In the event you’ve ever listened to an MP3, watched a film on Netflix, or jumped on a Zoom name, you’ve used a DAC. Digital-to-analog converters (or DACs for brief) are the unsung heroes of the digital audio age. They’re all over the place: in smartphones, TVs, soundbars, wireless earbuds and headphones, and with out them, these gadgets can be completely silent.
However what precisely is a DAC, how does it work, and why would you ever wish to purchase a devoted DAC, when it looks like they’re already in all of our favourite gadgets?
The dangerous information: it is a technical subject that may get ultra-nerdy at occasions. The excellent news: we’ll undergo it step-by-step, ensuring we clarify all the core ideas as we go. Prepared? Right here’s all the things you could learn about DACs.
What’s a DAC?
Because the title implies, digital-to-analog converters are devoted microchip-based translators that take the zeros and ones of digital audio and switch them into {the electrical} impulses that every one speakers or headphones want to present you audible sound.
Although they’re extremely refined, DACs are merely the most recent model of audio applied sciences which have been with us for greater than 100 years.
Vinyl records retailer sound waves as tiny grooves on the vinyl. When a turntable‘s needle (stylus) runs by means of these grooves, it vibrates, making a tiny electrical sign that may be heard as sound as soon as it passes by means of an amplifier and audio system.
When audio cassette tapes are performed, they transfer throughout the floor of a playback head that may learn the completely different magnetic expenses on the tape’s floor and as soon as once more convert them into speaker-friendly alerts that merely must be amplified.
Whereas it could be an oversimplification, a DAC will be regarded as the digital audio equal of a turntable’s stylus.
So a DAC is a microchip? Why would I purchase a chip?
Sure, the precise job of changing zeros and ones to analog alerts is carried out by a chip. And no, except you’re an audio product designer or engineer, you wouldn’t purchase a DAC chip by itself. Like an inner combustion engine with out the remainder of the automotive, it wouldn’t be very helpful.
After we discuss shopping for a DAC, we’re referring to devoted gear designed to present you higher audio high quality than you’d get with all of these merchandise that have already got their very own built-in DACs (the smartphones, TVs, wi-fi headphones, we referred to at the beginning).
These devoted gadgets are available a variety of shapes, sizes, and costs (we’ll talk about a lot of them in a second), however since they’re all constructed round a DAC chip as their core know-how, we frequently check with the entire gadget as a DAC.
Who wants a DAC?
Honestly, few folks want a DAC. For many of us, the DAC that’s already constructed into the gadgets we use each day will probably be greater than sufficient to allow us to hear good high quality audio.
You probably have a laptop computer, the inner DAC is ok for the audio popping out of the laptop computer’s audio system. And if it has a headphone jack, the inner DAC will allow you to hear along with your wired headphones — relying on the laptop computer and your audio supply it may well sound actually good. Similar factor goes for TVs, CD gamers related to stereos, or your favourite Bluetooth speaker.
That is additionally essential: even the perfect DAC received’t make a poor set of headphones or earbuds sound considerably higher. To understand the distinction a devoted DAC makes, you’ll want high-quality cans and/or audio system.
Thus, DACs are for folk who need one thing higher than fantastic, or who’ve particular format compatibility wants. We frequently refer to those folks as audiophiles, however that label carries with it visions of individuals pouring hundreds of {dollars} into vastly advanced audio setups. It’s extra correct to say that DACs are for individuals who need their audio expertise — at no matter degree of funding they’re keen to make — to be nearly as good as doable.
Listed below are only a few instance eventualities the place it might make sense to purchase a DAC:
- You will have entry to supply of hi-res digital audio, e.g. the Qobuz streaming service, however your laptop computer or telephone’s built-in DAC isn’t in a position to course of that audio at its native pattern fee, e.g. 192kHz. As an alternative, the audio is resampled to a decrease fee, which might have an antagonistic impact on sound high quality.
- You will have entry to digital audio in particular codecs like MQA or DSD, that may’t be natively decoded by an everyday DAC. We’ll talk about audio codecs extra in a second.
