Alexium
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2011
- Posts
- 116
- Likes
- 34
I was wondering for a long time how much DAC and power amp matter in the sound system. Or, more precisely, is there much audible difference between various good units. Because, clearly, poor engineering may easily lead to audibly bad devices, but that's of little interest.
So I bought and O2 headphone amp and pitted it against the built-in amp of my EMU 0404 USB using HiFiMan HE-400 headphones. There was no difference. Then I loaned a highly regarded discrete (transistor) DIY headphone amp. Also no difference. And I'm not very surprised because an amplifier is a reasonably simple piece of equipment, and if it measures right (THD, S/N, even frequency response and low output impedance) - it will sound right. But what about DACs? A DAC is a much more complex device, and judging just by the sheer number of different output stage designs for current-output DACs I was certain there has to be some difference.
The fist time I experienced sort of a shock was when I got a PCM2704 board just for laughs ($5 from AliExpress, free shipping), and couldn't tell it apart from 0404 USB - even if I used 2704's internal headphone amp.
Then I loaned a DIY DAC (based on either AD1852 or AD1865, can't recall). No difference.
And now I've got ODAC (Rev. A, ES9023 DAC chip) and spent hours yesterday evening comparing ODAC + O2 to EMU0404 USB + its internal amp. Guess what? I could hear no difference.
So what about all those people who rate and range DACs on "clarity", "airyness", "warmth" and other audiophile criteria? Are they imagining the difference? Are they using DACs so terribly designed that they indeed have audible distortion? Or am I just deaf? But then, I have no problem hearing a difference between various heaphones.
So I bought and O2 headphone amp and pitted it against the built-in amp of my EMU 0404 USB using HiFiMan HE-400 headphones. There was no difference. Then I loaned a highly regarded discrete (transistor) DIY headphone amp. Also no difference. And I'm not very surprised because an amplifier is a reasonably simple piece of equipment, and if it measures right (THD, S/N, even frequency response and low output impedance) - it will sound right. But what about DACs? A DAC is a much more complex device, and judging just by the sheer number of different output stage designs for current-output DACs I was certain there has to be some difference.
The fist time I experienced sort of a shock was when I got a PCM2704 board just for laughs ($5 from AliExpress, free shipping), and couldn't tell it apart from 0404 USB - even if I used 2704's internal headphone amp.
Then I loaned a DIY DAC (based on either AD1852 or AD1865, can't recall). No difference.
And now I've got ODAC (Rev. A, ES9023 DAC chip) and spent hours yesterday evening comparing ODAC + O2 to EMU0404 USB + its internal amp. Guess what? I could hear no difference.
So what about all those people who rate and range DACs on "clarity", "airyness", "warmth" and other audiophile criteria? Are they imagining the difference? Are they using DACs so terribly designed that they indeed have audible distortion? Or am I just deaf? But then, I have no problem hearing a difference between various heaphones.