Maybe his oscilloscope works, but I doubt Hans knows how to work his oscilloscope. He’s a salesman-turned-journalist. He’s no engineer…
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Then ,please avoid quick conclusions.
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OMG that’s real! 
…remove all pollution from the air, thus removing obstacles which obstruct the way of sound waves. They increase the sound picture significantly, making it appear larger, holographic, incredibly airy and space-filling. The reproduction quality is much more colorful, effortless and dynamic, more “alive”.
//
And if used with audiophile grade power cable and ferrite bead then it will improve sound waves distribution even better.
(Sorry I couldn’t resist as power cables topic is “closed”)
What about FPGA?
That’s a pretty narrow appreciation of what people are capable of despite their education.
As a child, Da Vinci was not taught formally beyond basic reading, writing, and math.
Michael Faraday had no education.
Do you know Hans?
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Digital-to-analog converters are part analog, by design. That section reproduces an analog of the audio. Each designer is free to choose the components, connections, and engineering that will produce the analog they feel is closest to their ideal.
This is incorrect when the DAC uses an integrated circuit; the analogue stage shares the substrate with digital side. Only discrete DAC allow the design engineer such freedom.
You mean discrete DACs, right? In theory, you can use an FPGA with a 3rd-party chip.
I know a lot of people whose skills far surpass any education they may or may not have had. Some of the most skilled people I have come across in my life are self-taught.
It’s not a narrow appreciation where it comes to Hans Beekhuyzen. I’ve seen many of his YouTube videos. He pontificates on subjects of which he has little understanding and provides a lot of erroneous information in an attempt to scientifically explain his entirely subjective listening impressions.
If he really knew how to use an oscilloscope, he wouldn’t make some of the far-fetched claims that he does. Proper use of an oscilloscope would disprove them.
I think my comment was fair.
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An FPGA DAC is a discrete DAC, and whilst the FPGA may be off-the-shelf, it is not a DAC chip and can be programmed for multiple purposes. Moreover, the analogue stage would also include discrete components.
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I fear this is going to turn into another one of those never-ending listening subjectivist vs measurement objectivist threads that goes round and round and round with the same arguments on both sides…
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after reading a lot about this stuff for quite some time:
delta DACs are the ones you find in most modern devices (e.g. RME ADI2 DAC has one)
R2R ladder DACs (mostly) don’t support high bitrates but are like a “swiss watch”. Which means, some people swear they need to “warm up” and will sound more analogue… see mystique @mojo audio for example.
After digging into audiosciencereview posts a lot, Delta DACs seemed the sane way to go.
see e.g. What DAC should I buy? (R2R or Delta) | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum
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Why don’t we just call them discrete DACs? Again, you can have an FPGA or SHARC or other DSP and still use a 3rd-party D/A chip.
You usually need discrete analog components with 3rd-party DACs, so that doesn’t make them discrete either.
And very likely with the same conclusion as the power cable thread😉
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And those of us who do know what it is don’t understand what it has to do with fuses and noise reduction devices.
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Synergistic Research attempting to redefine the laws of physics to make their marketing sound more scientifically plausible…
But you like it, don’t you? 
But seriously now, it’s finally getting interesting with FPGA and such. I want to learn something…
I appreciate that certain filter implementations may suggest subtle audible differences, but if two DACs measure similarly, with SINAD > ~110dB and a flat frequency response and good linearity, I doubt anyone could tell them apart in a level-matched, blind listening test.
If you want to argue against this statement, fine, but do it with proof. Not aimed at you @blbeczech82 , but at the general pushback that’s about to follow…
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If they wanted to convince me that their fuses will make my system sound better, all they have to do is show lower resistance and/or inductance compared to a “normal fuse” Then again, Resistance and Inductance or not sexy marketing words.
My last job in the semiconductor industry was in Marketing. The CEO wanted me to write a product brief that sounded just like the stuff written by Synergistic. When I pointed out that we were selling a product to design engineers that would refuse to look at any product whose marketing was full of technical gobbledeegook instead of specs, graphs, and examples of how the product works, he got real upset. That was the day I decided to look for a new job.
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Exactly this was my assumption when starting this topic but it was disputed by many. What I’m thinking now is that there are 3 types of dac:
- pure DAC properly designed
- pure DAC not properly designed
- DAC with some intentional DSP/EQ
This can be why many swear they hear differences between DACs.
Anyway the survey was related to 1) but people turned to more generic question: are there audible differences between DACs? Of course there are.
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