How good is a $9 DAC? - Apple USB C Audio Dongle vs Geshelli Enog 2 (Video)

[gowla]

Just a short video I made, have not made one in a while... but I wanted to share as thought some users here would be interested and enjoy the discussions. I try to split the video into objective performance and then my subjective thoughts.

Assume the poll question is for good performing dacs for their respective price points and that your idea of cheap may vary

 

[VintageFlanker]

Do you think you could hear a difference between a cheap dac and a mid-fi dac?

Haem. The question is very misleading and simplistic if asked that way: Most people could hear a difference between a very poor performing mid-fi DAC and a very good cheap one... As the opposite is also true, and so on... Assuming level match is necessary to do controlled listening, some cheap DAC are not even able to run 2V. So many factors to consider...

 

[gowla]

Haem. The question is very misleading and simplistic if asked that way... Anybody could ear a difference between a very poor performing cheap DAC and a very good mid-fi one... As the opposite is also true, and so on. Assuming level match is necessary to do controlled listening, some cheap DAC are not even able to run 2V. So many factor to consider...

Very true, I thought about making the question very specific but wanted it to be more open for discussion. Maybe if I add that measure closely or well for the price points?

 

[Tks]

Nice video. As for an answer, not sure >_>

On something like HD6XX's the Apple seems to fizz out a bit in the bass frequencies (I guess the power demands are too much if listening to music real loud). RME to 789 though, no such issue (actually just too loud in general if you dare leave low-gain)