Can these chips in your application just provide a neutral sound, i.e. not affect the sound quality? I ask because I have a number of sources runing via my CA 752BD blu-ray player because of teh Wolfson Dacs in the player that provide a wonderful sound and I'm wondering if this sound quality would be affected in any way. Thanks.
This is a difficult question to answer. Let's start by saying that Wolfson produces some wonderful sounding DAC chips. But you still need to send that output to a preamp and amp. And those impact sound quality as well.
In most set-ups, that amp will be a solid state design. There are solid state amps that sound so-so and some that sound simply wonderful. In this self-powered setup, the amps in question are produced by Hypex. Hypex class D amps are considered by many to be among the best class D amps being made today. In fact, I have talked to a number of very experienced audiophiles who feel that the Hypex nCore1200 modules are the best amps they have ever owned. Others will say that class D amps simply don't sound as good as a good solid state amp. People seem to feel strongly on both sides of the equation.
As with all class D amps, any analog signal sent to them must first be converted to digital at the input of the amps. Once in the digital realm, the DSP chips can perform all kinds of functions on the signal applying a number of filters and adjusting for the phase and gain of the speaker drivers.
There will be those who say that all of this processing cannot have a positive effect on sound quality. I won't argue that there is potential for the signal to be degraded in the process. But depending on what solid state preamp and amp you would be sending the signal to under a more traditional setup, the results can vary widely as well. So you would almost need to compare the output of this system to the output of a given preamp/amplifier combination to see which sounds better.
Certainly the safest approach is to simply go to a good preamp and amp and be done with it. That said, for someone just starting out, having all these functions built into the speaker at a reasonable cost certainly has its advantages. We will shortly finish up the design of a bookshelf speaker with built-in amplifiers for people who don't currently have a system and live in an apartment that is not large enough to accommodate floor-standing speakers. All you would need in this situation is something like our StreamPlayer and a pair of these monitors and you are all set. It is all you would need to have a very high quality system with a minimal investment of space or money.
We currently have a pair of self-powered SongTowers up and running and the sound quality is very high. I would not hesitate to use this system in my home. But I certainly would not argue with someone who said a better sounding system could be assembled with a separate preamp, amp and speakers. It all comes down to what you can afford to invest in a system. Self-powered speakers are certainly a valid option to consider. In addition, in the right hands, DSP allows you to do things you can't do with a standard set-up...things like creating filters to deal with room modes. So there are positives and negatives to each approach.
I know this doesn't answer your question. But hopefully it will provide some idea of the trade-offs involved with either direction.
- Jim
