Let me first explain why I am asking this question. In the past I have experimented with a MiniDSP 4x10HD unit to try and determine whether it was completely transparent. I did this by inserting it into a passive system between the digital source and my DAC i.e. I used the digital inputs and outputs. No filters were applied so in theory the signal was just passing straight through the unit. I compared the sound with it in the chain and without it. I did not take any measurements, but I didn’t need to; there was a significant degradation in sound quality with the unit in the chain. As I understand it, the only thing the 4x10HD was doing in this set up was a sample rate conversion on the incoming digital signal. My conclusion was that it must be the SR converter in the unit that was somehow causing the degradation - most likely hardware related.
So this prompts potentially 2 questions:
1. Does convolution involve SR conversion when applying AL generated filters?
2. If it does, how is it handled and is it likely to be more “transparent” than it evidently is in MiniDSP kit? (Convolution takes places entirely in the digital domain so I can see there might be a difference.)
Can anybody provide any insight on this?
So this prompts potentially 2 questions:
1. Does convolution involve SR conversion when applying AL generated filters?
2. If it does, how is it handled and is it likely to be more “transparent” than it evidently is in MiniDSP kit? (Convolution takes places entirely in the digital domain so I can see there might be a difference.)
Can anybody provide any insight on this?