- You’ve not too long ago upgraded your amplifier/audio system/headphones, and you believe you studied the DAC constructed into your older receiver or different gear is now the weakest hyperlink in your audio high quality chain.
- You will have an iPhone and also you merely wish to hear lossless audio at its full high quality.
Scratching your head over that final one? Each iPhone for the reason that iPhone 7 has infamously lacked a headphone jack, leaving iPhone customers with two selections: purchase a set of wi-fi earbuds or headphones, or purchase a Lightning (or USB-C) to three.5mm adapter for wired listening.
Bluetooth earbuds and headphones, when used with an iPhone, at all times obtain “lossy” audio because of the iPhone’s restricted help for Bluetooth codecs. So the one option to hear unadulterated lossless audio is with wired headphones by way of an adapter. Inside each adapter — from the most cost effective $9 dongle to those who value a whole lot — is a DAC.
Wait, does that imply DACs are at all times wired?
Sure. In order for you your DAC to carry out at its finest, it wants at the least a wired output so you possibly can join it on to headphones or to your hi-fi gear, no matter that could be. As soon as a DAC has achieved its job, you’re working with an analog audio sign. In the event you attempt to ship that sign to a different gadget wirelessly, it should first be transformed again to digital, which defeats the entire level of shopping for a devoted DAC within the first place. When you’re analog, you wish to keep analog.
A DAC’s enter is extra versatile. Some DACs have their very own built-in music streaming functionality — just like the Wiim Ultra. On this case, the DAC can obtain its digital audio over Wi-Fi, and even Bluetooth.
However a extra typical DAC situation makes use of a wired enter in addition to a wired output. That enter may very well be an optical connection from a CD participant, an HDMI connection from a Blu-ray player or TV, or a USB connection from a telephone, laptop computer, desktop PC, or pill. What these wired inputs all have in widespread is that they’re digital. In the event you occur to come back throughout a DAC with analog inputs, which means the gadget additionally has an ADC (analog to digital converter), however we’ll depart that subject for a unique article.
What do I must learn about DACs and audio codecs?
Digital audio is available in a lot of flavors. MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC, ALAC … and lots of extra. It’s tempting to suppose that your DAC wants to know all of them, however the reality is definitely far less complicated.
Most DACs can solely course of one kind of format: LPCM.
LPCM stands for Linear Pulse-Code Modulation, and it’s the premise for nearly all digital audio. It’s the uncompressed format discovered on audio CDs. It doesn’t matter whether or not the music you’re attempting to play is a lossy MP3, a stream from Spotify, a CD you ripped to FLAC, or lossless ALAC from Apple Music — all of it will get transformed to LPCM earlier than it ever touches a DAC.
So whereas your DAC doesn’t want to know these different codecs, your chosen music app does want to know them in order that it may well convert them to LPCM. Good ol’ iTunes, for example, doesn’t perceive FLAC. In the event you tried to play a FLAC file in iTunes, it wouldn’t work. Not as a result of your DAC doesn’t perceive FLAC (no DACs perceive FLAC), however as a result of iTunes can’t convert FLAC to LPCM.
Nonetheless, there are two different digital audio codecs that should be processed instantly by a DAC if you wish to hear them of their fullest high quality: DSD and MQA.
DSD is the hi-res audio format utilized by Tremendous Audio CDs and lots of digital music followers take into account it to be the perfect format. You could find software program that can convert DSD to LPCM, however that’s a deal-breaker for DSD aficionados. To play these recordsdata natively a DAC must be DSD-compatible.
MQA is much like DSD in that it’s doable to play the MQA format utilizing software program alone. However MQA has a number of layers often known as folds, and solely the primary fold will be dealt with by software program and transformed into LPCM. If you wish to absolutely unfold an MQA stream, you want a DAC that may do it.
For a number of years, MQA-compatible DACs have been in demand as a result of Tidal used MQA as its unique format for its highest-quality streams. Nonetheless, Tidal has since switched over to FLAC for its entire lossless music catalog, and no different streaming service has added MQA help.
