RNC mod

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:02 pm

Anyone try this RNC mod? Does it make sense?

RNC mod thread on another board

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:26 pm

DSP processing in the RNC??

wtf are they on about?

it's a digitally controlled analog circuit!

i think some of these ppl may also frequent high-end hifi boards as well!

getreel · Post by **getreel** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:02 pm

This idea seems fairly suspect to me....

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 2:14 pm

getreel wrote:This idea seems fairly suspect to me....

agreed.

i posted a reply to Mr. DSP Issue, btw.

syrupcore · Post by **syrupcore** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 1:19 am

RefD wrote:i posted a reply to Mr. DSP Issue, btw.
:crazy:

awesome first post!

spacelabstudio · Post by **spacelabstudio** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:04 am

The "DSP guy" is Harvey Gerst, who talks to Mark McQ, the designer of the RNC, fairly often and is one of his biggest proponents. I don't think he's a dummy. Maybe Mark McQ will weigh in on that thread. There is DSP, just not in the audio path. But obviously, the results of the DSP control the audio so there is a relationship.

I've never quite gotten the complaints about the RNC--I've been tempted to record some files through it without compression and then the same thing bypassing it completely, to see if anybody can tell the difference. There are those that claim just inserting the RNC in their signal chain ruins their audio, something which I have never observed. I'd be interested in doing the blind test to find out how much of this is real, and how much of it psychological.

As such, I'm suspicious of the alleged improvement made by replacing the caps, but I also don't see how it could hurt, and your brain will have a tendency to at least think it sounds better after you've monkeyed with, I mean upgraded it. It's certainly an easy one to try.

chris

The Scum · Post by **The Scum** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:57 am

The sidechain/detector for the RNC is done by a microprocessor...a Motorola 68HC07 or 68HC09, I think.

It probably uses an onboard 8-bit A to D converter, then does some math on the input to determine how it should reduce the gain. I believe that qualifies as digital signal processing...it's just that the signal is more like the amplitude envelope than the actual audio signal.

As for the caps, Xicon caps are simple and inexpensive...I think they're Mouser's house brand. But they're reasonable, and definitely better than cheap caps were 10 or 20 years ago. I would expect the fancier Panasonics to perform better in some aspects. Whether those aspects actually fix the "gauze" effect is pretty subjective. ABX test, anyone?

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:52 pm

guess i misunderstood, then, cos it seemed to me he was talking about low/mid weirdness in the signal path.

valverec · Post by **valverec** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 8:17 am

This might be a good question to ask the DIY forum too. I bet there'd be a lot more opinions there!

juice · Post by **juice** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:31 am

There is DSP, just not in the audio path. But obviously, the results of the DSP control the audio so there is a relationship.

Technically this is an oxymoron, since DSP stands for digital signal processing. If it's not processing the signal then it's just processing

So it's just DP

Scodiddly · Post by **Scodiddly** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:05 pm

juice wrote:
There is DSP, just not in the audio path. But obviously, the results of the DSP control the audio so there is a relationship.
Technically this is an oxymoron, since DSP stands for digital signal processing. If it's not processing the signal then it's just processing So it's just DP

But it is apparently processing the signal - just not the signal you hear at the output.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:12 pm

Scodiddly wrote:
juice wrote:
There is DSP, just not in the audio path. But obviously, the results of the DSP control the audio so there is a relationship.
Technically this is an oxymoron, since DSP stands for digital signal processing. If it's not processing the signal then it's just processing So it's just DP
But it is apparently processing the signal - just not the signal you hear at the output.

it's controlling how the signal that's being passed is processed by an analog circuit, the digital section isn't actually passing audio.

it sure as Hell won't introduce the kind of artifacts being complained about.

this was my original point.

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