RRod
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Aug 25, 2014
- Posts
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Again, a DAC does not equal a cleaner signal. A DAC equals translating the signal from digital to analog. It's not about "better", or "more". It either does that job to the point that 100% of the information is flawlessly translated to analog, or it messes up and loses information. That's all there is to it. It can't work magic and make the original file "more betterer". Likewise for the amp, there should not be any change in sound quality. If there is, the amp is messing up at some point.
The reason there is so much talk about the sound of amps is that people enjoy looking at pretty boxes and glowing tubes, and because they like to endlessly argue that the way their fancy glowing box messes up the signal is in some way preferable. Audiophiles like to feel special too.
Not to mention that all but the most wretched DAC or amp will blow away even the best headphone for output quality. For instance, look at how well the HD800 handles A 500Hz square wave, then compare that to the signal you record by going straight from your DAC to a line-in. The HD800 looks silly even against my built-in soundcard!