What clues would you listen for if you wanted to know…
if your entry-level DAC is greatly limiting the potential of your amp → headphone setup?
Very interested in thoughtful answers.
you would never know without ever hearing better.
a cheap amp is a bigger concern than a cheap DAC. but really, your DAC / Amp should be around the same value as the headphones you’re listen too, but that’s more of a recommendation when you’re listening to $500+ cans, etc.
that said, even if your DAC / Amp are a lot more than your headphones, most will scale well in performance on quality gear.
Ok… and when you go back to your old DAC, what’s missing?
entry dacs do not do instrument separation that well. going up the tiers, instruments and notes get their own defined spaces more and more. the level of detail also improves. a fuzzy note becomes a defined note with natural reverb.
edit: the chain is for sure a sum of all its parts. and ignorance is truly bliss. don’t go chasing waterfalls. if your happy with what ya got, don’t go looking for more. there will always be more.
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Which is why I posed my original question the way I posed it… Can someone’s current chain reveal shortcomings in DA conversion? Horse before wagon.
So what you’re saying is that the soundstage will seem cluttered with a low level DAC in need of an upgrade.
The funny thing is that I just got headphones much cheaper than my $500 cans, and it is the new pair that has me questioning the quality of my conversion.
I don’t buy into prescribed spending ratios. I’d rather buy to solve problems. If I went the ratio route, my new $300 headphones wouldn’t warrant an upgrade to my chain, but here we are.
There are lots of hp that scale well. If you have heard live music, thats another way to tell your chain needs an upgrade. Multiple pairs of headphones, as you noticed, can also tip one off. If cheap and expensive sound much the same, source is probably a bottleneck.
That’s how I figured out that my chain sounds a little unnatural by comparing to what I’ve heard in concerts and friends dinking around with guitars and drums, just jamming out. Swapping between my EL2 DAC and OG D90 (identical DS Chips) with my Atriums and burson 3xp and I can definitely tell a difference in the timber. Spoilers D90 was more processed/digital sounding.
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