Will getting a DAC converter improve mp3 playback

Acura1947,

If you listen to mp3, an external DAC or Blue Circle USB thingy will be an absolute overkill and a waste of money! Such things are for lossless formats, not for compressed one. On the other hand, if you have no access to lossless files (which seems strange to me), I can understand your desire to get the best out of mp3 files. I was myself in the same situation 5 years ago. Here's my advice to you: find an old Sony DVD player DVP-NS330 or newer models of the same series. I have NS330 and I can tell you that the quality of this Sony's inbuilt mp3-decoder is magical. I don't know what this Sony does to mp3, how it converts it to pcm and how it treats it further before it finally comes out of its analog outputs, but the result is just stunning! In the true blind tests, I and my friend compared the audio-cd tracks, played by cd-player NAD C521BEE against the same mp3 files (lame, 320 kbit/s) played by Sony DVD player DVP-NS330, and in 50-70% cases we couldn't tell the difference! The amplifier used was NAD C320BEE and the speakers were Acoustic Energy Aegist Evo 3. This Sony just refines mp3 sound somehow, making it sound rich, full-bodied, etc. The drawback was that this dvd-player could read mp3 from a dvd media, only from a cd.

When tried to play mp3 files through my current $700 DAC, $1000 preamp and the same NAD amp, it sounded worse than that Sony NS330.

Another curious thing about this NS330 is that it played Audio-CDs noticeably worse than mp3 made from the same CDs! I am not kidding, we also confirmed it, together with my friend, in blind tests.

wow thanks for all the feedback. I just turned 21 so I still got a lot to learn. Many have asked why I dont use lossless format for my music. The thing is I get most of my music off the internet and thus they come in mp3 (192kb/s normally). For the amount of music I have on my computer, over 100 gigs, it would not have enough space to accomodate lossless music. On another note, some of you have said a DAC will do good while others have said that it will do nothing. Do you think a logitech duet transporter instead of a DAC would be a better and more sure to sound better? I have a phase PC1.1 II speakers and a pioneer elite receiver which I am too also replace with a integrated amplifier like NAD or cambridge audio 500 series. nothing too fancy. anyway thanks again for all your help. god bless.

Acura1947!

The above sentence in my earlier post should read “The drawback was that this dvd-player could NOT read mp3 from a dvd media, only from a cd.” Sorry, my mistake.

I can't believe you cannot find lossless in the internet! You must be looking at wrong places. I have an unlimited internet at the office and even though the bandwidth allocated to me is small (3-7 Kb/sec, i.e. 24-56 kbit/sec), by downloading day and night I get more lossless hi-quality exclusive hard-to-get music than I can physically listen to at home!

If you still insist on mp3, try to understand that mp3 playback consists of two stages: First, mp3 signal must be decoded into raw pcm. Secondly, this pcm is then converted to analog signal by a DAC. The DAC does not decode from mp3 to pcm. So, if the decoder algorithm in your source is lousy (and they do differ in quality!), DAC will not help you.

Forget about mp3! It’s a thing of the past. Also, if you have 100 GB of mp3 files in your computer, and if they are normally, like you said, 192 kbits/s, then you have music to plan non-stop for 50.5 days (I’ve just calculated). If you listen to music (non-stop) only 3 hours per day, it means you need 404 days to listen to your collection at least once. I am sure there are some albums which you listen to at least 2-3 times, right? What I am trying to say is that considering the availability of music in the internet, it’s useless to “collect” music as we did in the past. What people lack nowadays is free time (to listen to music), the unavailability of music itself is not a problem. But collecting music steals our time. Just my two kopecks!

Couple of things you may not be clear on.

The MP3 or any other compressed format that you have collected has lost some of the musical magic. However... you may not have the equipment (receiver and speakers... or pre amp, power amp and speakers) to hear it. (some will tell you that the high bit rate rips sound the same as the wav file... but disk space is cheap these days so... why compress) The higher the resolution of these pieces down the chain.... the worse your mp3 will sound. Try comparing the same music ripped lossless (FLAC is a good soln) to your mp3 or whatever rip you currently listen to now. If you hear the difference... you get to decide on the digital format. If you don't hear the difference you can upgrade the digital to analog conversion hardware in the system. (The software music player can also make a big difference as well... beyond just making the sound come out of the speakers).

In general, moving the conversion of bits to analog signal outside of the PC is a cost effective and more musical solution and so it would be better... (higher musical resolution then what you have now). But you have an extra box and power supply plus cables to deal with. Alternatively, a better sound card will keep the electronics in the PC and allow you to use headphones or output to your receiver when you want. At some price point the outboard DAC and amplifier surpasses the sound card with dac and amplifier solution in musicality.

You probably upgrade the PC sooner then your music system so an outboard DAC and amplifier makes a lot of sense relative to a audio card. Converting the digital signal to analog in the PC happens in an electrically noisy environment and you can only do so much.

Your AV receiver (not a stereo reciever) has built in DACS... so you could use a USB converter (Hagerman or many others) to drive the Receiver DAC or any number of non USB DACS on the market, new or used. (Make sure your current player software does this)

You could also get a USB DAC with built in amplifier which will give you two channels for input into your receivers Analog section (ditto about the player software).

How the DAC handles jitter and the amplification stage make a difference in musicality at these two stages. (eg some DACs use tubes and not transistors to amplify the sound for the receiver.

Keep in mind that musical resolution, once lost does not come back... So, you hear the weakest link in your chain. Coming up with a strategy that builds a system to your budget in time is part of the hobby.

But.... having my niece who is also in college listen to all of the differences on my good rig... does not change her preference for quick and easy low res mp3's on her PC and a pair of cheap headphones. Ah well!