[joker97]

I mean ... normally dell headphone jacks are so useless i wouldn't plug a $10 philips headphone onto it. But I was comparing my new Dell XPS 15 9530 (latest Haswell XPS 15) to Fiio E17 the other day.
 
It is mean! I beat the Fiio in terms of bass extension to my Senn HD600 flat. The midrange could be slightly muddy compared to the Fiio but who cares when you can get everything else!
 
I have to say I did use MaxxAudio (software digital signal processing that came with it)
 
Someone who could care to do measurements etc please contribute. 
Or if someone could tell us the exact internals.
 
Otherwise I'm rating this as one of the current top built-in DAC/Amp laptop around.
 
(Yes i'm prepared for a huge backlash but at least i put it out there, if anyone is planning to buy an audiophile laptop)

 

[marcookie]

Hey, thank you for the info. I'm planning to buy an xps 15 and I'm a bit less concerned about DAC audio quality now. Do you have any update?

 

[TheAttorney]

Impressive thread bump!
 
FWIW, I have a 9 month-ish old XPS13 and I'm quite impressed with it directly driving my Sen HD600s - to give an acceptable sound quality above my expectations from such a relatively a lowly source.
 
Adding an ifi iDSD does significantly improve the sound, and is well worth the investment from a purely SQ point of view. But sometimes the simple convenience of direct connection means I often skip the iDSD on my travels.      

 

[joker97]

Hey, thank you for the info. I'm planning to buy an xps 15 and I'm a bit less concerned about DAC audio quality now. Do you have any update?

Yes i have figured something. It's all in the work of maxxaudio pro, the digital sound effect software.

Please note i have not tested the DAC without that exact software.

So the purists please unsubscribe this thread and don't kill me ... I just don't have thousands of dollars for a Schiit system and resorted to software to generate amazing sound for me.