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Best practices when conducting a DAC comparison

Reaching out for general advice on how Agoners have compared DACs in their own systems.....

....and how you have determined the 'better' or the 'preferred' component, based on your comparison.

This will be my first in-depth comparison.

Feel free to mention whatever you believe will help and stuff I may need to look out for / be aware of.

Thank You.
david_ten

Showing 3 responses by georgehifi

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
"I ensured the volume control on my amp never changed"
  it could be a moot point and you may want to forgo the hassle of precise level matching.
All dacs have different analogue outputs levels even if it's by a 1/10th of a volt, how can anyone compare dacs sound, if the levels are not matched, even a minute increase in level will favour that dac in an A/B comparision.

Cheers George  
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
@georgehifi Is there a ’cheater’ way to get close enough? : )

No.
If you do it by ear, you could be as much as 3db out on level matching.
Cheers George
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
david_ten
Best practices when conducting a DAC comparison

Each dac will have a different gain structure (volume), don’t trust your ears to level match.
It must be done with a 1khz sine wave and measure the ac mV (millivolt) at the speaker terminal.

Cheers George
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