Did you anons know that not all DACs are created equal? All currently produced DACs are multi-rate multi-depth units, almost always bitstream in architecture. True ladder DACs haven't been made (excepting for specialty audiophile products) since the early 1990s. DVD and DAT before it demanded multiple rate / depth chips for economical production but audio quality has suffered.
Take pic related, a single one of these chips (not even including the circuitry needed to make it work) can fetch $500 or more because modern DACs suck for 16 bit 44.1 kHz audio, excepting certain highest quality units.
Another topic, oversampling? Oversampling shouldn't be necessary because your ears and speakers do the filtering. Many listeners report enhanced audio perception when using their same system but with oversampling turned off (for a CD source).
But let it be known that even though the vast bulk of digital audio in the form of music out there is 16/44.1 and yet very few DACs are capable of reproducing even this. It's not a case of distortion either, the traditional measurement is a two-sine input signal which in no way replicates music.
>be zoomer >fall for cheap external dac + amp for your head foams >not knowing the external dac is likely the same one in your pc or phone's onboard sound card
David Davis
>not knowing the external dac is likely the same one in your pc or phone's onboard sound card yeah but it's not smashed up directly next to multiple radios
Levi Adams
Still this has a minimal effect on the signal coming down the wire. If your headphones are weak or have too low impedance for your port you can always pump more watts with a DAC/amp combo but it's doubtful that you will have better sound quality.
Aaron Cox
>zoomers don't even want to admit their class d chinese amplifiers teamed with their shitty bitstream dacs aren't giving them good audio quality
Luke Price
Best DAC is the Apple USB-C to 3.5mm adapter. Prove me wrong
Joseph Williams
Uh, OP is the 90's?
Daniel Foster
apple headphones are the best in the industry. everyone knows this.
Nolan Bennett
I thought it was a dumb converter that simply took the analog output off three contacts.
Colton Jones
I use an EarStudio ES100 for both USB and Bluetooth, because my onboard audio doesn't sound as good as it does. It was my phone that really drove me to get it - the amp circuitry in the US/Qualcomm version of the Galaxy S7 downright blows and you can hear the difference on anything much better than dollar store earbuds. But when I got into nice earphones, which are often very low impedance, things like noise and output impedance on my laptop onboard audio got to be enough of an issue that the ES100 really does sound better.
Jackson Baker
Yes in a way, because they stopped even trying to make DACs which were properly suited to the CD digital audio standard of 16 bits and 44.1 kilohertz. These days DACs are meant to digest every bit rate and sample depth and this means they suffer in various ways which can be measured.
Dominic Taylor
It's the Cirrus Logic chip similar to what they used in older iPhone/iPads, not the crappy realtek one that comes in most small USB-C to 3.5 DACs.
Aiden Gonzalez
I'll have to see a teardown, the thing looks like it should be taking the speaker contacts off the pcb and piping them out.
Nolan Reyes
>not using cardas ear speakers never going to make it
Isaac Moore
Cardas?
Ryan James
Cardas.
Camden Adams
>measured But not heard, as "audiophiles" continue to fail blind tests between high and low end equipment to this day. Audiophoolery was debunked decades ago yet it persists.
Buying headphones that include DACs in them is superior since they were designed to work together.
Ryder Morales
>I-i can hear inaudible differences
ok tard.
Aiden Rogers
You mean like how onboard audio is superior to external DACs?
Jackson Powell
My T400 has noticeable noise from 3.5mm jack, I'm going for the cheapest external DAC I can find on craigslist.
Luke Reyes
What I will never understand is what audiophiles even believe they need all this equipment for. Do you have an imperceptible noise floor, good quality speakers/headphones and an amp sufficient to power them, as well as the ability to decode files of a quality where the codec is transparent? You have everything you need to enjoy any audio you could possibly want to listen to. What truly benefits from horrifically expensive DACs and snake oil cables? What was previously preventing you from enjoying the music you are apparently so invested in? What amount of aural enlightenment could possibly justify your investment that was simply impossible before? I will never be able to wrap my head around this aspect of the audiophile community. You build a more expensive PC setup? You get higher framerates or a better keyboard or whatever. Those are tangible benefits, even if often unneeded. You buy a faster car? You have a cooler piece of engineering and more speed possible, even if you never use it, questionable but I understand the appeal. You buy an antique rifle for your collection? That's a piece of history and craftsmanship in your hands, I get that. What does the audiophile, who is supposedly interested in the music itself, gain from their expenditure? It will forever elude me.
The flaws in your fleshy human ears will win out long before the flaws in encoding or decoding technology do anyway.
Anthony Sullivan
Yeah. What the fuck is it?
Justin Cooper
The realtek crap on my work PC adds fucking crossfade, so I'm glad to use my fiio BTR3 as a usb-c DAC/headphone amp with great success too.
Aiden Davis
All those meme DACs are measurably worse than modern delta-sigma DACs. Ladder, multibit, all made to ride the next hype wave hoping to scam a bit more out of audiophools. Man I'm glad I left this scam of a hobby, even if I had the sense to not fall for this.
Liam Hill
*and using as a bluetooth receiver for my phone
Christopher Brooks
The only DAC I use is the one in my LG V30 phone.
Tyler Morris
>What truly benefits from horrifically expensive DACs and snake oil cables? They sometimes look good.
I mean, you are do not understand this hobby at all. This hobby has no relationship with "quality sound" at all (I am talking about "snake oil" type, not type with custom built by professional acousticians halls and stuff like that) It is just an excuse for their gear acquisition syndrome and collecting stuff. Think of collecting stamps, but collecting audio equipment.
