The DAC is an acronym for Digital to Analogue Converter. It is a music player, a source of high-quality audio, an audio signal processor, a USB DAC, or a DAC for its own use. The role of the DAC is to convert the digital audio signal from the computer/media player/smartphone/tablet to analog in order to transmit it to the speaker.
There’s a lot of debate in the digital audio community about the difference between a DAC (digital-to-analog converter) and a Converter (digital to digital). This may surprise you, but it’s actually pretty simple. A DAC takes digital information and converts it into a more “analog” signal for output. A converter takes an analog signal and converts it into a digital signal.
Why use a DAC?
Digital to analog converters, or DACs, are important components for digital audio lovers who don’t want to listen to sound that is too “electronic” in nature. DACs are usually found in devices such as smartphones, tablets, computers, and home theater receivers, and they convert the digital audio signal received by the device to something analog that can be heard by the user.
The universal USB port has become an essential smartphone accessory because a considerable number of Android smartphones don’t include it. And in the past year, there has been a proliferation of new DACs that enable you to connect an external audio device to your phone or tablet and give you a more realistic audio profile of the music or games you will play. Better quality audio on a budget price! Kailangan Sulit!
Sulit Review: 3 USB TYPE C DAC comparison
The purpose of this post is to give an introduction to the next set of reviews we will be doing. A sulit hack to make your audio on mobile sound heavenly!
We are going to do reviews on 3 types of Type C USB DACS! Stay tuned to more details after we test these budget DACS for your phone!
DACS for testing
- Conexant CX21993 USB Type C to 2.5mm – Php 370.00
- JCALLY JM04PRO Realtek ALC5686 DAC – Php 340.00
- UGREEN DAC Chip 80154 – Php 145.00
First of all, in order to choose the right DAC for your needs, you have to think about what kind of music you would like to play with it. Do you often play classical music? Do you have a lot of vinyl records to play? On the other hand, if you want to play high quality lossless files, that will also require a high quality sound card, in order to avoid digital clipping artifacts.
For this short review let’s set a standard for all 3 tests.
- Audio used is spotify with settings set to very high and downloaded so we can test the same audio tracks on each DAC
- We will use the same earphones to across all 3 DACS
- Test will require your eyes closed (para mas feel ang music) ?
- Basically since we dont have any equipment to test the output range, we will go by feel. So we limit the soundstage to a specific acoustic song (clarity), a upbeat dance song (for low range) and a powerful vocal song (high range)
More on the Tests soon!
