Is a seperate dac worth it?

[Zensō]

I never said stated anything as fact. What is fact is not every measurement post sonic excellence for all listeners. Hearing for oneself is what matters.

Huh.

I can hear a difference for certain. The SU-10 is more detailed more open, with great balance in frequencies, maybe just a tad hot on the highs, but there are tweaks in the WiiM and the SU 10 to tailor to ones taste.

 

[BDWoody]

Output levels though not measured with a volt meter but with a SPL meter are almost identical.

I can hear a difference for certain.

As mentioned, it's likely that you are kidding yourself.
Match levels with a voltmeter, do the test without peeking. Otherwise, you aren't going to get meaningful results.

 

[BDWoody]

Yeah me and millions of people who buy audio equipment LMAOROTF.

Don't want you to hurt yourself... Maybe some time off from this thread will help.

 

[Trell]

There is no way in hell the average person could tell the volume differences with their ears whether it was set by a voltage meter for both devices or a SPL meter to control volume.

Even a very small difference in volume level is detectable in a blind test and the louder device will typically sound better.

Your common SPL meter is not so well suited for level matching: Just look at how much the readout is constantly changing.

A DMM will be much more precise and useful for this.

 

[12Many]

I just ran a test on my AVR 850 with a SMSL SU-10. Output is set to fixed.
WiiM Pro set to flat and fixed output.
Wiim > SPDIF into Arcam
WiiM > Coax to the SU-10
Arcam has subs turned L&R digital Stereo only. Output levels though not measured with a volt meter but with a SPL meter are almost identical.

I can hear a difference for certain. The SU-10 is more detailed more open, with great balance in frequencies, maybe just a tad hot on the highs, but there are tweaks in the WiiM and the SU 10 to tailor to ones taste.

The Arcam is no slouch at all and is very close and sounds very good! However I like the SU10 better. Now is the audio performance of the SU-10 it worth the cost of improvement at $900? That is subjective.

SMSL SU-10 DAC Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the SMSL SU-10 Balanced DAC with Bluetooth. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $900. Front panel is smooth and slick and sports the new colorful display from SMSL with large volume level which I very much appreciate. Interestingly volume...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Life is short, buy it. Nice piece of gear.

 

[12Many]

I have a Arcam AVR 21 and Cambridge CXU dvd/cd player (same as Oppo 205) and 5.1 system with B&W speakers and 2 SVS subs. When I listnen music, I prefer my cd and old stereo fashion 2.0 only no Dirac, no bass management. I read the Arcam AV40 and AVR10 review here. Although mine is AVR21 serie it made me doubt.
The CXU has dedicated analogue L & R outputs, the AVR21 has analogue CD inputs.
So I can either listen music with the Cambridge DAC (Wolfson I think) or Arcam DAC (ESS ?) via hdmi cable.

It is difficult for me to determine which one gives the best sound on the musical samples I know by heart. One thing is certain, the sound is different. MaybeI could say that wit Arcam even the sound stage image is also well defined (every instrument or voice in their place) but is a bit through a slight haze with the Arcam.

I read the reviews of Topping or SMSL DAC and asked myself if the expanse would be worth it to put one of these in the chain (I don't 'need' to spend money but if ...). I could connect the Cambridge via optical cable and the dac to the Arcam via analogue cables.
Any thoughts? or advise?

Try it and see how you like it. That is part of the fun. We are still allowed to have fun right?

 

[pseudoid]

As mentioned, it's likely that you are kidding yourself.
Match levels with a voltmeter, do the test without peeking. Otherwise, you aren't going to get meaningful results.

That would be a fun experiment... to start with.
Oh, I mean: How do you match levels without peeking?
A voltmeter - even a quality one - in the wrong hands should be considered a weapon.