Heartland

robertzombie wrote:

Pista wrote:Never really saw the point of an external DAC.
My take is that if I am shelling out for a decent digital player, then a DAC is just another piece of stuff in the signal path connected by even more cable.

Well, the signal path is irrelevant since the data is transferred digitally.

Only half of it, pre-conversion, & then still via a cable

robertzombie wrote:There are a number of uses for an external DAC, computer audio being the primary one. Or, you might have an ancient CD player that still works but incorporates outdated DAC technology and you want to upgrade just that element. It's amazing what even £100 DACs can do over the DACs used in CDPs from the '90s. An external DAC also allows you to connect multiple digital sources and route them all through one box before the amplifier. For example, I've got my laptop, Raspberry Pi, TV, and blu-ray player all going through the same DAC Means they take up one input on my amplifier, giving me room for more sources at the amp!

I can see that would be a nice thing, but it does seem to be just an expensive multiway plug.
If a computer card is bit perfect, then isn't an external DAC a bit redundant?

Pista wrote:

robertzombie wrote:

Pista wrote:Never really saw the point of an external DAC.
My take is that if I am shelling out for a decent digital player, then a DAC is just another piece of stuff in the signal path connected by even more cable.

Well, the signal path is irrelevant since the data is transferred digitally.

Only half of it, pre-conversion, & then still via a cable

It's not "in the signal path" in a way that will degrade the signal.

I can see that would be a nice thing, but it does seem to be just an expensive multiway plug.
If a computer card is bit perfect, then isn't an external DAC a bit redundant?

The problems with in-built computer sound cards is they're often susceptible to noise from the computer, may not be able to play high resolution files in a bit-perfect manner, have to share the same resources as all the other components in the computer, and often have very cheap analogue stages. The DAC chips in modern computers are generally bit-perfect, but by locating the DAC chip in an external box the end user has greater control over things like chasis build quality, power supply, DSD capability, which DAC chip, and the analogue stage. The end user also of course has the ability to dictate the sound of their DAC unit by auditioning multiple DACs, and then using various filters that the DAC might have available.

The DAC has essentially replaced the CD player when it comes to the digital front end. The main advantage in this respect being that your money goes further in a DAC than it does in a CD player.