What defines the quality of a DAC?

Ғылым және технология

The difference in quality between the cheapest DAC and the most perfect DAC is enormous, provided you use a high quality playback system. But what makes the most perfect DAC the most perfect?
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Пікірлер: 106

  • @DouglasPneuma
    @DouglasPneuma Жыл бұрын

    Hanz, I just want to thank you for these videos. I'm just getting into hifi. I learned about external DACs just a few years ago. While I likely can't afford the products you mention, your explanations of basic concepts, and what works and doesn't, is helping me to better understand how digital audio works and is translated from and to analog domains.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    Жыл бұрын

    Great to hear!

  • @b97209
    @b972093 жыл бұрын

    This will be a reference video for quite some time. Thank you Hans.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    🙏🏽🙏🏽

  • @timolatimor-leste7607
    @timolatimor-leste76073 жыл бұрын

    Excellent video Hans....Your hard work shows in the results, we are lucky to have you!

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    🙏🏻

  • @cesartemio
    @cesartemio3 жыл бұрын

    I am so glad I found your channel. Very technical yet educational. It makes buying decisions easier in this age of online shopping. More power to you!

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Welcome.

  • @petermoller4610
    @petermoller46103 жыл бұрын

    Thank for the most informative video on DAC's I have seen on youtube.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Glad you enjoyed it!

  • @blainerivera9733
    @blainerivera97333 жыл бұрын

    One of your best videos. In fact, I watched it twice. I not only enjoyed the technical but connected with the steps you have taken to make your system better over time. I reflected on my own path while I was watching. What a great watch!

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Most kind. Thank you!

  • @sarsedacn
    @sarsedacn2 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the video Hans. Very well presented as usual. Clear-cut presentation.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    2 жыл бұрын

    🙏🏽

  • @NickP333
    @NickP3333 жыл бұрын

    Thank you very much for this video, Hans. I’ve strictly had a turntable as a source for aprox 30 yrs, but am very interested in finding a good DAC to add to my system, and this vid was extremely helpful.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    👍🏻

  • @hantenharkel4064
    @hantenharkel40643 жыл бұрын

    Dank je wel Hans, ben erg blij met jouw verhelderde uitleg! Leuke les hoor!..

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Han Ten Harkel 👍🏻

  • @pianoman11001
    @pianoman11001 Жыл бұрын

    most concise and understandable explanation ive ever seen. thank you so much

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    Жыл бұрын

    Glad it was helpful!

  • @808pizza
    @808pizza3 жыл бұрын

    Hans! You’re an absolute legend!

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    🙏🏽

  • @PDCRed
    @PDCRed3 жыл бұрын

    Brilliant video, thanks!

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    🙏🏽

  • @tellthemborissentyou
    @tellthemborissentyou3 жыл бұрын

    Another excellent video. Thanks Hans.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Glad you enjoyed it

  • @clintonwalker5000
    @clintonwalker50003 жыл бұрын

    Hi Hans , One has to listen 👂 well to your sometimes technical reviews , so so interesting well done mate. My DAC is CHORD TT , with my Aries G2, it would be great fun to try other DAC’S. Look forward to next Friday, thanks Hans.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    👍🏻

  • @michelvalois1099
    @michelvalois1099 Жыл бұрын

    Hanz, you're lovely, smart and brilliant! Thanks for sharing all your knowledge with humility. You explain and democratize audio technicality so well! Thanks!

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    Жыл бұрын

    🙏

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    Жыл бұрын

    🙏

  • @robertshorthouse5927
    @robertshorthouse59273 жыл бұрын

    Thank You for the continuing education.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    My pleasure!

  • @jesuscostantino2925
    @jesuscostantino29252 жыл бұрын

    Your wisdom is appreciated. Thank you.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    2 жыл бұрын

    🙏🏽🙏🏽

  • @willtothewong
    @willtothewong3 жыл бұрын

    Awesome video. Keep them coming!

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thanks! Will do!

  • @mikelm222
    @mikelm2223 жыл бұрын

    Good explanations - thanks. Two things come to mind . . . 1) Ladder DACs tend to be less affected by jitter than Delta Sigma DACs which is one of the reasons that they can sound better than DS DACs. 2) Most power supplies both pollute the mains supply with noise and are affected by mains borne noise. Adding power supplies for each piece of equipment that are designed to not pollute the mains supply as well as being as immune as possible to noise on the mains supply will tend give the best subjective results.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Still the best DAC's I have heard are no ladder converters.....

