The “Best” DAC Chip In Headphone Audio?

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Greetings mate and Welcome aboard! Stuart Charles here, HomeStudioBasics.com helping YOU make sound decisions leading to a beautiful audio experience that will make you fall in love with music (NOT gear), all over again, so…

Do keep in mind this is going to be my personal opinion but is based on experience with over 75 different DACS and general common sense.

Remember that DACS in and of themselves have a lot less to do with how the track is going to sound.

Yes, you want a quality DAC (99.9% of them are), but as far as the song, it all comes down to the way it was recorded, mixed, and mastered, with the headphones or speakers making up the other significant sound discrepancies.

DACS can have a low Output impedance, but at the end of the day, they represent a very small portion of influence on audio.

• Related: What is Output Impedance?

With that said, I used to believe that the ESS Sabre chip accounted for 99% of the perceivable sound differences you may encounter when going back and forth between DACs. I no longer believe that to be the case.

As long as SINAD is greater than the 90dB standard, there is no perceivable difference between varying DAC chips at identical signal levels.

This is very important to remember, as even a tiny discrepancy in the audio output levels will skew your perception and cause you to think one DAC “sounds” better when it’s likely just a placebo.

I’ve owned a DragonFly Red since 2018 and demoed it for quite a while before eventually calling it my own.

Since then, many, many Amps and DACS have come through here, and for a long time, I believed the Sabre chip had the best “sound” from a technical standpoint. But all of my “impressions” of it “sounding” more detailed, spacious, snappy, airy, open, clear, bright, lively, etc. were all just placebos.

Again, unless I have something rigged up specifically to make sure the signal levels are exactly the same, all “impressions” (remember: we’re talking about a DAC) can pretty much be taken with a gigantic grain of salt.

I used to think the differences, while subtle, were more noticeable with the DF Red compared to other chips: AKM, Burr Brown, Cirrus, TI, etc.) I based this on years of testing with plenty of other DACS, but my findings were likely just skewed or a result of confirmation or expectation bias. 

• Required Reading: Beginners Guide: What is a USB DAC?

I should also note that the differences between the DragonFly Red’s 9018 Chip and the Cobalt’s 9038 were non-existent; i.e. don’t waste your money and spend an extra $100 on yet another placebo that I’ve been harping on since the stupid Cobalt came out.

It was a waste of money then, I told people not to buy it, and guess what? It finally came down in price but still isn’t worth it due to the sheer principle of them taking so long to stop overvaluing it LOL. F you AudioQuest.

• Related: [Definitive Guide] AudioQuest DragonFly Red vs. Cobalt vs. Chord Mojo

The way a song ultimately sounds to you has very little to do with the DAC and everything to do with the source file and how well it was recorded, followed by the headphones and/or speakers.

This is one of the most basic sound principles that gets glossed over time and again in favor of buying new gear and trying to chase a unicorn that doesn’t exist.

Please, for the love of Go,d don’t go down this rabbit hole. It will leave you whoring yourself on local street corners so you can buy more DACs. And trust me, you don’t want to do that.

Analog Output Stage And Why It Matters

From Springer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science:

So…

The main duty of an analog output stage is to provide clean gain (or amplify the signal) and remove noise/distortion.

This goes right back to what is arguably the most important concept to understand and something we discussed earlier in the SINAD standard of >90dB.

Again, as long as signal-to-noise and distortion are greater than this #, nothing any audiophile says about how DAC A has a better Soundstage (huge LOL) than DAC B carries any weight whatsoever.

So if you’ve made it this far, a DAC chip is not important in the slightest. SINAD and the Analog Output Stage are.

The good news is that nearly all DACs that I’ve tested easily surpass 100dB, and all perform just fine.

Before purchasing one, other, way more important considerations should be made.

Learn More:

The SINAD Standard And Why It’s So Important

Well, that’s about it for today my friend! I hope you’ve enjoyed this discussion on the best DAC chip in audio and came away with some valuable insight.

If you love what I do here and want to support the blog and channel in a more personal way, check me out on Patreon and discover all the value I have to offer you.

Questions? Comments? Requests? Did I miss the mark on something? Please let me know down below or Contact me!!

What are your thoughts on all of this? I would love to hear from you. Until next time…

All the best and God bless,

-Stu

[Xtr@Ba$eHitZ]

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