Lenbrook has stated it would launch a brand new streaming service with HDtracks that will offer MQA, however for now, there’s little motive to search for an MQA-compatible DAC.
Bits and samples
OK, so if you happen to don’t intend on enjoying DSD or MQA recordsdata, received’t any DAC do the trick?
As soon as once more, it comes right down to how critical you might be about getting the absolute best audio high quality.
LPCM has two principal traits: bit-depth and pattern fee. In the event you’ve ever seen an article check with CD high quality as “16-bit/44.1kHz” it’s as a result of that’s the bit-depth (16-bit) and the pattern fee (44.1kHz) that’s used for the LPCM audio on customary CDs.
If you wish to be taught extra about bit-depth and pattern fee, now we have a helpful guide to hi-res audio that ought to reply your questions. For our functions proper now, all you could know is that LPCM can exist at larger (and decrease) bit-depths and pattern charges, all the best way as much as 32-bit/768kHz.
That is the place garden-variety DACs normally fail a key requirement: They’ll’t match the bit-depths and pattern charges of some hi-res audio. On this case, you’ll both hear nothing (the stream merely received’t play) otherwise you’ll get analog audio that has been resampled. Resampling, if you happen to’re a purist, is to be averted.
Some built-in DACs can deal with as much as 24/48, others might go as excessive as 24/96. And whereas 24/96 is taken into account a superb degree of decision, there are many hi-res tracks and albums that exist as 24/192 — Apple Music, Tidal, Qobuz, and Amazon Music all preserve 24/192 collections. To play these tracks with none lack of constancy, you wish to search for a DAC that may course of them natively.
DSD is a bit of completely different. It’s at all times the identical bit-depth (1-bit), however its pattern fee can fluctuate from 64 occasions as quick as CD high quality (DSD64) as much as a whopping 1024 occasions as quick (DSD1024). DSD1024 may be very uncommon — typical DSD recordsdata are DSD64, DSD128, and DSD256. However the identical rule applies: to keep away from resampling your DSD tracks, your DAC ought to natively help the DSD pattern charges you wish to play.
Past codecs
Getting a DAC that helps your required codecs, bit depths, and pattern charges is essential, however it’s additionally simply the start line when it comes to precise audio high quality.
How DACs are designed and constructed can have a big effect on what you hear, which is why there’s such an enormous vary of DAC manufacturers, fashions, types, (and costs).
Noise, distortion, and jitter — these are simply a few of the undesirable unwanted effects of the digital-to-analog conversion course of that may be mitigated (to a larger or lesser extent) by the engineering selections made by a DAC’s designers. In case your DAC is primarily designed to drive in-ear screens (IEMs) or headphones, that introduces additional issues like amplification energy, impedance matching, and the provision of balanced outputs.
Any one in all these areas might fill whole articles. Whether or not you could care about them relies upon totally in your listening gear and your perception in your potential to listen to the distinction from one DAC to a different.
Selecting a DAC
Since DACs are available all shapes, sizes, and costs, selecting the correct DAC is all about combining your finances with the best way you hear (or wish to hear) to music.
Beginning small with a DAC/amp dongle
By far the simplest and most inexpensive option to get on the earth of DACs is by way of DAC/amp dongle. We name these little gadgets dongles as a result of they’re strictly designed for use as add-ons to computer systems or smartphones/tablets. You wouldn’t use one with a hi-fi system, for example, however they’re good for changing your telephone right into a hi-res powerhouse. They’re priced anyplace from $10 to $450, which ought to offer you an concept of the large vary of capabilities and high quality you possibly can count on.
We additionally check with them as DAC/amps as a result of they not solely convert digital audio to analog however additionally they amplify that output sign so you possibly can hear it by way of wired earbuds or headphones. Most have only a single 3.5mm headphone jack, however more and more, we’re seeing fashions that sport a second 4.4mm balanced output for IEMs/headphones that help this sort of cable.
There are two principal types of DAC/amps: these that include a number of enter cables and/or adapters, and people who simply have one form of enter (normally USB-C or Lightning, however often USB-A too). A number of enter DAC/amps are usually a bit costlier because of the versatile nature of their design, however the tradeoff is that they work with nearly each gadget and platform.
