Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2013 17:33:59 GMT
have considered many times going down this route (dac and headphone amp in one unit). i am sure there are "pros and cons" as in everything. its out of my price range at the moment, as i want some planar headphones, but towards year end i may be tempted.  hifilounge.co.uk/naim-dac-v1-converter |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2013 2:54:23 GMT
Get the planar HP first and then come back to think about it. But you better have lots of ready power for that ooomph if you are are going for that.
All in one box solution, more noise as dac does emit quite much if not properly isolated to the nearby amp. Measurable but hearable that's another story. Less power available for the extra ooomph and noise isolation as PS shared by both. The good is that the dac will be very close to the amp and less signal loss.
Separate is the reverse of what were written plus the usual pluses of separates as in pre and power amps. This is insitu and Frans I'm sure can add more to the advantages and disadvantages of both scenarios technically.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2013 3:02:55 GMT
Yeah, finally don't believe what were written technically or subjectively. It's the final sound that matters to you. So audition it and be satisfied whether that comes closer to Live. Sorry, that's my reference.
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solderdude
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Post by solderdude on Jun 17, 2013 18:08:03 GMT
There are MANY one box solutions that are considered to be of excellent quality and also designs where either the DAC or headphone amplifier circuit play second fiddle.
The one you search seems to be a good but expensive one. Unfortunately they are a bit secretive about the amplifier section and do not specify anything such as power and output resistance as well as frequency range but oddly enough do provide specs for the DAC section. Their 'description' indicates the amplifier part is well thought out so do not see the reason behind the secrecy.
An advantage is less boxes on the desktop and less interlinks. Flexibility seems a bit low as it does not have a possibility to separate the DAC and amp section so adding something in between is not possible nor can you use the headphone amp section as a separate section from another analog source. You can use it as a stand-alone DAC though.
Using 2 separate components is appealing to me personally and GOOD SQ components can be bought for less money. This means more boxes on the desktop and interlinks as well as power sockets BUT you have more flexibility AND you can upgrade or change the DAC or amplifier section separately.
Also when the DAC part becomes defective your amplifier is gone as well. For this reason you won't see me buying TV's with integrated DVD players.
For this reason I personally would always opt for separate components over combo's but understand the need/desire for a one box solution to others.
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