DAC why and where do I need one?

afterburnt

tonyb wrote: »

If your running the music into a receiver by hdmi, leave it alone until you can get a decent dac in the mix, then I'd go digital coax into the dac.

Something else that I have no understanding of

BlueFox

When you play a digital file either off a CD, ripped from a CD, or downloaded, it needs to go through a Digital Analog Converter, DAC. Every CD player has a built-in DAC. A component, such as an AVR, with a digital input has a DAC. The benefit of using a separate DAC is you can upgrade it to a better performing DAC.

afterburnt

Does an "ESS Technology ES9006 SABRE™ Premier Audio DAC" stink? That is what my Yamha has.

Nightfall

Mo' betta' DAC, mo' betta' sound.

Sounds like something Tony would reply with.

BlueFox

afterburnt wrote: »

Does an "ESS Technology ES9006 SABRE™ Premier Audio DAC" stink? That is what my Yamha has.

Who knows. You can buy standalone DACs up to a $100k, but you can get a decent DAC for less.

BlueFox

If you are interested in getting started with DACs then I can sell you a Bryston BDP-1 for a $1000, a Shunyata Python AES digital cable for $400, and a Shunyata Zitron Cobra power cable for $500, plus shipping.

tonyb

afterburnt wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

If your running the music into a receiver by hdmi, leave it alone until you can get a decent dac in the mix, then I'd go digital coax into the dac.

Something else that I have no understanding of

Well, first you have to think about what a receiver is. It's a processor, pre amp, amp, dac, tuner, all rolled into one neat little box. You think compromises might have been made to get everything into that one box ?

What your doing really is separating out the jobs you want the receiver to do. We add a separate amp to give speakers more and better quality power. We add a separate 2 channel pre amp for better music. We add dacs for a better sound too and before you know it, you either have 2 separate systems or one heck of a HT/ 2 CHANNEL RIG.

Dacs vary in costs, sound, options.....depends on what you want it to do and play.

tonyb

afterburnt wrote: »

Does an "ESS Technology ES9006 SABRE™ Premier Audio DAC" stink? That is what my Yamha has.

That's referring to a type of dac chip, which there are many and that is one of the better ones....but, there is more to a dac than just a chip. There are certain buzz words in audio used to sell gear.

afterburnt

BlueFox wrote: »

If you are interested in getting started with DACs then I can sell you a Bryston BDP-1 for a $1000, a Shunyata Python AES digital cable for $400, and a Shunyata Zitron Cobra power cable for $500, plus shipping.

No thanks if you are not going to hand carry it to my Estate!

BlueFox

I can do that if you are within a few hundred miles. I will even plug it in.

afterburnt

So if I am using a Blue Ray player with HDMI out it would be using its internal DAC and not the one in the AVR? Therefore I would need a transport with analog output to take advantage of the AVR DAC?

afterburnt

Thanks nb, I am learning.
I have to stop trying to think.

EndersShadow

DAC is a digital to analog converter. Basically whatever is the LAST piece of gear before your signal becomes analog (rca cables or speaker cables) is what DAC your using.

afterburnt

I had it pretty much backwards.

steveinaz

Another often "missed" advantage of an external DAC is this:
If multi-input DAC, you can connect a number of sources with lesser DACs and kill a number of birds with 1 stone. This is the approach I use, because I have champagne taste, and beer money. My satellite box, BRay player, CD player are all ran digitally to my DAC to not only capitalize on its capabilities, but also take advantage of its far superior analog output section.

IOW, a fine external DAC can be your "hub" for lesser regarded digital equipment.

tonyb

Good points Steve.

I find the main gig for a good dac is in the musical side of things. For HT, I find if your receiver is decent enough, so is the dac inside for movies.

steveinaz

In a strange paradox, sometimes "lesser" equipment can sound more pleasing*, because its limitations have a "smoothing" affect on the overall tone. Having higher end equipment is like putting the music under a microscope (think standard def TV displayed on a HDTV), so the better your equipment gets---the better your sources have to be.

* note, I said "pleasing" NOT accurate, articulate, or detailed.

tonyb

steveinaz wrote: »

In a strange paradox, sometimes "lesser" equipment can sound more pleasing*, because its limitations have a "smoothing" affect on the overall tone. Having higher end equipment is like putting the music under a microscope (think standard def TV displayed on a HDTV), so the better your equipment gets---the better your sources have to be.

* note, I said "pleasing" NOT accurate, articulate, or detailed.

Absolutely....in my own experiences, too much high end sound has you paying attention to too much of the smaller nuances and you lose some musicality in the process.

There's a balance somewhere in there and that varies for each individual.

afterburnt

I was wondering what effect the Yami 2040 with ESS Technology ES9006 SABRE™ Premier Audio DAC x 2 would have. Are 2 DAC,s better than one?

tonyb

Are 2 b o o b s better than one ?

afterburnt

Yeah and three b o o b s are better still.

Any idea how a 2 DAC setup works?

EndersShadow

afterburnt wrote: »

Yeah and three b o o b s are better still.

Any idea how a 2 DAC setup works?

With two dac's its likely they use one per channel. As with all things it depends entirely upon implementation. Same chip configured differently can sound awesome and like crap. Just knowing the chip is half the battle, but not all of it.

tonyb

EndersShadow wrote: »

afterburnt wrote: »

Yeah and three b o o b s are better still.

Any idea how a 2 DAC setup works?

With two dac's its likely they use one per channel. As with all things it depends entirely upon implementation. Same chip configured differently can sound awesome and like crap. Just knowing the chip is half the battle, but not all of it.

Implementation is key, agreed. Dual dacs or one dac chip per channel doesn't necessarily grant you better sound, it does sell gear though. As we said before, the dac chip, or amount of dac chips is only part of the equation of if a piece will sound good.

falconcry72

My current DAC uses (8) DAC chips, (4) per channel. They are PCM-1704uk's in an R2R implementation being fed i2s. Talk about low noise, high dynamics, and infinitely resolving. Scary good.

afterburnt

PCM-1704uk's in an R2R implementation being fed i2s are sweet. I got to get me some. %^)