[Aevum]

The idea is when you use a dap or any sound source that uses digital format files you have a chain of events.

File, Decoder, DAC, Amp, Head/earphones.

But with True wireless headphones theres some confusion, or maybe im just dumb.

You have the reproduction device which has the file and the primary decoder, but then you have a reencoder that transmits the audio over SBC, or AAC over a transport protocol that can be APTx, LDAC or AD2P, and then the headphones decode it, and act as dac and amp, no ?

So basically the quality of the DAC and amp on the headphones is the main impact on the quality of the sound produced by the wireless headset or does the quality of the decoding on the reproduction device has an large impact too ?

 

[TMM]

So basically the quality of the DAC and amp on the headphones is the main impact on the quality of the sound produced by the wireless headset or does the quality of the decoding on the reproduction device has an large impact too ?

Typically* the passive headphone components (drivers/pads/head positioning) are most important (95%+), then DAC/amp (<5%) and lastly encoding (<0.5%).

Decoding by the wireless receiver has no impact as the loss in lossy formats only occurs during encoding, not decoding. If you are comparing two wireless headphones with the same wireless transmitter, then you're only comparing the inbuilt DAC/amp and the passive headphone components.

*assuming the DAC/amp are not hopelessly inadequate and the encoder is not terribly lossy (>128kbps)

 

[Aevum]

The thing is that many people put a lot of emphasis on the Dac and AMP quality of high end DAPS from Fiio, Shanling, A&K...

And when connecting to bluetooth headphones, even high end ones like the sony WM1000 XM3 or the Bose 700´s, the DAP just coverts the file to SBC or AAC and then transmits it over whatever bluetooth protocol is being used. but the final decoding, conversion to analog and amplification is done on board the headphone.

 

[TMM]

That's correct, when you use wireless headphones natively on your DAP (no additional wired to wireless dongle) you're not using the DAC or amplifier built into your DAP so the quality of those components is irrelevant.

Where there may be a difference between DAPs when using wireless headphones is the quality of the SBC/AAC/etc encoder in the DAP. Some encoders can produce slightly higher sound quality with the same lossy format and bitrate as another. Think of it like giving two different people 10lbs of stuff and a 5lb bag - one person might be able to fit more stuff in the bag because they pack it more efficiently - the more efficient packer is the analogy of the better encoder.