cableman5
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2011
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The last 5 days I've been listening to the LSR305 with various DACs so I think it's time for an update.
First of all does the LSR305 improve with a DAC? As you might expect, it does. But I have to say the difference is definitely not night and day. The JBL sounds awesome straight from my laptop and I would have been perfectly happy with them without a DAC. They are at probably 95% straight from the laptop. However, the DAC is an improvement - there was some harshness without it, music is more "smooth" with it. There was no audible noise before, but especially lower quality mp3 files (192kbit) were not as pleasant as they are now, which is a surprise to me, I thought that with the DAC they would be even worse. The bass is also a bit better controlled. So overall, any harshness is now gone and the bass sounds more pleasant, but it's definitely not a "I can't believe I was listening to music before this DAC".
I heard 3 DACs - Audioengine D1, ODAC and Modi. To be honest, to my ears the difference between the 3 DACs is almost not perceivable. The ODAC is perhaps a little "clearer" than the D1 but the difference is so small that I had to spend quite some time to notice it. The Modi and the D1 sound (to me) almost the same. Again, this is with the JBL LSR305, maybe there are more audible difference when driving other speakers or with headphones. Given that I pretty much cannot detect differences between the 3 DACs, I decided to choose based on convenience. The Audioengine D1 has a pretty good amp for my headphones and volume control. If I decide to add amps to the ODAC or Modi, I would have to spend more money and add more boxes on my desktop. I don't have any hard to drive headphones so I don't see a need for anything more than the amp in the D1. If anything, the amp in the AE D1 offers a very noticeable difference with headphones, the improvement is there without question. I decided to keep the Audioengine D1 and return the rest. At this point I am extremely happy with the JBL LSR305 and Audioengine D1 combination, I honestly cannot ask for more in my space. I heard more than a dozen speakers and three DACs so I can be confident that as far as my preferences go, I chose the best setup.
This thread (and my opinion) has really evolved - all I wanted was a pair of AV40s and I ended up with a way better setup. Thanks guys!
First of all does the LSR305 improve with a DAC? As you might expect, it does. But I have to say the difference is definitely not night and day. The JBL sounds awesome straight from my laptop and I would have been perfectly happy with them without a DAC. They are at probably 95% straight from the laptop. However, the DAC is an improvement - there was some harshness without it, music is more "smooth" with it. There was no audible noise before, but especially lower quality mp3 files (192kbit) were not as pleasant as they are now, which is a surprise to me, I thought that with the DAC they would be even worse. The bass is also a bit better controlled. So overall, any harshness is now gone and the bass sounds more pleasant, but it's definitely not a "I can't believe I was listening to music before this DAC".
I heard 3 DACs - Audioengine D1, ODAC and Modi. To be honest, to my ears the difference between the 3 DACs is almost not perceivable. The ODAC is perhaps a little "clearer" than the D1 but the difference is so small that I had to spend quite some time to notice it. The Modi and the D1 sound (to me) almost the same. Again, this is with the JBL LSR305, maybe there are more audible difference when driving other speakers or with headphones. Given that I pretty much cannot detect differences between the 3 DACs, I decided to choose based on convenience. The Audioengine D1 has a pretty good amp for my headphones and volume control. If I decide to add amps to the ODAC or Modi, I would have to spend more money and add more boxes on my desktop. I don't have any hard to drive headphones so I don't see a need for anything more than the amp in the D1. If anything, the amp in the AE D1 offers a very noticeable difference with headphones, the improvement is there without question. I decided to keep the Audioengine D1 and return the rest. At this point I am extremely happy with the JBL LSR305 and Audioengine D1 combination, I honestly cannot ask for more in my space. I heard more than a dozen speakers and three DACs so I can be confident that as far as my preferences go, I chose the best setup.
This thread (and my opinion) has really evolved - all I wanted was a pair of AV40s and I ended up with a way better setup. Thanks guys!
It's the StonerAcoustics UD120.