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Is there really a need for a dac for analog signals?

post #1 of 12
11/23/11 at 10:20pm
Thread Starter 

Im reading about people who want a DAC for i phones and mac books.  Is it really necessary?  Isnt the function of a DAC to convert digital signals to analog?  If they are using an analog signal to a DAC does the DAC do anything to the signal?  Isnt the signal passing through 2DAC's?


Edited by dofindale - 11/23/11 at 10:27pm
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post #2 of 12
11/23/11 at 10:30pm

I think you might be confused on what the DAC is doing.  The point of hooking up a dedicated DAC to an iDevice or PC/MAC is to bypass the on-board DAC that's already on your motherboard, sound card, iPod, etc. since the built-in DAC on these is usually an afterthought and not marketed for the audiophile community.  The digital signal from your transport should be going to the DAC, not an analog signal.

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post #3 of 12
11/23/11 at 10:31pm

They would use a stand alone DAC to convert digital signal to analog outside of the iphone or macbook.

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post #4 of 12
11/24/11 at 12:03am
Are you talking about analog devices like a turntable or radio receiver?

Those don't need a DAC.

Otherwise you use a DAC for something that only has digital output, like CD transports and certain soundcards. CD players, most soundcards and all smartphones/DAPs already have DACs. Some people like to bypass those and use other DACs.
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post #5 of 12
11/25/11 at 9:30pm

To make it simple, human ears cannot hear the binary 00s and 01s, so the process to convert the digital binary coding to analog that we can hear and understand requires a Digital-To-Analog Converter (DAC).

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post #6 of 12
11/29/11 at 6:34pm
Thread Starter 

Sorry i guess i should be more specific, originally posted using an Iphone, and its hard to type on those things... for me.  Anyway... What i was trying to ask if i may is... an i phone has a 3.5 out with an analog signal, a computer audio has a 3.5 out, so...if u use a dac for that out, does the dac take the analog signal and process it?  I think thats what im askin.

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post #7 of 12
11/29/11 at 8:33pm

The point of an external dac is to bypass the macbook's or iPhones internal dac and use a superior external dac to convert the digital signal to analog.  

 

Not all dacs are the same.  

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post #8 of 12
11/29/11 at 9:44pm
Thread Starter 

Hmm.... i can understand that i would like to use a better dac if such a thing exists, but what im trying to get at is the 3.5 out is analog isnt it?  So that would mean that the signal is processed by the internal dac.  Does a digital signal come out of the 3.5 jack along with an analog signal?

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post #9 of 12
11/29/11 at 9:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dofindale View Post

Hmm.... i can understand that i would like to use a better dac if such a thing exists, but what im trying to get at is the 3.5 out is analog isnt it?  So that would mean that the signal is processed by the internal dac.  Does a digital signal come out of the 3.5 jack along with an analog signal?



No, they come out from digital cables like USB, optical (fiber optic) and coax. These are the only digital cables that can pass digital signals. Wireless too but they don't have cables. All external DACs have digital inputs, some just USB but others have all.

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post #10 of 12
11/29/11 at 9:58pm

dofindale: No, a 3.5mm jack (typically) only gives an analogue signal, so in those cases there is no point getting a DAC. But people do not plug their DACs into an iPhone's or Macbook's analogue ports:

 

iPhone: plug into the dock at the bottom. Very few DACs do this, and are all relatively expensive.

7b36f577_FostexHP-P1HeadphoneampDac.jpeg

 

Macbook: a DAC could plug into the FireWire, USB or even the 3.5mm port. That last option will be optical, and requires an adaptor like this:

2Q==


Edited by Eric_C - 11/29/11 at 10:15pm
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post #11 of 12
11/29/11 at 10:01pm

Yes, firewire cable is also digital and so is an HDMI cable.

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post #12 of 12
11/29/11 at 10:14pm

wuwhere: sorry it seems I hit 'post' right after you did, and it looks like I was responding to your post; am in total agreement with you, fwiw. Meant to address OP instead--I'll fix that...

 

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