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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
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. 

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
15,045 posts
 

I never succeeded to replace my old  NOS SPS TDA 1543 battery French dac by any Chinese one. Anyway i was totally satisfied by my old  dac and now i will never change it. It work  since 15 years i think. ( i pay it new 20 bucks on Ebay bid sold by Christoph Mariac... who higher his price higher up after devil)

I like all my  low cost Chinese piece of gear ( my Edifier speakers/sub work fine and my Douk tube pre-am /EQ work more than fine for peanuts costs...

My other Chinese LPS , DDC, Isolator,Buffers/filters has done miracles for peanuts too...

But no Chinese dac i bought (three different one) touch  the French minimalistic designed dac...They are all in my trash bin.

I am 75 and i want to die with my dac ( plenty of details with absolute musicality and no electronic glare or microscopic clarity resembling artificial light ....) smiley

 My experience had any meaning only for low cost products, it goes without saying but it is better to say it...

ted_b
66 posts
 

The Chinese HiFi industry has certainly advanced DAC development and substantially raised the bar with respect to price/performance value over the past decade or so. The impact this has made on accessibility and the future of HiFi is undeniable.


That being said, impressive SINAD figures don't tell us the whole story. A DAC that relies upon op amps and high negative feedback may give impressive measurements, but that doesn't translate into equivalent soundstaging capability or engaging audio performance.

oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
4,567 posts
 

I have never owned a Chi Fi DAC.   I owned a YBA DAC that was made in China and it was a really nice DAC.  It sounded great.  

I pay little attention to specs. Especially for DACs. The numbers that modern DACs are capable of is literally testing the threshold of the equipment used to measure them.  That doesn't mean it sounds great, it does suggest it will have no self noise or crosstalk and should sound good but it's no guarantee.   

I always let my ears decide.  That's why demos are so important.   These are the published specs for my  Lab 12 DAC.   No other specs available. 

  • Frequency Response: 20 Hz 20kHz. +0 dB/-1 dB
  • THD: < 0.15%
  • Output Level: 2.5 Vrms

Pretty vague but it sounds great so who cares?  

 

 

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