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Power Consumption of DAC and Speakers at a Moderate SPL Level?

superbluecat

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Sep 25, 2023
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I would like to begin with my setting: I am connecting a Topping E70 (ESS 9028 Pro, possibly that chip operates at 1 watt with highest sample rate?) to two KH80 monitor speakers (200W maximum power for each, 114dB). Sampling 32 bit and 96kHz.
However, I am listening at only 0.95m, and I control Windows->DAC->Speakers to be about 60dB at my listening position.

I am curious how much power does each part consume and how severely the current changes. Is it still the case that those loud speakers with amplifiers inside consumes much more power than the DAC? I suppose that 60dB is 1e-4 of 100dB so is the power required for 60dB is also very small? Does the actual current between speaker and the plug fluctuate a lot when playing sounds?

For the DAC, I am not sure if its operating power is the same magnitude as the DAC chip. Is it 1 Watt? 10 Watts? Or even more? Is the current between DAC and the plug constant compared to the active speakers or amplifier?

If somebody can share a plot of power consumption to SPL for DAC and Amp it would be perfect.
And also a plot of current/power change against time axis when playing music or sounds if any pointers.

Thanks for the discussion.
 

WILL

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Mar 29, 2021
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Topping e30ii dac mode 4.6w
smsl sa300 amp 1.5w, ultra efficient
aiyima a07 amp with 32volt, 6w
My speaker is 6ohm, level at about 70db
 

AnalogSteph

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At modest volumes, something with Class D amps in particular should take little more than idle power, which according to specs is between 8 W at 100 V and 9 W at 230 V for each KH80. (It could be up to 180 W each at full power. I'd be surprised if you saw peaks of more than a few W on a regular basis though. The crest factor of actual audio signals tends to keep averages fairly low.) I'd expect another couple of watts for the DAC.
 

Palladium

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My room is 16 x 10 feet, all concrete. I never used more than 0.2W above idle (3.5W) on the Fosi V3 + Diamond 12.2. Its already too loud for my ears by that point.
 
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