Cause of different sound between dacs

A lot of things can make DACs sound different. I order of effect, most first:

1) master clock jitter or interface jitter
2) power subsystem differences
3) D/A chip used
4) I/V (current to voltage) circuit
5) output drive circuit - op amps or discrete, tubes etc..
6) number of stages ie. gain, I/V, drive, volume control - less is better
7) trace lengths on the circuit boards versus point-to-point wiring
8) ground-plane integrity on the circuit boards

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

1. Jitter
2. Digital signal processing
3. Analog circuitry (including power supply).

Look inside. No two are exactly the same. They are all different. Only question is how similar or different any two are.

If you ever try two brands of vanilla ice cream, that taste EXACTLY the same, they probably are, ie same stuff under a different label. That happens on occasion with audio gear (exact same product marketed under two different brands) but not often.

Here is an overview of some of the things responsible for the overall sound a DAC design. There are actually more things involved than I will list mind you, even though this list may seem longish.

- Input receiver choice (the circuit the connects the incoming digital signal jacks and transfers the digital data to the DAC chipset itself)

- Power supply design for the DAC, input receiver power supply quality and output gain sections.

- Any filtering that may be incorporated on the incoming AC and/or digital data input and/or DAC chipset output (which can be within the DAC chipset itself) and/or the output stage itself. Read; FOUR DIFFERENT CIRCUIT AREAS within the DAC which could have filtering implemented of various design and quality choices on those differing circuits.

- Regulation choice for the above circuit sections.

- Jitter reduction methodology, if any.

- DAC chipset choice and implementation.

- Board layout, EMI, RF and noise considerations of the various circuits involved.

- Output section choice (op amps or discrete?)

- Bias of the output devices, if they need biasing.

- Power supply caps, quality, amount, power supply circuit implementation.

- Current to Volt conversion circuit topology for DAC chipsets that require it prior to the gain stage.

- Various supporting components, resistors, clocking, supporting component quality for input, power supply(s), DAC chipset, regulation(s), output devices and quality of caps used on capacitor coupled output stages- read; discrete output which is a better step-up sonically above utilizing Op Amp outputs.

As you can now see from this list, the variables within a given DAC design are many. Hence, the differences between two different DACs are so much more than just "the DAC chipset" choice or "the jitter reduction"; which are typically the only core technical things discussed as "the crucial components" of the DAC design. If creating a heroic sounding DAC was only as simple as the DAC chipset and the jitter reduction ;-)

Cheers,

Eric Hider - dB Audio Labs

Look inside. No two are exactly the same. They are all different. Only question is how similar or different any two are.

If you ever try two brands of vanilla ice cream, that taste EXACTLY the same, they probably are, ie same stuff under a different label. That happens on occasion with audio gear (exact same product marketed under two different brands) but not often.