Is simple better?

[00:00:00]Bruce from Suffolk County New York writes, Paul, I watch your videos almost every day.

[00:00:07]Thank you, Bruce.

[00:00:08]Much like morning coffee.

[00:00:11]I have some gear where the founders design philosophy was simple, but no simpler. Much equipment today seems fairly complex with lots of bells and whistles. Is simpler better for sound quality or is this notion overstated?

[00:00:30]That's a great question.

[00:00:32]And you know, it's it's kind of like software. And as I write software, because I Look, I am an analog designer. I have designed analog audio equipment for my entire life.

[00:00:50]And writing software is new for me.

[00:00:54]And one of the things I've been learning is simple is better because the more complex the software is, the more there is to go wrong.

[00:01:05]Now, having said that, one of the things that you learn is about separate systems. So, within the software, you have these cores and they're doing their thing. And then there is these peripherals that are doing their thing.

[00:01:21]And the same can be said for a piece of electronics, an analog piece of electronics. If the core of the system is simple, clean, and without a lot of hazarai that goes between it. If the designer is careful, then you can add peripheral bells and whistles without impacting the sound quality that you're really striving for.

[00:01:50]So, let me give you some examples.

[00:01:52]When we Well, I I a great example. I have I've I know you're talking about analog electronics. And at PS Audio, uh well, let's just use that. I was going to use a software example, but you're probably more interested in the analog part. Take our 512 DAC, the P 1000 signature.

[00:02:13]There is incoming digital audio and outgoing analog audio. And the trick with that is to have as simple an elegant a path that you can have between the two to get the best sound quality. And one of the ways we do that is by using a complex piece of equipment to upsample whatever you're putting into it and convert it to DSD. That's pulse density modulation as opposed to pulse uh a code modulation, right? Now, the beauty of pulse density modulation and the reason that we do that, one of the reasons we do that, is because of its simplicity.

[00:02:58]All right?

[00:02:59]Pulse code modulation, which is 99.9% of every device out there, every DAC out there, has to go through a whole bunch of processing afterwards to convert that digital signal into an analog voltage.

[00:03:13]Lots of stuff, okay?

[00:03:16]DSD is so simple because that DSD stream can be placed right through an analog filter into an analog amplifier and it comes out as music. No more processing. It's as simple a path as you could possibly get. And that's one of the reasons that it sounds so remarkable. So, that's the core. If you keep your path clean, you're going to be in good shape. Now, as a consumer, how do you figure that out? Well, you're going to have to trust the manufacturer or ask them, right?

[00:03:58]Another example real quick, cars.

[00:04:01]If you I I have a a an electric car.

[00:04:05]It's a it's a a Tesla. And it doesn't get a whole lot simpler. It's an electric motor tied up to some wheels and my foot pedal is a pot.

[00:04:18]I mean, yes, software is running everything, but essentially it's an electric motor tied to a set of wheels with a a pot that makes the motor go faster and slower.

[00:04:28]Now, compare that simple path to a gas car or a diesel car.

[00:04:38]I mean, good grief, the things going on in an engine, thousands of parts, valves, crankshafts, oil pumps, you know, all of that. So, yeah, you know, an electric car is much more elegant and simple and there's a whole bunch of benefits to it as opposed to a gas car with all of its thousands of moving parts.

[00:05:03]I don't know, but that's Yeah, I could wax on forever and you don't want me to. I guarantee it. So, I hope that answers your question. All right.

[00:05:13]Bye.

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