A Beginner’s Guide To DACs

A Beginner’s Guide To DACs

“My friend told me I need DAC.”

Those words were spoken by a gentleman who walked into the showroom about two months ago. They’re words spoken by many, actually — folks who own an amp and speakers often discover this whole “DAC” thing, and wonder what the fuss is about.

So ensued an important conversation I’ve had (and refined) over a hundred times…

And today I want to share it with you, so you can make sense of DACs and whether they’re worth your time. Let’s start at the top…

"What is a DAC? (And do I need one?)"

A DAC’s job is to convert a digital source into an analog signal. Most products actually have DACs built into them these days. If an amplifier has an optical input, it has a DAC. If a TV has speakers in it, it has a DAC. AV receiver? DAC. Bluetooth speaker? DAC. Laptop? DAC.

Chances are, when this topic comes up, what you’re really looking for is an external DAC. Or more accurately, a BETTER one… because not every DAC is of the same quality. (For instance, the internal ones that come with phones and computers are always sub-par, because other features get priority.)

The rise of the standalone DAC category came about because some DACs sound amazing… and some sound like a dumpster fire.

The former can take a great system and make it sound even better. The latter can take a great system and, well, choke the life out of it — hiding its true performance behind a bottleneck. Like an otherwise divine espresso shot, burned by a hurried barista: it doesn’t matter how good the coffee beans, and the grind, and the ratio are.

Scratch marks vs. hash marks (analog & digital explained)

Sound comes from vibration, which creates continuous waves of air and, ultimately, vibrates your ear drums. The form or “shape” of that vibration looks exactly the same every step of the way. So when Thomas Edison first recorded sound in 1877, the scratch marks on his tin foil looked exactly the same as the original vibration, too.

That’s how vinyl records work. Audible vibrations are “locked in place” by scratching their shape into a plastic disc. Cassette tapes are similar.

Then over the horizon came digital media, with all its “ones and zeroes.” Instead of trying to capture the amorphous natural phenomenon of sound on some piece of material — which limits the resolution and subjects it to wear and tear — digital technology plots the shape of a vibration using perfectly-defined “hash marks.”

Those markings (or bits) are pulses of electricity. Each one is either there or it isn’t. So as long as there are more bits per second than our ears can detect, the recording is theoretically perfect.

Theoretically. To create a digital recording, a physical vibration has to be captured and converted into bits… and to listen to it, those bits must be strung together to carefully reassemble the original analog signal.

Enter the DAC. It does the stringing together part for us, attempting to recreate something natural and flowing by translating a set of rigid, hard-nosed instructions. It can be better or worse at that task, which begs the question…

“Should I buy a better DAC?”

If you have a high-quality system, you need a DAC to match its performance. Otherwise you’re putting a wrinkled shirt on under a brand new blazer… you’re pouring unleaded 91 into a sports car… you’re smothering wagyu steak in Black & Gold tomato sauce… you get the picture. You want to get the most out of your audio investment.

If you have a budget-friendly setup, you’ll get much better sound quality if you upgrade from a phone or computer DAC to an external one — even in the lowest price range.

Looking at DACs that make sense budget-wise compared to the rest of your system is a decent place to start. Generally it ought to cost less than your amp and speakers.

Well, the most talked about part of a DAC is the chip: the “brain” of the unit. But other factors do matter — like the power supply, the isolation and layout of components, and so on.

For instance, people often compare products based on the “DAC architecture” that does the converting work. The most common is the cost-effective “ladder” architecture, where the digital signal triggers a series of switches, each connecting a different resistor path.

But innovators like dCS have improved upon this design… in their specific case, introducing the Ring DAC architecture: a proprietary alternative to the ladder. This design eliminates errors caused by the fact that resistors — which are manufactured components — never have exactly the resistance they’re rated for. This natural error leads to audible errors in a DAC’s performance, and the dCS team has cleverly resolved this issue.

An innovative architecture like the dCS Ring is a great reason to be curious and want to hear how it sounds… but it’s not a reason to attribute value to the product.

Why? Trouble is, chips and parts and specifications don’t really tell you squat about how a DAC will sound anymore than price does. If you’re a curious enthusiast, by all means, learn about the technology (and let us know if you want a more comprehensive article about it). But the specs that matter? Inputs and outputs. Make sure it has what you need, it looks good, it fits where you want it to go, and then…

Let your ears decide if a DAC is good

Being further “up” the audio chain (before the amplifier and speakers) means, generally, that a DAC colours the sound to a lesser degree.

That’s why I recommend that clients select a pair of speakers first, because they have a very defined “sound signature.” And then select an amp that does those speakers justice, because an amp will colour the sound as well, but less so.

Well, a DAC (should) colour the sound even less so. Ultimately, you want a DAC to do its one job well: string together those hash marks accurately… don’t miss any of them… don’t add any artifacts that aren’t supposed to be there… and make it all flow like that original, natural vibration did.

Now, to demo a DAC you’ll want to do some split testing. Same speakers, same amp, same song, same source… played through one DAC, then another. Whichever models you’re interested in. What you’ll likely find is (1) you’ll be blown away at how much clearer and more natural the music is with a high-quality DAC, and (2) one of them will (usually) jump out at you as the better choice.

If you’d like to experience this for yourself (and you’re in the Sydney area), we’d love to host you in our Leichhardt showroom. We have a range of DACs you can try for yourself — including Chord’s Qutest and Hugo 2, Waversa’s WDAC3C, and more premium models like Gryphon’s Kalliope and dCS’ Vivaldi.

Hopefully this has been an eye opening read. Now it’s time to get out there and hear what the fuss is really about!

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