Well, we all know what happens when you assume. Don't get mad at me. I would have loved firewire to prove me wrong. It's insanely more convenient. I venture not too many people even have 24 bit sound cards these days. Brian's right...we can't say for sure it's firewire being deficient. But, something we used during the real time transfer produced better results. It could be the
FIM Energy Center ($1200) w/the van den Hul Mainsstream Hybrid a/c cord ($485)
Atlas All Cu 1.5m s/pdif cable ($305 retail)
The Atlas EOS a/c power cord ($300) on the computer
My older desktop sounds better than my newer laptop (my desktop does not have firewire ports)
Samplitude could be unreliable for consistent dithering
You can't discount the improved sound just because the controls weren't tight enough to narrow it down to only one variable. Brian verified there are differences in the waveforms so you can't say it's psycho-acoustic nonsense. By everyone's definition, we should not have been able to improve on a firewire transfer. I believe these files disprove that assumption.
edit: remember, the firewire transfer verified with md5 summer and it doesn't sound as good.
Chris
so far, only according to YOU
Scott, three other people came to identical conclusions befeore I even made this post. It's not just me. Of course, the downloaded files may not be as pristine as audio cds off of the master files. But who would buy into that theory.
Chris