• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Suggestion on budget "thumb" DAC/AMP for laptop

andreasmaaan

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jun 19, 2018
Messages
6,652
Likes
9,399
Thanks for the good insight Andreas!
You seem to know your stuff. So are we naive for getting a portable DAC / Amp for IEMS and a Macbook Pro? :D I mean if can later fix the sound with VOX EQ could i tell the difference with or without an Amp?

I doubt the MacBook Pro is audibly distorting the signal. I haven't measured or intensively tried to find fault with my partner's Macbook Pro here, but on casual listening I can't distinguish it from any of the high-quality DACs I have around.

What I'm less sure about is its output impedance. IEMs are typically low input impedance, so if the amplifier driving them is not very low impedance, it could audibly affect the frequency response. This can in turn be corrected, but would be difficult to measure in the first place. At least with something like the Apple dongle you know the output impedance is under 1 Ohm, i.e. perfectly suitable for driving any IEM on the market.
 

LTig

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Feb 27, 2019
Messages
5,760
Likes
9,442
Location
Europe
Thanks for the interesting info on the SMSL IDEA!
I just found out it has the same chip that Marantz use in some of their high-end amplifier series. So that looks good indeed.
Reading the review of the Marantz AV 8805 I'm no longer sure whether Marantz always delivers high end performance ...
 
Top Bottom