Should I buy a DAC if I only use Spotify?

Camera: Olaf von Voss | Editor: John Darko | Motion GFX: John Darko | Ad segment: Jana Dagdagan

What is that thing on top of your DAC? It's a doorstop!

Schiit Modi 3 (US$99):

Topping D10s (€99):

AudioQuest DragonFly Red (US$199):

Mola Mola Tambaqui (€10,000):

Squeezebox Classic/SB3 and Duet:

LG V40:

Apple MacBook Pro 16":

GIK Acoustic panels:

A beginner's guide to DACs:

DAC 101s:

#spotify #dac #streaming
__________________________________________________________________
Darko.Audio FAQ:

What the bloody hell am I talking about?

__________________________________________________________________
DID YOU KNOW WE HAVE A PODCAST?

__________________________________________________________________
Darko.Audio is a web magazine covering new and exciting developments in the audio world and we aren’t afraid of indie rock or techno.

[mafketeltje]

Funny, with CD we had actually very good quality...but made step back in time because the memory on devices was lacking and very expensive. So compression became new standard and finally....we're getting back to FLAC, WAV, CD and masters

[nothankyoutube]

You can't hear what's being thrown away 99.99% of the time but you can convince yourself 100% of the time you're missing out if you want.

[galladebutcooler]

Spotify has the option to reproduce uncompressed audio (I believe it streams like a WAV of the original song) so it may be worth upgrading. But first you gotta ask yourself these questions:
- Do I have good headphones/speakers?
- Do I listen to Hi-Fi music?
- Can I hear the difference between a 320kbps mp3 and an uncompressed source?
- Do my ears really deserve the upgreade? Are they telling me "this experience is poor quality, I want more" or is it just you wanting to buy more gear?
Everyone likes a new piece of gear, but it’s a disease.
I have 10 guitars, trust me.

[Sanutep]

Thank you for being open and non judgemental like many audiophiles out there. Really helps me who is just starting out and only looking for a budget set up.

[pieroreynolds]

Seems common to bash Spotify music quality. Personally I find it surprisingly good and you have to listen very hard on high quality equipment to hear flaws.

[theob]

Bear in mind now that lossless audio will be coming to Spotify later this year which definitely makes a DAC worth it

[DarrenB]

Huge fan of your channel. With all the buzz on hi-res audio, it's great to hear an audiophile strip down the tech jargon for the man in the street. I've been an avid audiophile enthusiast for most of my life and we are living in exciting times with music being accessible anywhere, anytime and anyplace. There is an amalgamation of 2 domains, that being the internet and audio which was never heard of when I started buying serious audio tech and with mobile tech here to stay, it can only get better...glad to hear you mention ogg-vorbis as I tried explaining that to non-audio/tech/streaming people and they think I'm speaking a foreign language!

[GyulaWeeber]

Great video, agree with everything you mentioned.

3 years ago I bought my speakers and I follow the exact same direction you mentioned! Choose my speakers (though oversized to get the best I can afford - USHER Diamond mini 2) and I went with the amp the producer of the speaker recommended (USHER A8500) and got a Bluesound Node as a source. I was really lucky that reliable people helped me on the way, as even now I don't feel to change anything in my system. I listen to Spotify most of the time because after everything was set up, I really liked the sound and didn't feel Tidal worth the extra cost.

[ForTheViolence]

I’m going to tell y’all right now. Listen to music on whatever you have access on. A lot of songs, especially underground songs and mixes can only be found on YouTube.

[SaberToothPortilla]

Honestly Spotify isn't quite as bad as people make it out to be. 320kbs ogg vorbis is pretty solid. Solid enough that you'd probably only notice the difference between that and lossless with a decent DAC and a relatively good amp. Or at least the difference wouldn't be obvious.

That said, I don't think that's an excuse for them still not offering any kind of lossless option. I wouldn't blame them for not going the full master quality route like Tidal, there are very few people who would benefit from that, but they *at least* need to have a CD quality option.

If Apple Music is already doing it, Spotify needed to be doing it several years ago. Supposedly they're going to, but they'd pushed it back multiple times.

[codname]

2:26 that is a bit misssleading the bitrate on lossless files does not work like lossy files, for example a 320 kb/s MP3 is clearly better sounding/higher quality than a 192 kb/s one, but with FLAC a 800 kb/s song doesnt sound worse than a 1000 kb/s one because bitrate in lossless codecs doesn't determine sound quality, it determines the complexity and average sound levels. A loud song has a higher bitrate than a quiet one.

[hugonunezb.]

After watching some other videos about sound quality, I do believe you nailed it with a simple yet direct explanation about the impact of a proper equipment and sound quality.

[Tomekkkk]

Your channel - no fuss, no elitism, sensible audio advices. Good find!

[michaelchaney]

You did good. I remember when I started 13 years ago and it’s been nice growing with you on tech.

[PianoTopia]

i love your content alot, i went and learned all in the hard way but you have made it very simple and easy to understand, happy to be here and see more people care about there audio

[Barryer]

I stream Spotify from my Mac Mini into a Schiit Modi 3+ (via USB), then into my integrated amplifier, then out some bookshelf speakers and I noticed the difference in quality immediately. Really pleased with the result.

[eluv]

Great video with a lot of great information. You just answered every question I had.

[neilcreamer]

I've had a Schiit DAC for a couple of years and was completely unaware that I could get better source audio on Amazon compared to Spotify. So thanks. That's fixed now.

[BobGeogeo]

Big agree on the later point: how the recording is mastered is often the key point. I have YouTube premium that's 256kbps. The good DAC of the iFi Zen Blue V2 (on LDAC) handles the lossy stream well enough to show better remasters of the same material as preferable to some older CDs.

[LoveNoogin]

What about audio from TVs and consoles? I use the Spotify app on my TV a lot, connected to a good stereo amp and speakers, but feel like I get better sound quality using my phone via a Dragonfly. Has anyone got experience with for example the Schiit Modi via the TVs optical out? Do you get sync issues with video?