Will I notice a quality improvement (with my equipment) if I get DAC

[sl4y3r]

Hi all,

Given my equipment (see signature) and if I were to get a DAC (<10-15k). I don't consider myself to have anywhere close to golden ears. So, unless there is good to be night and day difference I would not want to invest in a DAC.

My current source is HDMI from my PC GFX card. It allows bitstreaming.

TIA.

Br,
Lee

 

[rikhav]

It really depends on what chnages are you expecting in the sound.
If it's just an itch for an upgrade and you don't find anything lacking in sound, just avoid it for now

 

[DB1989]

Hi all,

Given my equipment (see signature) and if I were to get a DAC (<10-15k). I don't consider myself to have anywhere close to golden ears. So, unless there is good to be night and day difference I would not want to invest in a DAC.

My current source is HDMI from my PC GFX card. It allows bitstreaming.

TIA.

Br,
Lee

Quite simply, No.

I use an Ifi Zen DAC (12K) and a Chord Mojo (40K) and in both cases, though theres a silght improvment in the case of the Ifi Zen DAC and marked improvement in the case of the Chord Mojo, the difference is nowhere near night and day.

Considering your current gear, its not worth the splurge.

If you have an itch and foresee yourself getting an amp with, and this is crucial - balanced inputs, you can try the Ifi Zen DAC. The upgradeability is immense considering the fact that you can use a pentaconn 4.4mm to XLR connector which improves the performance considerably (my amp has balanced inputs). Combined with the GTO filter - a firmware ugrade that costs absolutely nothing, it comes dangerously close to my Mojo and you'd have to have a forensic ear to make out the difference. Convenience is also immense considering its simply powered through USB 3.0 and can double up as a headphone amp. And the build quality is fantastic and I daresay its better than my Mojo. Next upgrade for the Ifi Zen DAC is a linear power supply, not that it needs one but apparently it improves performance further and it'll be interesting to see if it betters the Mojo. Then again, the upgrades are not for an insubstantial amount of money - INR 8K for the 4.4mm pentaconn to XLR cable (goodluck finding a non-ifi branded one which could be cheaper) and another 8K for the linear power supply (yet to test if this improves performace. But coming in at half the cost of the Mojo even aftre adding the XLR cable only = 20K, its terrific value for money.

 

[hemya]

Frankly...not much. But if the itch is there to try it out just get the best you can afford at 15k and try it out. Can always put it up for sale later on the forum or on The Indian Audiophile forum on FB. Though for DAC's, Headphones and DAP's under 15k I have always got the best price on OLX.

Good luck!

 

[arj]

You always notice a quality difference with a better source ( DAC+Transport) there is no doubt of that irrespective of downstream as long as you have a fairly decent set of speakers/amps. But the effect will be felt only if you have a good Source content ie the music content itself

But if you are happy with the sound of what you are hearing and do not really feel there is a need to improve, your money us better off in your pocket.

 

[sl4y3r]

I thank you all for your replies. It was indeed an Itch, I hear and see FM spending crazy amounts on DACs (I know they have amazing speakers to tell the difference) and was wondering how much improved quality I'd hear if I were to get one.

Thanks again all, stay safe