Testing

Bravo Digital Processor

Before we discuss the Bravo we need to discuss the question of; what is Jitter?

Without getting outside the scope of this review, Jitter in its simplest terms is discrete timing errors within digital signals. 

Since your S/Pdif signal from your PC to your external DAC is just another digital signal, the signals timing can be affected by jitter.  These timing errors can introduce distortion, phase issues and other negative aspects that most would rather avoid in a high quality audio system.

We should note that while jitter is a fact of digital electronics but certain aspects of the topic remain in constant debate and these debates seem to never end like many subject in the audio world.  These debates are well also outside of the scope of this review.

The Bravo Digital Processor takes this S/Pdif signal and essentially cleans the signal of any jitter leaving you with a very precise S/Pdif signal for your system.  The Bravo can also be used as a high quality, low jitter USB to S/Pdif converter.

Let�s check it out and see and hear what this unit can do for our ears when coupled to an external DAC.

Spitfire MKII DAC

RMAA

RMAA has become a staple in most audio reviews, graphing to measured signal quality of the card.  It should be understood by the reader that any measurements presented are the sum of both the unit being tested and the devices doing the measurements.  We connected the Spitfire MKII DAC to a Pro recording audio interface for our RMAA audio measurements.

Frequency Response

This graph shows the output signal characteristics of the Titanium HD.  The more linear the graphed line is the more transparent and neutral the cards audio output is. Variances in the graph would produce coloration in that particular frequency range producing output higher or lower than the remaining frequencies.  The Spitfire MKII DAC module produced excellent frequency response results providing a very flat response.

Notes on above Graph: We have noticed that RMAA has difficulty with scaling on the frequency axis when graphing multiple bit/depths and sample rates.  The results are accurate when viewed on their own but the axis scaling is incorrect when comparing one to the others. We have contacted the RMAA authors and hopefully it will be fixed in upcoming revisions of this application.

Noise Level

The above graph shows the level of noise present in the devices output signal. There will always be some level of noise present in any audio device but in many cases the level is so low that it is not audible to the human ear.  The Spitfire MKII DAC module produced excellent noise measurements during these tests.

Dynamic Range

This graph shows the card's operating range and the graphs illustrate the lowest and highest range the device is capable of producing accurately.  The Spitfire MKII DAC module produced an excellent dynamic range across the tested ranges.