  • @hugobloemers4425
    @hugobloemers44253 жыл бұрын

    I learned more in this video than all the reviews about DACs I have seen together.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    🙏🏻

  • @hawkins55
    @hawkins553 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the explanation, particular the part about jitter.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Glad it was helpful!

  • @iansharp1171
    @iansharp11713 жыл бұрын

    Excellent Hans!

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    🙏🏻

  • @MohrMi
    @MohrMi3 жыл бұрын

    Another great video. Thanks, Hans. A review of R-2R DACs like Denafrips Aries would be great.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    The Aries is an old model. What about the Aries II tomorrow?

  • @MohrMi

    @MohrMi

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel COOL!!! ;-)

  • @MaximeTrepreau
    @MaximeTrepreau3 жыл бұрын

    Impressive job.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    🙏

  • @aceofspades6667
    @aceofspades66673 жыл бұрын

    13:07 lololololololol Hans dropped a bombshell at the end! Was a lovely way to end a great segment of content. I wonder if Hans has been watching Stradman?

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    or Topgear...

  • @rupinderbawa4201

    @rupinderbawa4201

    3 жыл бұрын

    Maybe hans is a jeremy Clarkson fan

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Was...

  • @bz3924
    @bz39243 жыл бұрын

    Hans, you are the best.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    You make me blush

  • @bz3924

    @bz3924

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Continue with the good work, however, would have liked to see a description of how to build a cheap tansport/dac yourself. step by step and what to think about when choosing components so that we understand the critical details. In this case, a raspberry pi is a starting point ass stremmer. I know you have covered it before in your videos but help us in this hifi pot. I have 2 transport options raspbarry pi 3b + ALLO USBRIDGE SIGNATURE PLAYER as a DAC I thought KHADAS TONE BOARD GENERIC EDITION or ESS ES9038PRO DAC Module I2S XLR 32bit 384khz DSD with Screen Best regards

  • @manardh7387
    @manardh73873 жыл бұрын

    Everything sounds different. I know. Great job on the video.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    🙏🏽

  • @andreasheiden7122
    @andreasheiden71223 жыл бұрын

    Great grand informative video, as always! I'm just just in the process of getting to learn about differences in sound quality when it comes to digital sources and DACs... One thing I'd like your thoughts on: I'm using a Marantz NR1710 AV Receiver with build in DAC. I also have a Pro-ject Pre Box S2. Does it really make sense to use the external DAC when the signal is again digitalized in the receiver, e.g. for EQ/Room correction?

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    I have no hands on experience with the marantz but my guess is that an external DAC will not bring you higher sound quality.

  • @andreasheiden7122

    @andreasheiden7122

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel thanks Hans for your fast answer and your opinion on this. I think you're right. That's my experience as well.

  • @gr8ednz
    @gr8ednz3 жыл бұрын

    Thanks Hans! Just wondering if the node 2i combined with a very good dac would be a noticeable improvement in SQ? The rest of my system is high (ish) end & very transparent.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    The Node 2I is very good for the money but the digital output is not the ideal source for clearly higher quality DAC's.

  • @jeffn1384

    @jeffn1384

    3 жыл бұрын

    I recently added an MHDT Orchid to a bluesound node. I can hear the difference and it's better but it's a lot of money for the improvement. It depends how rich you are or how much you love music. I thought the expense justified....just.

  • @manueljenkin95
    @manueljenkin953 жыл бұрын

    Hi haans thank you for the video. But you have discussed only linear distortion. What about background noise, and complex modulations - either signal correlated or random (like spectral leakage) etc?

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    There is no point discussing all parameters. I just mention what might be interesting. I don't publish measurements either since people seek grip on those graphs as where the only can prove when something is wrong (in which case I will mention it). People have to learn to use their ears.

  • @manueljenkin95

    @manueljenkin95

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel definitely agreed on the last sentence. I'm still curious though to know more measurement possibilities to atleast correlate part of the experience to.

  • @Maninthesky19
    @Maninthesky193 жыл бұрын

    Perhaps you could make a video showing pros & cons of streamers with more than one OS, like sms-200, sonore etc. in comparison with streamers with one OS

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    If I ever have a lot of time to spare...

  • @QoraxAudio
    @QoraxAudio3 жыл бұрын

    Very well explained. What are your thoughts on the comeback of R2R ladder DACs, while chip based DACs have come a long way?

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    There is not one and only best working principle but several and R2R is just one of them. It's all about how well it is designed and built. They are all different approaches to perfection and different routes lead to different compromises and thus different sound characters. And don't forget, perfection is a goal, not a reality.

