There is so much about the digital side of these DACsā¦ What about the analogue stageā¦
Thanks, very informative.
In realityā¦Itās all analogā¦ even the physical bits (1ās and 0ās) encoded on the storage media, before this encoded information is lifted from that media-state and converted to electrical impulses of varying voltagesā¦ 
Obviously, the only constant is the fundamental DAC component topologyā¦ How the fundamental DAC component is implemented in the amalgamated DAC platform topology is always going to be a variableā¦ In the case of multi-bit PCM DACs the last-stage digital to analog conversion is complicatedā¦The conversion to analog of 1-bit PDM is very simple using just a simple low-pass filter design, because the encoded PDM waveform is already closely representative of the āanalogā output waveform by nature of the A/D encoding schemeā¦ unlike PCM where the sample density is less refined because of the nature of its A/D encoding schemeā¦ [EditedāThis is where the Hyperstream or Digital Audio Veritas in Extremis (DAVE) technology and letās include r8Brain, SoX and Pan Galactic Garble Blaster (PGGB), etc, bring the PCM signal closer to a sample-density that better resembles an analog waveform. However, not as close as 1-bit PDM and the results are comparably bandwidth limited, being bound by the Nyquist frequency (Fs)ā¦ as is the 1-bit PDM signal bandwidth bound by Fs, however, at a much higher sample-density. ]
So where do we go from hereā¦ now we are diving into power/ground-plane topology, component layout, slew rate and tolerances, signal trace to trace layout, board stratus/layers, component thermal noise, resonances, EMF and RF mitigation/shielding/isolation, materials, etcā¦ Most of the experienced audiophiles here have heard the differences of different design dogma implementation over the yearsā¦ Our best option is to get a better understanding of the implications of any given design architectureā¦ This is not an easy taskā¦ Iām still learningā¦ Iām on my seventy-first,#71 trip around the Sunā¦ The implementation of audio-grade Switch-Mode Power Supplies has already made a huge impact on power efficiencies and EMF radiation in the DAC platforms that are now employing themā¦ and we are seeing the dynamic-range of these platforms reaching real-world.
The invention and employment of MEMS speaker arrays in concert with miniaturized digital power amplification and integrated DAC will have a huge impact on the delivery of music acousticallyā¦ MEMS speaker technology is in its infancy todayā¦ This will allow us to have digital control directly at the speaker component level so there will not be a typical power amplifier/speaker synergy that we are now all familiar with and these new systems will deliver real-world dynamic range.
Itās all analogā¦ just different takes on design philosophy and different levels of interpreting what can be done in the real-world given the creative use of available component technologies, with an understanding of the physics, the mechanics and the psychoacoustics of it allā¦ We individually are the arbiters of the sound-quality in the final audition of any given DAC platform analog outputā¦
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Was sort of a rhetorical question although your reply would enlighten the massesā¦ What I was getting at was that the analogue stage of each DAC is pretty variableā¦ Watch out for that rabbit holeā¦
Thanksā¦ Iāll use your open opportunity here to plot a trajectory for those folks interested in ācharacterāā¦ Without getting into the psychoacoustics of the design targetā¦
Simply putā¦ Discrete component op-amp or IC component op-amp designs and the intrinsic slew-rate and the implementation of each strategy and the power/ground topology of the platform architecture in synergy with clock-phase coherency, will be the defining factors in regard to tangible euphony of the DAC analog output in a perfect playback system environmentā¦
I hope this is Okayā¦
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