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What about all those Chinese DACs?

It seems like everywhere I look, there are DACs from China that have these amazing specs on paper. SNR: >133 dB; THD: 0.000004%;

Dynamic Range: 124dB. If you really think about it, these were specs that almost didn't exist outside of pro-audio gear. A lot of these units have chips from ESS, Cirrus Logic, Texas Instruments and very sophisticated conversion circuitry.

So, my question is, what do you all think?

usatran
jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,920 posts
 

specs really don’t matter - what does is whether a dac makes music sound good

some chinese made dacs sound good, others don’t

same for dacs made in other parts of the world

knotscott's avatar
knotscott
1,384 posts
 

Specs don't tell the whole story.  I've heard DACs from Oppo, Topping, Geshelli Labs, SMSL, FiiO, and Wiim that all sounded good.....different, but good.  

Many can be enhanced with opamp or power supply changes that can be perceived as sounding better, but that would almost certainly change the specs.  

 

sls883
1,055 posts
 

I've had Chinese dacs at various price points.  The cheap dacs sound good, but don't perform miracles.  The sound quality got better as I moved to more expensive models.  My current dac is excellent.  I've also heard a LTA Aero dac in my system and it was difficult to pick a favorite. I recently added a new ddc and it really sounds excellent. 

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