Question about Digital audio converters

[Chris Kaoss]

Imo, the big question is your setup your 're driving your 1770 Pro with.
It doesn't make sense to heading for "high resolution audio" while you'll get the most out of the red book standard, eg. 16bit/ 44.1kHz.
There're a lot of really got offers with
With a good amp you'll get a lot more out of the Beyers, imo.

These are a really good set of headphones, if it fits your needs in perceived frequency satisfaction, i think.
While asking 5 people, you'll get 6 different opinions.

But for the first step it's important to know your sources, which dac and maybe amp you're driving your headphone with.
There's a reason you've picked up this headphone, i guess.
This implies that you like the sound of the Beyers.

 

[MrVeriGoodMan]

In order to hear a marked improvement from 24 bit vs. 16 bit,one needs to have an extremely resolving and high end setup.
My music collection is a mix of DSD,24/192,24/96,24/48,16/44.1 and 320 MP3s for very hard to find and obscure stuff. My system is game over and quite expensive and I can hear the differences between MP3 and 24 bit files. You will hear a wider and deeper stage,more air between instruments,better dynamics,etc,etc...when I had lesser gear I thought I could hear a wider stage,but that was about the extent of the difference.

Contrary to the above statement,24 bit files have less volume,not more volume than MP3s.

Its important to know that album mastering is also very important to the sound quality one hears. Some albums are recorded and mastered rather poorly,so even if you have a 24 bit version of an album it doesnt necessarily mean its going to sound fantastic.

Regarding high end headphones...

Many of the high end headphones will scale to crazy heights with equal or better upstream gear. When watching or reading reviews its important to take note of the amp,DAC,source and cables being used. It all matters,some more than others.

So to further improve my soundquality you would recommend to buy a decent dac before getting newer "more expensive" head.

Thank you for the insight on 24 bit and how

 

[MrVeriGoodMan]

Imo, the big question is your setup your 're driving your 1770 Pro with.
It doesn't make sense to heading for "high resolution audio" while you'll get the most out of the red book standard, eg. 16bit/ 44.1kHz.
There're a lot of really got offers with
With a good amp you'll get a lot more out of the Beyers, imo.

These are a really good set of headphones, if it fits your needs in perceived frequency satisfaction, i think.
While asking 5 people, you'll get 6 different opinions.

But for the first step it's important to know your sources, which dac and maybe amp you're driving your headphone with.
There's a reason you've picked up this headphone, i guess.
This implies that you like the sound of the Beyers.

Like i said i am new to the whole high end audio thing so these are my first high end headphones and i bought them just because lot of people said they are great.

I am satisfied with the sound they provide atm i don't have rly good amps or dacs just a small "creative soundblaster e1" and a "soundblaster e5, which broke" for the go i have a s10+ which actually supports the 250 ohms because the music can get pretty loud and detailled with good bass and all

I am also trying Qobuz, there i am listening to a lot of genres (old school rap, dub, buena vista social club, metal, reagge and more...

And from bass, mids and trebel theres nothing i prefer i just want them all on their best...

 

[Monsterzero]

So to further improve my soundquality you would recommend to buy a decent dac before getting newer "more expensive" head.

Thank you for the insight on 24 bit and how

It depends. A better amp and/or DAC can make your system sound better,but it wont change the nature of the headphones themselves.
For example an HD800 is a clinical,resolving headphone. You can spend a million Francs on a new amp and DAC but the HD800 wont turn into a warm romantic sounding bass cannon with the new setup. Make sense?

 

[Chris Kaoss]

Well, a very welcome to this world. ^^

As always, i'd recommend to take your 1770 Pro and some music you know and go to a local hifi-dealer.
There you can find out the sound of your headphone with proper amps and dacs.

It is very important to take music you're used to.

Most shops will play some "audiophile" stuff with higher priced amplifier, dacs and cables to hell.
But believe me, that's not the best way to find your sweet spot and you'll be biased by the setup.
Do hear your headphone with proper amplification and your music will show you the performance they could deliver.

From that point, you can evaluate your budget to climb the ladder of higher fidelity, your likes of signatures or maybe the audiophile world.

Most of all, enjoy your journey and happy listening.

 

[dazzerfong]

So to further improve my soundquality you would recommend to buy a decent dac before getting newer "more expensive" head.

Thank you for the insight on 24 bit and how

Definitely not. If you got a limited budget, almost always focus on the headphone.

Headphones are like 95% of the equation of 'quality'. Some headphones will be like at 80% due to a 'bad' or insufficient amplifier. The DAC is pretty much one of the last things you get.

