Today I had a little conversation with Jason Stoddard (from Schiit) about using transport of different price range to use with DAC. I asked that same old question whether I can use a cheap DVD player with a DAC to get a decent quality audio? I think it will be worthy to share the conversation with my fellow members. Take your own conclusion and decision accordingly.
To understand the matter fully, please go to the Gungnir link page first and read about Clock regeneration system, VCXO, VCO and BBG LED (Buy Better Gear LED) features & FAQ of Gungnir.
Schiit Audio, Headphone amps and DACs made in USA.
Read also the FAQ page.
The conversation started quoting an incident that I experienced during my fortnight ownership of Gungnir -
Me- "Dear Jason, I did not mention it earlier, but now I think it may be relevant. During my fortnight ownership of Gungnir, I found on some occasion, when I just powered on the source (Marantz NA7004) the buy better gear (BBG) LED came on instantly (I powered on the GUNGNIR first), before music yet to be played. Is not it little awkward to lit the buy better gear LED even before music being played or before audio signal being processed? However at that condition if I cycled back through different audio inputs by pressing the input selection switch in front of Gungnir, then it used to come off. Is it also due to the noise by the bad transformers? This incidents not happened every time but a quite few time I experienced this. I hope you have a better explanation."
Jason replied- "BBG is related to the clock frequency and jitter of the SPDIF carrier. It does not have to have music playing for it to come on. It sounds like the source may be off-frequency."
Me- "I need a clarification after what you told about BBG. If BBG does not come on, then output quality from Gungnir will be same for irrespective of whatever source gear I use? For example, if I play particular CD using a $100 DVD Player and $1000 CD Player through Gungnir and if BBG remain off on both case, would the output from Gungnir be same quality on both case?"
Jason replied- "Correct."
Me- "Your opinion is quite different than my experience. May be my previous DAC (Audio-GD FUN) was not equipped with signal reclocking system like Gungnir, So it's output quality always changed with source gear.
So as a transport the $100 player and a $1000 player basically same if the signal pass through Gungnir with BBG remain off ?!?! That's a quite revolutionary opinion. Now we can save money on source gear (if it is played through DAC like Gungnir). Right?"
Jason replied- "Performance of the clock regeneration system (not just reclocking) is invariant when using VCXOs, so yes. Gungnir is VERY different than most DACs. VCOs will depend slightly on the incoming signal, but it will not vary much with source, either--it's just less precise."
My conclusion is, according to Jason if the signal is locked by VCXO of Gungnir it's no matter whatever source transport is used output from their DAC will be same. If VCO is used and BBG LED comes on then output of the DAC will slightly become dependent on incoming signal from the transport. Now everybody is free to make their own conclusion.
To understand the matter fully, please go to the Gungnir link page first and read about Clock regeneration system, VCXO, VCO and BBG LED (Buy Better Gear LED) features & FAQ of Gungnir.
Schiit Audio, Headphone amps and DACs made in USA.
Read also the FAQ page.
The conversation started quoting an incident that I experienced during my fortnight ownership of Gungnir -
Me- "Dear Jason, I did not mention it earlier, but now I think it may be relevant. During my fortnight ownership of Gungnir, I found on some occasion, when I just powered on the source (Marantz NA7004) the buy better gear (BBG) LED came on instantly (I powered on the GUNGNIR first), before music yet to be played. Is not it little awkward to lit the buy better gear LED even before music being played or before audio signal being processed? However at that condition if I cycled back through different audio inputs by pressing the input selection switch in front of Gungnir, then it used to come off. Is it also due to the noise by the bad transformers? This incidents not happened every time but a quite few time I experienced this. I hope you have a better explanation."
Jason replied- "BBG is related to the clock frequency and jitter of the SPDIF carrier. It does not have to have music playing for it to come on. It sounds like the source may be off-frequency."
Me- "I need a clarification after what you told about BBG. If BBG does not come on, then output quality from Gungnir will be same for irrespective of whatever source gear I use? For example, if I play particular CD using a $100 DVD Player and $1000 CD Player through Gungnir and if BBG remain off on both case, would the output from Gungnir be same quality on both case?"
Jason replied- "Correct."
Me- "Your opinion is quite different than my experience. May be my previous DAC (Audio-GD FUN) was not equipped with signal reclocking system like Gungnir, So it's output quality always changed with source gear.
So as a transport the $100 player and a $1000 player basically same if the signal pass through Gungnir with BBG remain off ?!?! That's a quite revolutionary opinion. Now we can save money on source gear (if it is played through DAC like Gungnir). Right?"
Jason replied- "Performance of the clock regeneration system (not just reclocking) is invariant when using VCXOs, so yes. Gungnir is VERY different than most DACs. VCOs will depend slightly on the incoming signal, but it will not vary much with source, either--it's just less precise."
My conclusion is, according to Jason if the signal is locked by VCXO of Gungnir it's no matter whatever source transport is used output from their DAC will be same. If VCO is used and BBG LED comes on then output of the DAC will slightly become dependent on incoming signal from the transport. Now everybody is free to make their own conclusion.