So what're all the specs for then?
overly precise and unnatural sounding
That 'meh' you describe is precisely what I try and avoid with the newer audio technologies. It is advanced (no doubt) but also often times the end result is surprisingly uninspired, fatiguing over long listening periods and/or non-engaging.That is what I am finding with the M8A I have. But I also see why some people like it. It doesn't sound bad to me its just meh
For instance, whoever decided that oversampling for CD players was "necessary" and a good idea? My ears tell me the older players with only 2X or 4X oversampling (in general) sound superior to their 8X and 16X equivalents.
This is is exactly what I mean. Someone, somewhere, took an idea and ran with it. At this point we don't even really question why that decision was made for all of us so long ago. We just assumed that since it's newer and has better specs it must be better.
Perfectly reasonable statements and a clear distinction between a truth claim (different oversampling rate in CD players affects output sound quality) and personal preference.
To evaluate the truth claim, one must know the quantitative operational differences between lightly OSd, heavily OSd, and NOS players. How do the various levels of OS and/or associated filtering techniques affect output signal fidelity, noise, transient response, etc. The personal preference statement (my ears tell me ... sound superior) is distinct from, independent of, and largely irrelevant to evaluating the truth claim. That said, your subjective impressions can and often do yield areas in which to delve into the specs and component operation to make a technical appraisal.
IMHO at this point its being over thought
That's what the GC said about all the engineers scratching their heads about "going off the paper" in moving the FIU bridge into position. What's the problem? C'mon, we got a schedule to make.
Pays to know your stuff and to think things through.
Regarding the newer DACs and audio processing / filtering,