Does Apogee Groove beat out a Macbook Pro DAC?

[somn]

Hi,
recently got me a pair of Audeze LCD-X, very happy with that.
I previously ran a pair of Beyerdynamic DT-770 250 ohm, and ended up getting an Apogee Groove to be able to drive them well from my late 2019 Macbook Pro.

Now, with the Audezes, the level is sufficient without the Apogee and I am considering offloading it and am trying to make sense of if it is the correct decision.

I have of course A/B-tested a whole lot but as you all know, it can be very difficult to discern the differences right away - I'm not even sure I know what I should be listening for. They both sound well at first glance, without any major differences. However, I work in audio so even if I am not able to tell the difference right away, a subtle 2% difference (assuming the Apogee would have the edge here) would be beneficial enough that I would consider keeping it. It might just take some time for me to able to pick it out.

Has anyone ran any tests or done this comparison and reached more final conclusions than I have?

 

[staticV3]

Don't waste your time with different DACs, you won't improve the sound quality that way.

If your MacBook gets loud enough for you and there is no hiss, then just use that and spend your time where it really matters: correcting the LCD-X's frequency response with something like SoundSource.

Included below are EQ presets for both LCD-X versions that you can import directly into SoundSource like so.