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Chain of command

Greetings,
     I have an ongoing lack of understanding about what piece of equipment in the following system, actually gives the music it's final quality out to my speakers.
  
**Thumb-drive with 48000Hz, 24-bit .wav music---to Samsung Android phone---analogue out of phone's earphone jack---to input on amp---to 16 ohm speakers.**

      Will a quality amp, tube or other, influence the quality, or is it already set by the phone's DAC?
      I only want to use the phone for it's interface to select my files to play.  I have read that any DAC connected to the phone's analogue earphone jack, ...will by-pass the phone's DAC?  This comment has been both substantiated and ridiculed, so I'm at a loss here.
      Seems to me that the earliest the quality is set, that anything after will just be upsampling.  
Is my most logical route to buy a DAC with a visual screen for file selection?

Any help here....would.....ah, ....help!
Thanks.
128x128sound22card
erik_squires
15,654 posts
 
Anytime you use the phone's analog outs, you are using it's own DAC.

Are you looking for portable music solutions, or for home? If the latter, consider a receiver with built in music streaming capabilities. :)
sound22card's avatar
sound22card OP
26 posts
 
Not really looking for streaming, but want to play the hi-def music on my thumbdrives through a better DAC than the phone, but I will need one with a screen to select files, right?
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
I have an ongoing lack of understanding about what piece of equipment in the following system, actually gives the music it’s final quality out to my speakers.

Right. Well let me set you straight then. Every piece of equipment. Its that simple. Every single piece gives the music its final quality out to your speakers.
Will a quality amp, tube or other, influence the quality, or is it already set by the phone’s DAC?

Of course the amp has an influence on the quality- and regardless of the DAC.
Same goes for the wires connecting them.
Every. Single. Piece.
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