DAC's - techno scam or tangible difference?

[Baseley09]

Could be in pc section, whatvs.

So DAC's for your digital music collection specifically, worth it or a waste of time?

Discuss

[smouty]

It depends somewhat on the format of your files.
MP3@128 then no. A lossless format then maybe.
Everything downstream would also need to take advantage of it too.

[Baseley09]

Yeah lets assume peoples mp3 collections arent entirelly lossless bur of reasonable quality, paired with also reasonable amp and speakers

[Adrock]

I'd say yes. I tried out a Richer Sounds one and could definitely tell the difference between my PC and that. Was it worth the extra money, I'd say not considering I never kept it. I did have an E-MU sound card at the time though, so it already had a half decent DAC in it.

In my opinion its also governed by the law of diminishing returns, so wouldn't splash out mega money on one.

[Charlie]

A good DAC will always provide a more revealing and authentic sound, but the rest of your components must be of similar quality or you're wasting your money. Like fitting low profile sports tyres to a Ford Fiesta, it won't drive that much better, but fit them to a sports car and you'll notice the benefit.

[speedlolita]

The DAC I use is on my sound card. Asus Xonar DX.

This is plugged into a Cambridge Audio Azur 340a powering Monitor Audio RX1. No complaints at all.

[PaTaito]

Anything encoded even half decent(VBR192-320 and up) will benefit GREATLY from a decent DAC.

The best solution for getting an amazing difference for not much money is the Asus Essence STX soundcard...the DAC is way beyond anything else in the price bracket, and what that card does for decent headphones or even decent speakers(amped well) is pure magic.

Usually if you spend ?100-?200 on a dac or dac/amp combo you simply get wolfson 8470 or equivalent....PCM1792a in the Asus is head and shoulders above this.

All 3 of my headphones sound like totally different animals out of this card, it even leaves my ?220 modded ibasso D4 in the dust.. And even if you ignore the strong headphone amp, the DAC alone using line out to an amp is easily worth the cost of entry.

I would urge ANYONE with even a slight interest in sound quality to drop the ?120-?140 asking price.

[speedlolita]

I couldn't justify the price of the STX over the DX considering I didn't need the built in amplifier.

[PaTaito]

Have you heard one?

To get that DAC on a stand alone unit you'd pay so much more.

If you have decent amp and speakers its a bargain.

[gIzzE]

They make massive amounts of difference, on a good system you will heat it more.
thing is, they are all giving the manufacturers sonic signature to the sound, Meridian is quite warm and smooth sounding where as Naim is very lively and upbeat. Arcam is more like Meridian but at 1/10th of the price of the Meridian or the Naim, but I would go with the Arcam over the Naim every time.

Best dac I have had in my rack was the Mark Levinson 36s, it was very detailed, a massive soundstage and never sounded anything but liquid smooth. But even used I couldn't afford to buy it, but it was very enjoyable for the few weeks I was lent it.

If you don't think they sound different borrow one with different filters, where you can manually change them, you will hear the difference between the different conversions, many have apodising filters these days that really do help CD recordings, and get them close to HD recordings.

[gIzzE]

If you want a headphone amp this is a stunning bit of kit.....

http://www.meridian-audio.com/en/collections/on-the-move

[Master]

If you want to listen to your music collection (MP3s 320 or lossless) on a stereo system (not cheap PC speakers) or headphones you will definitely benefit from a DAC. The included "line out" is not that great, usually. Ever cheaper ones (if you are on a budget) will improve the sound.

[Brad]

I buy most of my music on Vinyl these days so as long as I have a good Analog to Analog converter I'm good :-)

What are the DACs in Sonos systems like?

[Baseley09]

For my next hifi venture im looking to go PC - airport express - DAC - amp. Its all getting stupid.

[Master]

I am using an AppleTV (black) instead of the airport express and a DAC (Lite DAC-AH).
I had some problems with airplay and my airport express; airplay device could not be found sometimes. Was an older Version, not the current one.