Do DACs matter?

[FYFL]

Honstely i'm since 6 years in this hobby and i still don't know if dacs really make a difference or if its just bias.

Not optimal scenario but give it a shot.

 

[sajunky]

Honstely i'm since 6 years in this hobby and i still don't know if dacs really make a difference or if its just bias.

Six years and your system still didn't reach sufficient level of transparency or you only listen to a junk music (poor recording, loudness war mastering, EDM).

 

[WoollyGeezer]

I purchased a topping d70s (akm dac) and put it up against my smsl-su9 dac (saber).

There is a definitive difference. I greatly prefer the AKM dac. The su-9 had sharp highs that hurt my ears and the topping is much more balanced across the spectrum.

 

[Deolum]

Six years and your system still didn't reach sufficient level of transparency or you only listen to a junk music (poor recording, loudness war mastering, EDM).

Six years and i still don't know what transparency means in hifi.

 

[Whazzzup]

Everything matters

 

[XVampireX]

Six years and i still don't know what transparency means in hifi.

https://www.head-fi.org/articles/describing-sound-a-glossary.12328/

Transparent - Easy to hear into the music, detailed, clear, not muddy. Wide flat frequency response, sharp time response, very low distortion and noise. A hear through quality that is akin to clarity and reveals all aspects of detail.

 

[Contrails]

I purchased a topping d70s (akm dac) and put it up against my smsl-su9 dac (saber).

There is a definitive difference. I greatly prefer the AKM dac. The su-9 had sharp highs that hurt my ears and the topping is much more balanced across the spectrum.

Another topping D70S user. Topping should have renamed themselves and released these products at a higher price range in a fancy case. They would have absolutely smashed it. The negative reviews they seem to be getting is mostly because of the earlier reputation of making cheap hifi from China. The D70S is phenomenal especially in it’s price class.

 

[sajunky]

The negative reviews they seem to be getting is mostly because of the earlier reputation of making cheap hifi from China.

Not really. I wasted $130 on Topping D30, a Realtek codec chip in a Sony vaio laptop sounds better.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Um, this has been done thousands of times...

https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/new-schiit-yggdrasil-blind-listening-comparison-r1045/
https://audio-head.com/review-schiit-yggdrasil-og-vs-less-is-more-vs-more-is-less/

Here are two recent double blind ABX tests of the 3 Schiit Yggy Models by audio reviewers.

I have also done double blind ABX tests of DACs and its very easy to tell the difference between DACs. I would assume the rest of your gear would need to be good enough to help discern the differences, but also not really... it is pretty obvious for the most part.

And its up to you to decide if its worth it for you to buy a DAC or not, but there is no denying that DACs use different technologies, measure differently, and sound different.

Thank-you!

 

[Redcarmoose]

Everything matters

Thank-you!

 

[291079]

i mean if you can't hear the difference, great for you! means you don't have to spend so much money
but for most of us, i think it's pretty clear that a DAC matters.

tbh, im mostly a DAP guy, but changing my broken transport to a cheap cambridge audio dacmagic 100 and then to a more respectable audiolab 8200cd on my home system (an old conrad johnson preamp + amp; thiel speakers) was night and day every step.

 

[XVampireX]

Food for thought about ABX “blind test”:
https://positive-feedback.com/Issue56/abx.htm

Wholeheartedly agree.

 

[bifcake]

I purchased a topping d70s (akm dac) and put it up against my smsl-su9 dac (saber).

There is a definitive difference. I greatly prefer the AKM dac. The su-9 had sharp highs that hurt my ears and the topping is much more balanced across the spectrum.

I have found that configuring the DAC driver has greater impact than the differences among DACs and even then, the differences aren't night and day. Changing the headphones has by far greater impact than fiddling with the electronic components.

 

[Rinaldi Moreira]

Certainly, the exchange of headphones or speakers has a considerable difference, in the same way this can occur by exchanging electronic components, but the difference can be large or nil depending on the item exchanged.

 

[bifcake]

Certainly, the exchange of headphones or speakers has a considerable difference, in the same way this can occur by exchanging electronic components, but the difference can be large or nil depending on the item exchanged.

At this point in time, the differences in electronic components that are properly designed, with a flat response curve and low distortion aren't large. That of course excludes tubes, amps, which aren't designed to handle particular headphones, etc.

If you're running your music off the computer, your hardware is only as good as your driver.