Is it good or bad?

Will DACs 'colour' the sound, making it sound different, but not necessarily improve the sound quality?

A few years ago when I've just bought the Aune T1, with my IEM I cannot hear any difference between using it and my computer headphone jack. But when I use higher impedance headphones and such I can hear difference. Cannot really say night and day but it could be because my laptop's on board audio is good.
If you got good equipment downstream, DAC upgrade can give big difference.

I like this review, he tells it as how he heard it.

A dac by right shall not 'color' the sound. The conversion of digital to analog is based on delta-sigma modulation method and will not add anything to analog waveform. To lure for more sale, dac starts to claim their "signature".

Sound quality is a very subjective term, bro. Just like if you ask what is the best headphone you can buy in this forum, you will get numerous response.

This post has been edited by fx20: Feb 23 2017, 09:58 AM

If you really want to know more about DAC, you can read this blogs. A very practical approach to learn about your dac.

http://nwavguy.blogspot.my/2011/05/subject...ive-debate.html
This guy almost reveal the industry secret and was threatening with legal cases by big company until he quit the writings.


For DAC, it should all about transparency and distortion. For example, does my Fender sound like a fender guitar when I play it on my system. And it is totally crapped if the Fender sound like gibson at the end of the chain.



This post has been edited by fx20: Feb 23 2017, 10:06 AM

Thanks for the article.

I am not an audiophile but I do like music and vocals that are distortion-free and instruments that sound realistic.

I am no mean an audiophile. I spent most my time appreciate artists' creativity and interpretation of scores more than listening to 'sound'. But a good and transparent system allow me to appreciate the music better.

anyone here tried the SMSL M8A?

raynman

how about removing dac in your audio setup chain..... just a pc as source playing hq audio like flac using a memory player analogue output connected to a stereo amplifier or integrated amplifier and goes to the speaker.

Will it? Yes.

Can you notice it? Maybe.

An external USB DAC in async mode, most definitely yes will be fantastic ....

I just add Allo re-clocker to my cheap rasp pi 2 to reduce jitter, plus Allo Piano DAC on top of it. I2S communication between them give a pleasant hifi sound to me so far.

Will try to compare with USB smsl m8 if i have one.

Sound like you are altering the sound signature to what you like I assume

Personally, I thought I2S is superior to USB. Love my SU1 with holo spring dac

Hi Sifus,

I have a Logitech Z623. When I connect to my laptop, the sound was terrible. But when I connect to my handphone, the mids and highs sounded clearer. Can any Sifus know why is there a difference, and will a DAC improve the songs? Thanks

Computer as a source is really not a good idea if you are serious on audio. Adding a dac maybe can change the sound signature but is it an improvement? You are try laptop vs handphone. The result is handphone is better. So you got your answer the source itself which is the laptop is no good for what you need. Just use or handphone or buy a dedicated player

I have a Z623, I personally find that Z623 satellites needs to be between 1.5 to 2.1 meter apart to get a nice and more realistic soundstage - that being said my room is about 140sq-ft. Being THX certified, i think it articulates the vocals to very lifelike conditions (not silky smooth, sweet and elevated, but more like a speech presentation like how a cinema does it) and really 'centers', 'thickens' and articulates the voice/vocals like hearing a really good speech by an experience presenter. I find that below 1.5m of separation, the vocals and speech are just way too un-natural - too loud in the mix and way too articulated, the pronunciation of each word is over-emphasized. This is good for movies and when you dont have subtitles but i really think it's overly done for music UNLESS:

You are able to get at least 1.5m of distance between the satellites, then you may hear a difference. On DAC, I have 2 entry level DACs, an ODAC V1 and D Zero MK2 (both no longer in production) but the presentation between the both DAC is is really different. The ODAC sounds flat and dry BUT it's timbre and ADSR is done with good lifelike accuracy. ADSR = Attack Decay Sustain Release (all 'natural' instrument have this, but electronic made music can manipulate this to great and unnatural extent)

Ie. ODAC V1 - the electric guitars are lifelike, it can produce the 'sawtooth/distortion effect' of the guitar with what I personally think is good accuracy ie. the buzzing and "crunchiness' is wonderful, just like a real guitar amp. The rise and fall of each waveform is just, 'accurate', if it is sawtooth wave, it will sound like it, if it is a sine wave, it will sound like it.




On the D Zero MK2, it totally cant do electric guitars (they sound really smoothed out and simply another background instrument in the mix)... ODAC for wide and big soundstage & 'lifelike-ness', but it's just what it is, uncolored, flat, transparent (unless your speakers are really colored), DZMK2 for a more deep but narrow soundstage, fun and smooth sound

If you are into 2.1 for music only purpose, give Swan M50W (very colored but in a interesting way) + ODAC a try... Z623 is really just made for movies, BUT IT'S REALLY GOOD AT MOVIES. Try watching Interstellar, the scene when the rocket takes off or the scene where the there is a sudden explosion in a dead silent space, (at high volume), that sudden surge of sound was almost similar to what I experience in GSC THX/Dolby Atmos cinema. Gunshots, L-R stereo effects are really good. So for me - yes DAC and speaker combo does change the sound character but which one that suits you will be dependent on your taste, to me M50W absolutely cannot do movies, it simply cannot present to the listener an extremely quick and sudden change in sound level and position, and the speech is not pronounced or articulated well, you will need subtitles especially in angmoh movies

Also note that THX certified multimedia speakers have 3 very different input sensitivities/impedance for each input (RCA, 3.5mm & 3.5mm AUX), this may cause different frequency response, loudness, harmonics and distortion with each different input for a same output source, good news is you have 3 choices to suit your gear

This post has been edited by andrew9292: Feb 22 2018, 10:05 PM

According to Schiit, Delta Sigma DACs + FIR filters + Non-Over Samping or even Oversampling implementation is essentially a rough approximation (a very good one) of the original signal BUT is still way behind in absolute accuracy of their military/medical/industrial grade Resistor to Resistor R2-R/Multibit + closed form filter implementations... then again i feel like the audiophile world is like politics, all you need is a 'witness and counter witness', and it'll throws both sides of the argument into chaos. With so much improvement to technology and obtainable technical facts over the years, yet what most audio gear manufactures actually give for audio spec measurements are almost the same with was easily available 30 years ago, some of them are giving even less information - it's almost an unspoken and denied truth - everything is magic except to the magician (quote: Westworld). I strongly believe the industry needs to reform with newer standards and tech information as a first step to move forward, especially if it wants to serve the masses and fact-inclined crowd

This post has been edited by andrew9292: Feb 22 2018, 10:44 PM

I never like to use handphone to play songs because it drains my battery... Anyway the source is the issue

I'm more particular when it comes to music than watching movies. And I realised I should get a 2.0 rather than 2.1. If 2.0, what would you recommend?

Maybe for now, should try other inputs to get the best out of it

This post has been edited by littleguy: Feb 23 2018, 11:49 AM

Get a pair of 2.0 floorstanding with larger mid frequency driver lor, they can produce decent low frequencies and sound field. You might find a floorstanding soound better than bookshelf if your room is large.

My room 10ft x 10ft only lar...