Currently working on a piece regarding a vintage JVC cd player. At the time the K2 chip set is touted as being an excellent output device. Does anyone have any verifiable info regarding it?

I understand that the K2 process was used in the mastering process to reduce the bit length from a 20 bit master to a 16 bit final product. Do not see how a DAC chip can be optimized to take advantage of the mastering process. Have I misdunderstood this process?

Regards
Mister Pig

What model are you talking about?

K2 tech is alive and well in nowadays digital world.

"K2 combines two basic technologies, high-definition digital transmission and high-fi delity information processing. The first removes the causes of audio degradation that occur in transmitting or transferring a digital signal, while the second was developed in tandem with products such as DVD Audio that use higher bandwidths and bitrates to offer enthusiasts a fuller listening experience.

When combined, this theoretically upgrades CD-quality sound to that of DVD-A and compressed audio up to CD level. The key here is in the coding. K2 packs in a
bandwidth of 100kHz and resolution of 24-bit to the space that previously would only fit CD’s traditional 44.1kHz/16bit limits. A chip known as the K2/CC (compression compensative) converter has been developed, which can be used in any audio device from recievers to mini systems and car stereos.

Net K2 is the latest iteration of this technology in a three-part process for improving the quality of distributed music as well as recordings using compressed
audio. The first, K2 pre-processing, takes the audio information that would usually be lost in the encoding process by redefining it. It then removes the sources
of sound degradation before, finally, post-processing is applied. This can expand low amplitiude signals from compressed formats as well as expanding the frequency bandwidth."

Quote from :
Toshiharu Kuwaoka one of the two ‘K’s that gave the technology its name.
The other is Minoru Kanai – former head of JVC’s Aoyama Studio in Tokyo.

In resume, and from what i understand, K2 technology is a digital signal audio enhancing technology ( a codec) for eliminating non-signal noise that affects music signals, and is used in JVC recording studios and mastering studios. Almost similar to Creative’s new X-Fi PC soundcards.


The JVC RX-D701 digital amp is currently the best bet for those looking for a K2-enabled AV system, and the micro hi-fi JVC EX-A10E system features K2 processing also.

Intersting,

The mdoel I am working on is the JVC XL-Z1050TN. I use it primarily as a transport, but it makes a suprisingly good stand alone machine.

While I am reading this, it means to me that the K2 process is only effective with K2 encoded discs. As I seem to remember the JVC XRCD also used K2 encoding.

But ther is another page that I came across that had some relevant descriptions.

http://www.cdsg.com/k2.html

It appears that the K2 circuit does internal reclocking. Also I interpet it to say that there is optical coupling between the reciever chip and the DAC.

Tring to tease out the basic details of the architecture is problematic.

Regards
Mister Pig

K2-encoded discs, so-called XRCDs, are available from:

http://www.shop.vivante.co.uk/default.aspx...CookieSupport=1

http://www.musicdirect.com/category/10

http://www.elusivedisc.com/

Or else you can try ebay...

This K2 "thing" you brought to the forum kept my atention in a way that a start digging over the internet. I found a few things about it but what i like the most is this interesting article from FIM ( First Impression Music):

http://www.fimpression.com/fim_news.htm

http://www.fimpression.com/K2_HD.htm

Also i find out that it uses the Optima 5S laser pickup and JVC own dac JCE4501.

Quite informative Clint. It looks like the latest version of K2 encoding will work on any CDP. From what I can tell, the first version required a K2 DAC equiped player to gain the full benefits of this technology. Although the K2 discs still sounded excellent on any player.

Regards
Mister Pig