Hello!
I'm just getting started on this journey from the Logitech Z623's (2 speakers and 1 subwoofer+amp) no less and while waiting for my amp (SMSL A300) and speakers (Triangle BR02) to arrive decided to plug my DAC (SMSL D300) into my pc via USB to compare against what I was using (Motherboard Realtek ALC887/897 7.1 Surround Sound High Definition Audio CODEC) since I've heard the Realtek ALC887 chips weren't very good.
While I noticed volume range has increased significantly allowing for much louder volume settings playing Lossless/Hires Lossless files on Apple Music there seem to be only very slight differences - and it might definitely be placebo.
Since I'm still an uneducated peasant in this scene wanted to ask if the test I'm doing is, essentially, a stupid test?
Am I supposed to expect any noticeable differences between connecting my subwoofer to a a DAC with stereo RCA cables vs connecting my subwoofer to the PC with the standard green 3.5mm headphone jack cables?
Might it be that there's a bottleneck somewhere on my cheap active system's amp that doesn't utilize the DAC properly?
Are my ears too uncultured and unable to appreciate the difference I'm supposed to get?
Or did I just spend ~350 USD on a paperweight? (Technically - I know it's required to feed input to my amp, but I got sold this over the cheaper SMSL SU-6 at 150 USD because the "Balanced" features and Rohm chip were supposed to provide a noticeable difference)
I'm just getting started on this journey from the Logitech Z623's (2 speakers and 1 subwoofer+amp) no less and while waiting for my amp (SMSL A300) and speakers (Triangle BR02) to arrive decided to plug my DAC (SMSL D300) into my pc via USB to compare against what I was using (Motherboard Realtek ALC887/897 7.1 Surround Sound High Definition Audio CODEC) since I've heard the Realtek ALC887 chips weren't very good.
While I noticed volume range has increased significantly allowing for much louder volume settings playing Lossless/Hires Lossless files on Apple Music there seem to be only very slight differences - and it might definitely be placebo.
Since I'm still an uneducated peasant in this scene wanted to ask if the test I'm doing is, essentially, a stupid test?
Am I supposed to expect any noticeable differences between connecting my subwoofer to a a DAC with stereo RCA cables vs connecting my subwoofer to the PC with the standard green 3.5mm headphone jack cables?
Might it be that there's a bottleneck somewhere on my cheap active system's amp that doesn't utilize the DAC properly?
Are my ears too uncultured and unable to appreciate the difference I'm supposed to get?
Or did I just spend ~350 USD on a paperweight? (Technically - I know it's required to feed input to my amp, but I got sold this over the cheaper SMSL SU-6 at 150 USD because the "Balanced" features and Rohm chip were supposed to provide a noticeable difference)
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