A community for discussion around all topics related to headphones and personal audio.
Yes and no... solid state have much less impact on sound and should be pretty neutral for the most part unless the manufacturer intentionally made adjustments to tune them in a specific way..
Tube amps, on the other hand, can be extremely clean and neutral or can add color and warmth. This all comes down to what the user wants, the setup, and tubes used.
The sound quality wouldn't change. The frequency response could change slightly depending on the amp or DAC, but evergreen that would be minor and insignificant. If the sound is slight different with a new amp or DAC, it will be basically unnoticeable if you only use the new one. Only upgrade an amp if you need more power, and even a decent budget amp should be enough for almost every headphone excluding a few specific pairs.
Nothing should change the sound. DACs job is to covert to Analog. The amps only job is to amplify. Both need to be low THD components. The amp should have more than enough power to drive the speakers to their max without being over-driven itself to the point it produces distortion that can be heard. So if the HDs require 500mw RMS and the amp puts out 1000mw with 1% THD. The HDs would only need half of the amps power with less than 1% THD. Should be nice clean power. Also the resistance load on the amp needs to be that rating. If you have 300 ohm headphones. The resistance would be to high for the amp to make half the power needed to drive the speakers to max. The amp would likely be driven past 1% THD. Start adding distortion and doesn't have enough juice to support bass.
This is basically how any size amp and speakers work. Headphones aren't special.
There seems to be more more to it than that. Dacs can have different implementations. For example, the same two dac chips can be set up to use different rolloffs, levels of the 2nd and 3rd harmonics, and dithering amounts, and some level of distortion can be allowed intentionally to further distinguish the sound. Some dacs give you access to these settings yourself.
They can be whatever they need. So long as the hardware that supports the DAC chip. Isn't a complete pile of junk.
Also have to remember that electronic parts are sold based on their production quality. A perfect DAC chip isn't going in a $50 POS Chinese made DAC. They get the ones from the trash cans. The good chips go to Emotiva and Meridian etc. The premium brands.
The good chips go to Emotiva and Meridian etc. The premium brands.
LOL. Emotiva isn't exactly known for low noise or stellar performance, mate.
I was trying to think of a higher end company. 1st one that popped in my head.
YES. A LOT. Hd6-- series are popular for the FACT that they scale very nicely with the chain. Just go back Tyll's website/video if you don't want to take my word for it.
Can you provide some more information as to how amps and DACs improve the audio? I’m new and need help understanding. I get that these devices are supposed to do all this really neat stuff but what I really need is a detailed explanation of how each device directly improves the audio, what specific components and interactions within the devices accomplish these things and what audible measurements these changes can be seen in.
I really just want to be an informed consumer and not have any idea how the really expensive stuff I buy works. That sounds awful. Can you imagine being like that? Just throwing money at products having no clue how they work and what they do. Glad I’m not one of those guys.
Anyway, if you could go ahead and help me understand how this stuff works in like metrics and science things, I’d appreciate it so much.
Just goto Tyll's reviews. I am not engaging in this topic on this sub again and again. So I let the legend in audio reviews speak himself.
I tink you forgot to add /s
if I were to change it, would it impact the sound quality much? Or is volume the only real difference?
The answer will change depending on how much the person answering has already spent on their gear.
Lel… I’ve spent 5 digits in total, and I say no, it doesn’t change the sound, except for some very specific pieces of equipment:
HDV-820 is an amp/DAC that can specifically change the amount of bass your headphone will have, but outside of those special cases, you won’t notice much difference.
Violectric is another brand where they are noticeably darker sounding than other brands, but these are the only brands of solid state equipment that come to mind.
The irony is that the sound of our empty wallets can only be heard through our lavish dacs/amps.
Actually you don't need to believe in any of us. Just do an ABX test on foobar2000. Convert a flac/wav file to Opus 192kbps and do the ABX test, if you pass, a DAC will change the sound to you.
It affects the sound if the DAC and/or amp are not good. But good can be had for less than $200.
No.
I’ve owned a lot of dacs / amps and many headphones from low end to extremely high end.. headphones are what changes the sound and or EQing said headphones.
DACs / Amps play 10%-15% factor unless you buy really bad ones
I have both of your gear. I am now using FiiO K7. It gives more power than the Olympus but no, it doesn't change the sound. It's just louder and if you have a bad soundcard, a better dac reduces the noise. At least from my own experience
That FiiO is a pretty decent amp, if it’s loud enough for you I would not expect any real difference with typical solid-state gear.
OP, don't listen to anyone. Just take your headphones to a shop and hear it for yourself. If you can't tell any difference then congrats you saved yourself a lot a money. Cheers!
DAC wont change shit.
Amp can bring the volume up if you feel theyre not getting enough power.
Tube amp can add distortion in ways you may like - the 6xx pairs really well with certain tube amps. But this is specifically desiging oddities in for the sake of a different sound - you can make neutral tube amps that would then just fall under the category of “changing the volume”.
Id suggest changing nothing, unless you like tinkering and have lots of spare cash, then buy yourself an amp kit from Bottlehead and have fun
Lol no. Anyone telling you differently is full of shit and trying to cope their way into justifying a dumb purchase.
Max %10 difference
The DAC/amp/HP chain will sound as good as the weakest link. So yes, duh.
If you listen through bluetooth or just from a phone or laptop, the DAC in there is extremely low quality. And it's surrounded by all the other electronic parts from the computer/phone so there's basically shitloads of emf interference going on too. An external DAC will make the difference. Spend well though.