Meitner's Custom 1-Bit DSD DACs - Combined with Clock Controversy - SoundStage! Real Hi-Fi (Ep:45)

Ed Meitner is one of digital audio’s true pioneers and innovators, with a history in audio design in North America that days back to the early 1970s, when he worked with a small group to design the legendary Olive recording console. His move into hi-fi came in the 1980s when he founded Museatex. His latest ventures are EMM Labs and Meitner Audio, which are both based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He founded EMM Labs in 1998 while working to design 1-bit DACs for Sony for the DSD project, and then turned EMM Labs into a maker of hi-fi products for the home and studio a few years later. Meitner Audio was established in 2012 as a lower-cost alternative to the EMM Labs products.

In this video, SoundStage! founder Doug Schneider talks with Ed Meitner’s son, Amadeus Meitner, about the bespoke 1-bit DAC and clock designs found in all of the EMM Labs and Meitner Audio digital-converter products. These current DACs and clocks are the result of more than 20 years of work by Ed Meitner himself. Furthermore, unlike some high-end products, where the clock is placed in a external chassis—something Ed Meitner says is the “stupidest thing you can do”—the clock is placed as close as possible to the DACs to ensure optimal performance, which is something Amadeus and Doug discuss. Watch the video to learn more.

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