6th December 2011
24-bit 96k FLAC files through a minimum-phase apodising digital filter is what it's all about - apparently.
Today I did some internal training on listening to music and discerning the differences between the different digital filters available in our flagship WM8741 DAC, which is used in high-end CD and media players. One of the available digital filters, named apodising, minimises pre-ringing, where an artificial sound is created just before a transient edge.
We had some active studio monitor speakers set up in a damped listening room and played various tracks from CD quality upwards. It wasn't our best setup, but good enough to learn that hearing differences is difficult with so many CD tracks, because they are so level-compressed and have steep digital filtering. The moment we moved to some 88.2k and 96k high-quality recordings, the differences became more apparent. The supposedly better filters created a sense of more space in the performance, whilst vocals sounded more localised and realistic. The sibilance ("s" sounds, for example) of vocals was impacted differently, with some voices being clearer and others less harsh. On one track I didn't notice a shaker playing until I selected the minimum-phase apodising filter; then it became beautifully clear, with the rhythm and timing much better. I could mentally attribute this to less smearing of the transients due to less pre-ringing, meaning that the start of the shaking sound was better defined. S
o what did we learn? Good-quality recordings with good replay are noticeably impacted by the DAC digital filter. We also enjoyed them more with the better filters, which after all, is what listening to music is really about.
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