The amplitude on the Benchmark is considerably lower than that of the other "low pre-echo" unit.
What doesn't show is that the phase response of the DAC1 is very linear while the other unit has a significant phase shift at high frequencies.
The high-end roll-off in speakers and power amplifiers will shift the pre-echo to the post echo side.
We believe these attempts to alter the time domain response do far more harm than good.