Comments on: Impressions: The Sonoma Acoustics Model One Headphones [UPDATED]

By: Impressions Robinson Brutus Awards 2017 Part Second

Impressions Robinson Brutus Awards 2017 Part Second — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 00:50:04 +0000

[…] I reviewed the Sonoma Acoustics Model One DAC and HPEL Headphones earlier this year, back in Issue 92. You can find my comments HERE. […]

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 01:23:00 +0000

Thanks for the review. So how does it compare to the SR-009, its direct competitor i guess...?

By: David W. Robinson

David W. Robinson — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 23:21:00 +0000

In reply to Jack Sparrow.

Hi Jack...

Thanks for the comments. I have checked with Sonoma Acoustics, and they just confirmed that Tyll is correct on the conversion of *all* signals to 384kHz PCM for the Sonoma Acoustics Model One.

I had made the assumption that any unit from Sonoma Acoustics would handle DSD in the DSD domain, and that the 384kHz conversion was only for the analog inputs. Turns out that this isn't true...my mistake.

I'll be amending the article ASAP to include a clarification about this point, so that no PF reader makes the same assumption that I did.

Having said that, I'll stand by my comments on the quality of the sound that I heard: really, really fine performance.

But now I know that our DSD sources could have sounded even better. And for that, I mourn at the lost opportunity for Sonoma Acoustics.

Dr. David

By: Jack Sparrow

Jack Sparrow — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 23:46:00 +0000

from Tyll review:
"Digital signal processing (DSP) is employed for three reasons: volume control; corrections to linearize driver performance; and equalization to achieve a target frequency response. More on the last two needs later. Processing is accomplished using a custom 64-bit double-precision fixed-point arithmetic multi-core XMOS processor. All filters are minimum-phase, slow roll-off and are optimized for time-domain response."
I´m certain that all DSD is first converted to PCM for DSP duties, then sent to the ESS DAC! Analog is PCM converted also!