  • @V1ralB1ack

    @V1ralB1ack

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel If you're trying to listen to cd's or any form of music without oversampling then an r2r dac will always be superior. It can't sell mass volumes because it requires precision resistors and actual engineering. If it did sell like crazy the world would be a better place. The only ways chip dacs excel is with mqa and dsd.

  • @miguelt.7997
    @miguelt.79973 жыл бұрын

    I have the Brooklyn bridge with BOTW 12 Volt, what voltage do you run them at? Sbooster recommends 13 volts (I emailed them), but the input on the Mytek, says 12 Volts. I also contacted Mytek but they never replied.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    I use a Syntaxx power supply that outputs 12 volts. I did use an sBooster at 12 volts before. Never tried it at 13 volts.

  • @ChaseNoStraighter
    @ChaseNoStraighter3 жыл бұрын

    Can you give some values to the level of jitter you are seeing? I work with RF ADCs and DACs where everything is sub 100 femtosecond which would not cause any measurable distortion. Are the clock PLLs just bad?

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    The best Xtal Ii have seen used specifies at 83 femtoseconds so PLL's can never exceed that.

  • @nguyenchienthang70
    @nguyenchienthang703 жыл бұрын

    You should make a list of the best DACs you have reviewed

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    I rather have you watch my videos so you get a good impression of each DAC. There is no such thing as "the best DAC". Watch kzread.info/dash/bejne/maau0dN-kpWxfc4.html

  • @michaelblumfield3933
    @michaelblumfield39333 жыл бұрын

    I have a Bluesound Node 2 and the sound is quite "digital." Can you recommend a substitute streamer-DAC under $1,000 that would sound more analog?

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    See my playlist of network player reviews here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/mGh6t5Otob3Klbg.html

  • @michaelblumfield3933

    @michaelblumfield3933

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thanks, Hans!

  • @matthewdavies2057
    @matthewdavies20573 жыл бұрын

    For most of us money is the major factor in buying equipment. Not sound quality. Therefore, what do you think of the Schiit Audio line? They seem to be the sweet spot in cost vs quality. Or are they? Can we do better for around the same... or less?

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    I have tried to get them to lend me a review sample but got no response. So I can't say whether they are an internet hype or good value.

  • @breetai78
    @breetai783 жыл бұрын

    Hi Mr. Hans, what are the type of reconstruction filters available in the market?

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Too complex to answer here. Perhaps a video in the future.

  • @breetai78

    @breetai78

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel thank you. Looking forward to it.

  • @phil5743
    @phil57433 жыл бұрын

    So presumably the battery power of my Hugo2 is a big benefit?

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    I can't judge since it can't operate directly from power. In general batteries are noisier than audiophile power supplies.

  • @bukkaratsuppa6414
    @bukkaratsuppa64143 жыл бұрын

    Damn, KZread, when i say "gimme some nerdy muttering before bed", i didn't mean the very subject where every word of that muttering makes tons of sense to me.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    🙏🏽

  • @sainaveenbali
    @sainaveenbali Жыл бұрын

    i enroll to Hans university for over 5 years now :3

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    Жыл бұрын

    😂

  • @roquesoprano913
    @roquesoprano9133 жыл бұрын

    👍👍👍👍⭐️

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    🙏🏻

  • @StavrosAvramidis42
    @StavrosAvramidis423 жыл бұрын

    So...we should await a Manhattan II review ? 🤤😅

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Not currently planned. But not a bad idea

  • @zachariahadams
    @zachariahadams3 жыл бұрын

    I'm only going to listen to 8bit Nintendo music from now on.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Musical SM??

  • @elfferich1212

    @elfferich1212

    3 жыл бұрын

    Same

  • @zachariahadams

    @zachariahadams

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel well, maybe once I've finished composing the Nickel Back catalog onto old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle carts. Soon to be released at Urban Outfitters. Reserve your copy today.

  • @davidwelner9994
    @davidwelner99943 жыл бұрын

    It looks like you are in the early stages of Parkinson's.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    My tremor is not due to Parkinson, it is a progressive neurological condition called essential tremor. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_tremor. Tnx for caring.

  • @davidwelner9994

    @davidwelner9994

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel I am very sorry to hear that. I hope you get some success with treatment.

  • @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    @TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thank you. We are working on treatment. But there are many illnesses that are far more serious.

  • @nappynupe2599

    @nappynupe2599

    3 жыл бұрын

    I enjoy your videos

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