supernova20200
New Head-Fier
Hello everyone. I have recently bought my first more or less audiophile set up:
Drop HD 6XX -> drop thx aaa one ( no balanced inputs ) -> mogami RCA cables -> custom made DAC based on ES9038Q2M chip with amanero USB input and bluetooth module -> klotz usb cable -> Anker hub -> MacBook Pro 16 11.4 iOS -> AppleMusic
When I first listened to this set up I had a feeling that there is an obstacle between the headphone speaker and my ear. The sound is bad like listening to a cheap pair of headphone and AAC file. I am watching the glossary to describe the sound and still I am not sure how I can describe the sound correctly with proposed adjectives. Overall sound is really bad.
I thought - maybe the problem is with the Apple Music - I have dowloaded 24/96 albums and played them via Audirvana - more or less the sound was same bad
I thought maybe the problem is with the cables - I used Bluetooth to check - the sound was same bad and a little bit worse in some aspects in comparison when using cables.
So I contacted a person that made that DAC because I thought that the problem is with it since it is home made. That person asked if I can try to listening on a windows machine because he had never heard anyone describing the sound of a DAC like me.
I have dowloaded same album and played via foobar2000 and the sound was really nice. It was crystal clear, perfect for me although I didn't feel enough attack. Still I am impressed and happy but that windows laptop is of my neighbour and my main source is MacBook.
I started digging into MacBook sound issues and found nothing that could help. Changing midi settings did nothing, eq is off and other stuff on Apple Music is off.
I have no opportunity to listen to the other DAC to see if it is DAC issue.
Question: What do you think - is it macOS or DAC issue? How can I troubleshoot it? How can I solve it?
Drop HD 6XX -> drop thx aaa one ( no balanced inputs ) -> mogami RCA cables -> custom made DAC based on ES9038Q2M chip with amanero USB input and bluetooth module -> klotz usb cable -> Anker hub -> MacBook Pro 16 11.4 iOS -> AppleMusic
When I first listened to this set up I had a feeling that there is an obstacle between the headphone speaker and my ear. The sound is bad like listening to a cheap pair of headphone and AAC file. I am watching the glossary to describe the sound and still I am not sure how I can describe the sound correctly with proposed adjectives. Overall sound is really bad.
I thought - maybe the problem is with the Apple Music - I have dowloaded 24/96 albums and played them via Audirvana - more or less the sound was same bad
I thought maybe the problem is with the cables - I used Bluetooth to check - the sound was same bad and a little bit worse in some aspects in comparison when using cables.
So I contacted a person that made that DAC because I thought that the problem is with it since it is home made. That person asked if I can try to listening on a windows machine because he had never heard anyone describing the sound of a DAC like me.
I have dowloaded same album and played via foobar2000 and the sound was really nice. It was crystal clear, perfect for me although I didn't feel enough attack. Still I am impressed and happy but that windows laptop is of my neighbour and my main source is MacBook.
I started digging into MacBook sound issues and found nothing that could help. Changing midi settings did nothing, eq is off and other stuff on Apple Music is off.
I have no opportunity to listen to the other DAC to see if it is DAC issue.
Question: What do you think - is it macOS or DAC issue? How can I troubleshoot it? How can I solve it?
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