In order of importance (stressing this is my opinion):

Music (not 24 bit or hi-res, just good master) -> headphones -> amp -> DAC -----------------------> cables

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I am new to the whole "high end Audio thing".
Recently i bought the Beyerdynamic DT 1770 pro Headphone and now i found out that to use their full potential i need to listen to 16-24 bit audio.

I doubt you're listening to anything at under 16bits unless you have copies of 14bit audio.

Also SACD DACs are 1bit DACs just with very high oversampling rates, but regardless of whether it's SACD or 24bit audio, the recording quality is still the main determinant.

So my question is if i listen to spotify music with a 24 bit dac, will it convert the music to higher quality...

Upsampling doesn't make compressed audio any better ie if there's some info to cut it down to less than a lossless copy upsampling wouldn't restore that.

Also one reason that precipitated the demise of 24bit and 20bit upsampling CDPs and DACs in the early 2000s was how what sounded different was due to high frequency noise that was introduced. They were by themselves inaudible but adding those very high frequencies to the signal and making the drivers move to try to reproduce them was. You're essentially introducing noise that resulted in driver distortion.

...or do i need to have 24 bit files and if yes, where do i get them?

HDTracks.

Personally it depends on your music. If the albums you listen to don't have that much spatial information anyway as to warrant hunting down 24bit good mastering copies, I wouldn't really sweat it beyond just having lossless 16bit copies.

Alternately, if some of your music is available in 24bit downloadable copies or physical copies, then get a 24bit DAC. Not because it will make the 16bit copies sound better, but that way you just let the music play without downsampling on the fly that can introduce noise or at the very least add pointless processing just to make them play.

Then again, smartphones and most motherboards already play 24bit natively. I'd worry more about the amplification and whether it's getting a clean line signal, so if that's the case just get a good amp and any decent DAC, or a good DAC-HPamp.

 

[CTR640]

There are on this forum samples of HD tracks too:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/official-free-flac-file-music-sharing-thread.644595/

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/official-free-flac-file-music-sharing-thread.644595/post-9023589

 

[AnakChan]

@MrVeriGoodMan, apologies for the trolls derailing your thread. I have modified some posts and deleted others.

I understand your quest and appreciate your interest in seeking guidance to your questions. Just do bear in mind that you're going to find a myriad of responses, some of which are applicable to you, some are not, most are completely from a poster's point of view (although they may personally view it as absolute, or objective - nothing sinister, but just to put it politely "passionate"), and some may try to sway you into one camp or another. As long as you take each feedback with a grain of salt and try to formulate your own conclusions.

Your own personal testing with some feedback guidance should help you find the solutions you seek - and most important of all, each individual here and in other forums have their own unique personal audio journey.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

It depends. A better amp and/or DAC can make your system sound better,but it wont change the nature of the headphones themselves.
For example an HD800 is a clinical,resolving headphone. You can spend a million Francs on a new amp and DAC but the HD800 wont turn into a warm romantic sounding bass cannon with the new setup. Make sense?

I beg to differ. For a million francs you can find the right OTL amp and get a DAC with enough EQ to do just that

 

[ronnco]

Hi head-fi. Have a pair of Drop HD6xx phones. Was going to pull the trigger on a Zen Dac. Going to use my iPhone 7 to stream tidal through a Apple camera cable to a Dac. Using a Drop CTH hybrid amp or a Emotiva Bass X A100 amp (surprisingly good) Would a Modi 3 be a better sounding choice? Thanks!

 

[viivo]

Just because no one else mentioned it, DAC is Digital-to-Analog Converter. Of course Digital Audio Converter means the same thing and it's no big deal.

 

[wolfinwool]

Like i said i am new to the whole high end audio thing so these are my first high end headphones and i bought them just because lot of people said they are great.

I am satisfied with the sound they provide atm i don't have rly good amps or dacs just a small "creative soundblaster e1" and a "soundblaster e5, which broke" for the go i have a s10+ which actually supports the 250 ohms because the music can get pretty loud and detailled with good bass and all

I am also trying Qobuz, there i am listening to a lot of genres (old school rap, dub, buena vista social club, metal, reagge and more...

And from bass, mids and trebel theres nothing i prefer i just want them all on their best...

I prefer Qobuz to Tidal for HQ content.

 

[ronnco]

Just because no one else mentioned it, DAC is Digital-to-Analog Converter. Of course Digital Audio Converter means the same thing and it's no big deal.

 

[ronnco]

Hi viivo. Have you had any experience with the Schiit Audio Modi 3? Thanks.