1-bit vs. 24-bit DAC

[TRAFFICBLOWS]

How much of a sound difference do you really get out of a head unit that has 1-bit digital-to-analog conversion (DAC) vs. another head unit with 24-bit DAC? It seems so many head units only have 1-bit... would it really worth it to only get one with 24-bit?

[SpeedSTARs]

I would definitely goes for the 24 bit verse the 1 bit. The attention to detail from the 24-bit DAC is night and day in detail. The vocals to background detail are smoother and crisper. I believe the recording studios use a higher bit rate. Happy shopping and good luck.

[cam2Xrunner]

Gotta keep in mind there's high quality 24Bit DAC's and not-so High quality DAC's

And it's not the only thing that makes up the total outcome of how well a unit will perform.

Check out the DEH-P860Mp from Pioneer Premier, IMO probably the best deck in it's price range. I'd take the 300 dollar DEH-P860mp over Alpine's 400 dollar cda-8953

If you want to get really into high quality proccessing look into a Behringer DCX2496

Just remember that the final outcome of how good everything sounds is the install and the quality of the speakers(and of course adequate power)

I just installed a system in my friends '05 Prerunner using DLS Iridium 6.2 components, DLS A3 amp on the components and DLS A6 on the 12" IDMAX, all while using the stock CD player(dash kit is not yet available)

Hands down one of the best sounding systems I have ever heard. And it's because of the speakers, amps and install.

The factory CD player is made by Panasonic

[jazzlara]

one bit DAC?? that only provides an on or off state. how is that possible.

[SpeedSTARs]

Gotta keep in mind there's high quality 24Bit DAC's and not-so High quality DAC's

And it's not the only thing that makes up the total outcome of how well a unit will perform.

Check out the DEH-P860Mp from Pioneer Premier, IMO probably the best deck in it's price range. I'd take the 300 dollar DEH-P860mp over Alpine's 400 dollar cda-8953

If you want to get really into high quality proccessing look into a Behringer DCX2496

Just remember that the final outcome of how good everything sounds is the install and the quality of the speakers(and of course adequate power)

I just installed a system in my friends '05 Prerunner using DLS Iridium 6.2 components, DLS A3 amp on the components and DLS A6 on the 12" IDMAX, all while using the stock CD player(dash kit is not yet available)

Hands down one of the best sounding systems I have ever heard. And it's because of the speakers, amps and install.

The factory CD player is made by Panasonic

Most definitly... The best 24-bit DAC's are made by Brown Burr. Which are used on the High-end units such as the Pioneer Premiere DEX P9 with the DEQ P9. The sound from this unit is heaven ...

[Jackass-Jeff]

24 bit makes it sound as live as it can be off 4 channels (+sub)!! You can hear the definition between each instrument! It's amazing!

[Luc]

The CD is encoded in 16-bit. Using a 24-bit DAC, you are actually oversampling the data bits. A drawback is that you could introduce new bits in the data that may not have been how the music was originally intended to be recorded. For a 1-bit DAC, it's just as its name suggests, sampling bit-by-bit, reproducing how the CD was encoded.

Sampling rate doesn't dictate how many channels can be used, but it can help with channel separation, which will run through analog filters. Then, there could be a ADC after the filters to post process. But most of these are all done within a DSP, something like the SHARC devices from Analog Devices, used in Denon home receivers.

[TRAFFICBLOWS]

Does DAC only concern CD audio? What about satellite & terrestrial radio or net-enabled devices such as iPod adapters on newer head units?

[Jackass-Jeff]

Does DAC only concern CD audio? What about satellite & terrestrial radio or net-enabled devices such as iPod adapters on newer head units?

it depends how the circuit board is set up on the headunit... some only use the DAC for CD... others use it for CD and Radio... some also use it for AUX in.

Most of the new units (03+) most likely work on all inputs.