Sam's Space in June Issue of Stereophile

Tang H. Wong

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May 29, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/29/96

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I was reading Sam Tellig's comments on the Meridian 508 CD player.
There is no doubt that it is a good machine. But I am not too sure
when Sam pointed out the following:

"...An Audio Alchemy DTI*PRO 32 did not improve the transport
performance of the 508..."

It is hard for me to imagine since the DTI*PRO strength over a regular
DTI is the use of Digital Signal Processor (DSP). The DSP inside the
DTI*PRO is supposed to improve the sound. Unless DSP is turned off,
the information before and after the DTI*PRO are different. It is
therefore impossible to have the same sound. If the sound was not
affected by the combination, I can only come to the following
conclusion:

DTI*PRO is no different from a regular DTI
OR Sam is not telling the truth
OR The digital output of 508 is very bad
OR The DSP is not working

I hope none of the above is true. May be someone can shed some light.

Tang

Daniel Baker

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May 30, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/30/96

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"Tang H. Wong" <Tang...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

> "...An Audio Alchemy DTI*PRO 32 did not improve the transport
> performance of the 508..."

>It is hard for me to imagine since the DTI*PRO strength over a regular
>DTI is the use of Digital Signal Processor (DSP). The DSP inside the
>DTI*PRO is supposed to improve the sound. Unless DSP is turned off,
>the information before and after the DTI*PRO are different. It is
>therefore impossible to have the same sound. If the sound was not

If Sam was evaluating the performance of the transport, with and
without the DTI Pro, he should have used the DTI Pro with DSP turned
off. It is possible to bypass the DSP in the DTI Pro. So if his
method was sound, he was using the DTI Pro as a jitter reduction
device only and not for "resolution enhancement."

> DTI*PRO is no different from a regular DTI

As far as I am aware, the jitter reduction section of the DTI Pro is
virtually the same as the DTI v.2.0 (which is better than the DTI+).

> OR Sam is not telling the truth

What is the "truth" in subjective evaluation, or in an objective test
where the perceiving apparatus (those are his ears) are not a fully
known quantity?

> OR The digital output of 508 is very bad

Actually, if the sound of the 508 as a transport was not changed (and
therefore not improved) by the DTI Pro, that would probably mean the
digital output of the 508 is very *good*. Presumably, the jitter was
already so low that reclocking had little or no effect (assuming that
Sam's findings are accurate).

> OR The DSP is not working

See above.

What I found funniest about the review was that the picture of the
"508" was actually a 506!

Happy trails,

--Daniel Baker

Mark Schifter

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May 31, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/31/96

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>> DTI*PRO is no different from a regular DTI

>As far as I am aware, the jitter reduction section of the DTI Pro is
>virtually the same as the DTI v.2.0 (which is better than the DTI+).

This is NOT at all correct.

The jitter reduction topology in DTI-Pro and Pro 32 differs
dramatically from DTI v2.0. The latter uses an in-line hybrid
device... while the Pro 32 etc. uses two separate VCXO's that are
custom made for us.

-
MARK SCHIFTER LWB...@prodigy.com