Curious about y’all’s opinions as to how (for the same price) something like a FiiO K7 or DX3 etc would compare (just straightforward in terms of overall sounds quality for headphones) to like a Schiit Magni/Modi stack, JDS Atom stack, (similar interchangeable units [Topping D10S + Magni, ZEN Air DAC + Atom etc])
For the (roughly) same price, is an AIO DAC/Amp the same performance as 2 dedicated components
As long as the shielding is proper you shouldn’t lose any quality if specs/parts are the same, newer AIO solutions are getting pretty good, usually just less power/features depending on what features they focus on and the space they have to work with.
Stacks have the advantage of you being able to change the chain synergy more to your preferences.
I would use an all-in-one only if I had space constraints or the AIO had a really cool feature I wanted, such as the fantastic, huge volume knob and auto-gain setting on the JDS Labs Element III.
Otherwise, as @CTOXmas said, using a stack gives you the option to swap out either a DAC or amp independently. Plus, if something fails in your AIO DAC/amp, the whole thing probably is f*cked. If a DAC or amp fails in a stack, it can be replaced independently.
Yeah for sure see the value in being able to upgrade down the road, swap components. Just curious from the most basic sense. I like the K7 for being able to use with my PC and Phono preamp simultaneously… Opposed to the headphone amps I’d lean towards (L30 II, Atom, Magni) which only have 1 input so I’d have to unplug and plug back and forth (minor annoyance at the end of the day)
But if the performance of the standalone amps would be “better” (more power on paper) for the money is where the hesitation kicks in
If you don’t have any space constraints you can get a splitter/selector box usually they have 3-4 RCA in/out otherwise just a basic splitter cable would do the trick
Follow up: would a stronger amp (L30 II) + built in PC DAC be “better” than a K5 which is not as powerful but adds an AKM DAC?
Headphones are Avantone Planar or HFM 400i 2020 (both are easy to drive)
If I didn’t have greater power requirements, I’d much rather have the DAC vs onboard in this scenario.
K5 should be plenty of power and if you needed more power later you could use the K5 as a DAC to feed whatever amp you want
It seems that a lot of stand alone AIO solutions tend to excel at one job, but be merely adequate at the rest. Some AIO’s have a really nice DAC, but benefit immediately from an amp upgrade. Others have a real nice amp, but the integrated DAC is an afterthought by comparison.