Enter the modern hifi world. Try this test.

@sparksgja 

The Amazon.com: HiBy FC3 USB DAC with Display Hi-Res Audio 112mW Output Power Support PCM DSD MQA dongle for iPhone/MAC/Android/Windows(Black) : Electronics

is a winner too. Not nearly as much "harmonic glue" between the notes, but plenty of power on top to drive headphones and the sound is a bit more "explicit" so it tends to spotlight details and reveal more flaws in the music. But it’s no slouch at all for sounding musical and gives a very positive impression.

The output stage and DAC chip make the differences between the FC1 and FC3 easy to discern in real world listening. 

Integration with the hiby app and making sure you give it exclusive access to USB as I said earlier - and you’re in for hours of listening enjoyment.

Totally untrue ,if that were the case on dac chips then why would there be so many dacs from $100 to $100 k , there are hundreds of build factors that determine the sound quality in digital , even though there are 20 true bits available without oversampling , bits are not bits ,the digital signal is very sensitive to noise 

and that is why there is so much filtering between the digital to analog conversion 

many time multiple power supplies , quality of clocks ⏰ and many other things 

as well as your usb,I2S BNC cables , there fore the dac is a dac theory holds little to any water. Frank what are you using for a dac, streamer and digital cables ?

sharing this may tell a lot or to be reviewed .

@audioman58 

While I agree that digital interconnects can make a difference in sound quality, it seems you have received a masters in pontificating from the university of I don’t know.

For devices like the FC1 and FC3 which are irreducibly simple devices, the chip and the analog output stage determine the overwhelming majority of sound output. A manufacturer of a large stand-alone DAC that fits on a heavy duty rack has a lot more tech to play with, not necessarily better in practice or implementation.

You haven’t been following the science of hearing and developments in technology over the past 20 years, maybe more. And I say that because you arrive at 20 bits when CDs are 16 bit, 96 dB, which is plenty loud for home listening. You really don’t even need all that dynamic range, so more is not automatically better. How loud is 100 dB? quite loud, and prolonged exposure to loud sounds will result in hearing loss, even if it’s from your system.

20 bits true bits available is equal to roughly 120 dB? That’s much too loud for anyone to listen, you’d go deaf. 

Now in the DIGITAL domain, if the device is doing that processing in 20 bits and spits out a very clean waveform, then that’s where more bits make sense. That, and in audio production. 

Now you’re making the waters even murkier by talking about i2s, BNC cables, digital cables... of course these things can impact sound. I never said they couldn’t or did not impact sound. 

Forget about looking at my system for now. Seems like you need to go back to school.

frank009 

... Forget about looking at my system for now. Seems like you need to go back to school.

Another logical fallacy, this one the classic ad hominem - the laziest of all logical fallacies. It is impossible to reason with someone who relies on fallacies in his arguments.

@cleeds 

I proved beyond reasonable doubt that the reasoning and logic in your post was severely lacking. 

Everything I said in my above post was true. If you think I’m wrong, ask a real world audio professional or consult a powerful AI agent. Go ahead and try to disprove me.

Welcome to the modern world.