Background_Summer_55 t1_jdmeczw wrote on March 25, 2023 at 2:03 PM

Differences are subtle, buying a other pair of headphones is mostly a better investment than a high end DAC. Changeing headphone can make alot of difference, a other DAC not really. A good dac with a shitty headphone will still sound shitty. A great headphone with a shitty dac will still sound kinda good in my personal experience.

hurtyewh OP t1_jdmerei wrote on March 25, 2023 at 2:06 PM

Yeah, I'm getting an LCD-5 soonish most likely, but I'm mainly interested in having experience with the difference and knowing if there's anything meaningful there. I already know that it's mostly pointless to go past the well measuring $100-150 DACs up to $500, but whether TOTL could add something interests me. Like I prefer HE6se V2 over almost all headphones 4-8 times it's price, but an LCD-5 is damn nice at 10 times the price.

giant3 t1_jdmvkmx wrote on March 25, 2023 at 4:09 PM

The highest quality DACs are only around $10 in 1k units. With components+testing+profit, a very high-end unit like JDS Element is only $450.

What does it offer? Pitch-black background,neutral sound and sufficient power for any headphone.

A high quality DAC is transparent and doesn't colour the sound.

hurtyewh OP t1_jdmysrz wrote on March 25, 2023 at 4:32 PM

Well DAC chips yes, but those can of course be implemented very poorly or very well. A good $50 dongle DAC seems indistinguishable from the cheap Toppings etc which measure far better than most TOTL DACs and the JDS Element.

giant3 t1_jdn2wm4 wrote on March 25, 2023 at 5:01 PM

I agree. Even $75 DAC from FiiO or iBasso is good enough and you don't need anything more.

I was answering the, "What does it offer?" In general, higher quality DACs offer extremely low distortion even at low digital volume levels while cheaper DACs measure very well at 0dBFS, but degrade at -30 or -40 dBFS.