You’ll additionally discover that inside every fashion, there could also be a wide range of indicator LEDs. Some have a single LED that simply confirms energy and proper operation, some have a single LED that glows in several colours to indicate the assorted codecs and/or pattern charges it’s at present enjoying, and a few have a number of LEDs for extra detailed info.
Take note, these LEDs are there to present you a visible indication of what the DAC/amp is doing, however they aren’t required. You possibly can have a extremely succesful DAC/amp that solely has a single LED for energy, or maybe no LED in any respect. Internally, it’s nonetheless doing what it must do.
Additionally value remembering is that though you should buy a $9 Apple Lightning-to-3.5mm adapter (which is technically a DAC/amp), it’s a really restricted gadget. It’s most bit-depth/pattern fee is 24/48, and it doesn’t deal with MQA or DSD. The identical is true for lots of the USB-C-to-3.5mm adapters you’ll discover on Amazon. At all times learn the specs and ideally, learn skilled critiques too.
Examples of DAC/amp dongles:
Moveable DAC/amps
These are a step up from dongles in dimension, worth, and sometimes efficiency. These DACs normally have a built-in rechargeable battery as a result of they require extra energy than a smartphone or laptop computer can present.
You possibly can look forward to finding extra inputs and outputs (some double very successfully as desktop DACs — see beneath) they usually typically have superior options like selectable filters.
Examples of transportable DAC/amps:
Desktop headphone DAC/amps
DAC/amp dongles are good for on-the-go, however if you happen to’re going to do most of your listening at dwelling a desktop DAC/amp may give you a larger alternative of choices for each inputs and outputs. You don’t must lay our a fortune right here both — first rate desktop items begin at round $50, but in addition go as excessive as $5,500 for individuals who need the final word.
These gadgets usually require their very own energy provide (dongles take their energy from the connected playback gadget) they usually’re bigger, with a footprint sizes that vary from a deck of playing cards to that of a small pc like an Apple Mac mini.
You’ll normally discover a number of wired digital inputs (USB-A/USB-C for pc audio, and optical/coaxial for different sources like CD gamers) and a few fashions add wi-fi digital inputs like Wi-Fi, AirPlay, and Bluetooth to the combination. However the greatest motive folks go for a desktop DAC/amp is energy. The inner amplifiers on these gadgets will be a lot greater and extra highly effective than dongles, which lets them drive a larger number of IEMs and headphones, particularly high-impedance fashions, which want extra energy.
Search for merchandise which have a wide range of headphone outputs, along with at the least one line-level output (normally a set of left/proper RCA jacks) so you possibly can ship the transformed analog sign to a hi-fi element or powered audio system.
Examples of desktop DAC/amps:
- Fiio K11 R2R DAC
- Ifi Zen DAC V3
Devoted hi-fi DACs or DAC/amp
In case your ambition is to up your hi-fi sport, nothing beats a devoted hi-fi DAC or DAC/amp. They’re designed to suit with element methods which will have a wide range of current gadgets like CD gamers, A/V receivers, built-in amps, and devoted amps. A few of these merchandise are strictly DACs — there’s no headphone output and no amp of any form. However in some instances, these gadgets are basically the identical as desktop DACs, simply styled and formed to be a greater match with element methods. Costs can fluctuate wildly, from $100 to hundreds.
Like desktop items, you possibly can look forward to finding a wide range of stereo digital inputs (each wired and wi-fi), however some additionally include HDMI ARC/eARC to be used with a TV’s multichannel output. Relying on the mannequin, it may need a easy set of RCA analog output jacks, or it may also embrace balanced XLR outputs to be used with very-high-end downstream parts.
In the event you plan to make use of one in all these DACs with streaming music providers and also you don’t personal a devoted community music streamer, take into account in search of a mannequin that helps DLNA, AirPlay, and Google Cast over Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
Examples of hi-fi DACs
- Cambridge Audio DACMagic 200M
- Eversolo DAC-Z8
