Do DACs sound different?

You can buy a DAC for as little as $10, or pay up to $10,000 or more. But what if I said that they all sound the same? You'd need me to give you some good reasons. And here they are in this video.

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[pedrofernandez]

In my 70+ yrs of listening to music, it still comes down to source and how well, or poorly it was recorded. The most expnsive gear in the world is not gonna make a bad recording sound good.

[KCarlWhite]

An observation I've made in my audiophile journey is that it is very easy to notice that something sounds different, but it is extremely hard to tell if something sounds better.

[LoniGuitarChannelHr]

They can ... sound different, but why everyone who like to prove "no difference" ignore transparence level of user(s) amp/speakers....as factor. Anyway, I will quote engineer from RME (who makes them): "Todays difference in DAC sound come manly from their analogue output stages"

[billmilosz]

I've done some double-blind listening tests using some cheap DACs, a DAC that measures terribly, a $200 DAC that measures wonderfully, and a $10, 000 DAC that measures well but not state of the art. The listeners included "golden ear" audiophiles, professional musicians, and "ordinary listeners." None of the listeners could hear the difference better than chance. My experience is that people who say they can hear the differences are consistently unable to demonstrate this ability in blind tests. One may argue against blind test protocols, but then you are arguing with the scientific method and that's not going to go anywhere.

[nicmcv]

I really appreciate your buttery smooth video. I don't have a DAC and really want one. I'm gonna go for the one that looks nice to me.

[thexfile.]

What most people need is a graphic equalizer to tailor the sound.

[stevesutcliffe]

I still use and ignore my Meridian 203 from the 90’s. It sounded good then and it still does, even though it’s limited to 16 bit, 48 kHz. Now it’s fed from phones and an AirPort Express, streaming or files held on a server, as well as the marantz cd player I also bought in the 90’s. The point of this is it still provides musical enjoyment and emotional responses to the music.

[nitromcclean]

I don't bother about the difference in sound of DAC's. I just enjoy listening to the music. I can hear a big difference between two different sound recordings, which is much bigger than the difference between any two DAC's. No spectaculair good sounding DAC can compensate for that.

[haraldklingsporn]

I am 54 and a mixing and mastering guy, which can hear easily up to 18K :-)

And first... plenty of so-called audiophiles are fooled by the music production biz... from digital files for Vinyls up to the loudness war, where audiophiles hear 12 bit or less, in a 24 bit frame...

DAC... in productions scenario called ADDA's or AD and DA converters...

Yes... the digital chips are all, near the same... AKM is big, for example, in the music production scene...

But the analog side is different and sounds different. BURL, Crane Song, RME, Lavry have all their personal sonic fingerprint...

Tags are Stereofield ( more or less ). Harsh highs or not... linear Bass or not ( not, sounds better for me ). Depth... more or less...

So i think that "Hifi DACs" has the same behavior...

Some narrow the stereofield, some widened it. Some have a stiff bass... some make more boom a.s.o.

And btw. you can buy a Lavry for 11K or a RME for 1500 bucks... Both are sounding meh... for me...

Instead a Burl Bomber ( with Transformers ) or a Crane Song Hedd / Quantum ( with digital tape simulation ) sound good for me....

At the end it is like Alan Parson said...

Hifi guys hear their gear, not the music...

So i don't care if a Hifi guy throw 20K into the trash can...Where i know, this guy have no clue what's inside the music...

Thats why i can not talk to Hifi guys normally. Cause i know what's inside of a track...

[radman]

For digital sources nothing before the speakers makes a big enough difference to be noticeable. 1s and 0s stay as 1s and 0s until the DAC, but DACs are all more than good enough to recreate the analogue waveform that was originally fed into an analogue to digital converter. Amplifiers fall into two camps, those that accurately amplify the input and those that add "colour" to the sound. At this stage you are down to personal preference.

[bootstrapjesse]

Flexing my fingers to agree with you! Love your videos!

[herminio]

Thanks for clearing this up for me, I suspected that so called audiophiles claims that DACs sound different were false and all they do is convert digital signal analog and the biggest influence to music is the headphone or speakers.

[ctbcubed]

I've noticed that some DACs are quirkier than others in terms of noise floor and isolation of digital noises. My simple test is how quiet is the system when the music is paused and the volume control is turned up. If I hear a lot of white noise and/or beeps and boinks, then that DAC isn't a keeper. For instance, the DAC built into my CD player presents a lot of white noise under my test condition. If the DAC is well behaved under my test condition, then I'll use it. My room acoustics and quality of the source material will always be the limiting factor on how good the system sounds. In the end it's just a tool I use to listen to and enjoy the music.

[northa]

As to what Nigel said, I agree but I don't get molasses, in Canada it's more like maple syrup. Thick smooth and velvety.

[michaelpeterjohnson]

While I wouldn't argue with the general thesis of this video, I'd like to point out that the Chord Mojo DAC, given in the video as an example of a product that has a standard DAC chip, actually has an FPGA with a bespoke DAC implementation.

[ProjectOverseer]

DAC’s are important, but as you stated, there’s other stuff making major contributions to the sound - like the analog output stage and the components chosen.
It’s becoming a bit of a black art.
As with all things HiFi we hear different things.
I spent many years audio editing and mixing, so I’ve learnt to listen into music and sound that’s actually corrupted my enjoyment because the art has no mystery anymore.
Music and absolute sound quality rarely ever go together, but when they do, even cloth eared people can hear the benefit.
Though things are changing fast, I still believe that an analog output is actually more important than the DAC i.e. DAC’s are more than good enough and the differences heard (better or worse) will be down to the analog output stage and the kit It’s all linked to.

[spectrelayer]

"Because I've just decided that it's a 'spectrum'...". EXACTLY. Find out which in the next publication of the DSM! As always, love your commentaries.

[philippemontgrain]

I bought a few dacs to test and and i found that there is a difference depending on their designs and of course price, and the rest of your setup.I have the Cambridge audio CXN version 1 and the dac performance fits perfectly with my Rega Elex-r. I have also the Chord mojo v1 which i think sounds is great with my setup.

[mike_lowndes]

I'm not going to sleep tonight after that last section 😳

[PaulHaussler-bsqi]

This one deserves a comment. I always appreciate your perspective and sense of humor. How many DAC's do I own? I'm not really sure. What are they? Well my modest, but capable integrated amp has a Texas Instruments PCM5101A. I'm not sure it makes any sound. It does take optical digital audio from the TV and the speakers make sound (Dad's 1954-55 JBL's). My budget Sony CD/DVD player certainly has a DAC. If I switch between the CD (analogue connection) and Digital (coax) I cannot hear any significant difference. The Sony is older than the integrated amp and comes with instructions to use the digital connection if one is available. That's what I use. I also have a Gefen Dolby Digital DAC that moved upstairs for a new TV with only digital optical output (oh, it has HDMI, but the receiver is all analogue). The Gefen handles optical or coaxial digital, but does not make any sound of its own, at least not that I'm aware of. It used to be downstairs to feed sound to some Adcom separates then powering the JBL's. Maybe the JBL's are a fault, but I double it. The bullet ring radiators are very revealing. Good recordings sound great. Poor recordings sound awful. They were state of the art in 1955! That DAC's work at all is wonderful, at least from this listener's perspective. What Does Audio Phil think?

Paul H. In Huntington Beach, CA, USA