Why bother to review DACs and amps?

[100rounddrum]

Just get the SMSL SP200, which is audibly transparent anyway, and you have your endgame DAC/amp combo. Has enough power to drive any headphone short of electro-stats.

Why bother checking out other stuff, if we're talking purely about sound quality?

 

[ribosradagast]

Does that thing even have a DAC?

Confused about the point of the question ..

 

[richard12511]

I think the simple answer is that a lot of people care about the reviews. As long as people are reading them, commenting on them, and making purchasing decisions on them, it makes sense for amir to keep pumping out the reviews.

 

[CDMC]

Just get the SMSL SP200, which is audibly transparent anyway, and you have your endgame DAC/amp combo. Has enough power to drive any headphone short of electro-stats.

Why bother checking out other stuff, if we're talking purely about sound quality?

Umm, pretty sure SMSL 1) isn’t a Dac, 2) isn’t a preamplifier, and 3) isn’t a power amplifier. It is a headphone amp. Great if you want to power headphones, but most of us here have speakers. Did you have a real point, or just a slow Saturday night?

 

[amirm]

Among equally performant devices, people go by looks, price, support, ergonomics, etc.

Besides, if I stop testing, I am sure performance of future devices will slide backward.

 

[Thomas savage]

Keeping manufacturers honest is as good a reason as any. You remove the spotlight and remove this new found desire for measurable performance you will remove the incentive for companies to provide for these values .

 

[jae]

What if I just want to one device to be preamp for active speakers or a power amp in addition to a headphone amp? What if I think the slant looks ugly? What if I want a more portable product because I don't listen to headphones at my desk? What if I want a better built product with a better quality or reliable volume control? What if I change headphones frequently and every time I unplug them it moves the product on my desk? What if I want a product that matches my other ones? What if my cables are terminated differently than the outputs offered? What if I want a product I can use with two headphones simultaneously? What if I want to use two balanced headphones simultaneously? What if the product has a 1 year warranty and mine fails after 2 years? What if there's a product that has similar or even better specs that solve any of these problems?

 

[JohnYang1997]

No. They can get noisy with sensitive IEMs. Also on other aspects, the look, the size, the feel, the volume pot all are valid aspects when considering a new amp. Everyone will have different opinions on those aspects.

 

[odyo]

Among equally performant devices, people go by looks, price, support, ergonomics, etc.

Besides, if I stop testing, I am sure performance of future devices will slide backward.

Gimme the Asgard amp/dac review

 

[Jimbob54]

Among equally performant devices, people go by looks, price, support, ergonomics, etc.

Besides, if I stop testing, I am sure performance of future devices will slide backward.

And you'll have to engage with family and the real world more. Not recommended.

 

[TomB]

The single most important thing in my decision to use this or that component in my system is how it sounds in my system. I really appreciate accurate measurements. Measurements seem to be the most important piece of information in my decision making process. However for me, it has always come down to the final outcome.

 

[SimpleTheater]

Just get the SMSL SP200, which is audibly transparent anyway, and you have your endgame DAC/amp combo. Has enough power to drive any headphone short of electro-stats.

Why bother checking out other stuff, if we're talking purely about sound quality?

I think the only reasons are to ensure manufacturers don’t backpedal and begin creating the crap that used to pass as audiophile quality before Amir started testing and after that I’m looking for features. I’m still saving for an RME ADI-2 (v.2) because of the built in parametric eq.

 

[NDRQ]

There are manufacturers who naturally making good devices, but sadly, most of the companies are not like that, so they need to know that someone checking their work so they cant get away with lazy audiofool marketing or cheap engineering.