Thomasr
500+ Head-Fier
I recently had an experience that has made me seriously question my DAC snobbery ...
I have the SMSL DO200mk2 DAC as part of my main listening rig. About a month ago I found an ooooooold thrift store Pioneer DVD player to use as a "CD transport" feeding into this DAC (since I still own a decent CD collection that had been collecting dust).
Everything works great, and here's something I've learned over the last month: if I set my DAC to -5.5db output level, the volume exactly matches that of the DVD player plugged directly into my amp (SMSL HO200) via the RCA inputs. So if I have the DAC plugged in via XLR, I can toggle the XLR/RCA input switch on the amp and have a perfectly gapless, perfectly volume-matched A/B testing rig.
I honestly really want to believe I can detect a difference, but in truth I don't think there is any (or at least nothing these ears can parse). I know the DO200 isn't top-of-the-line, but still, it's "supposed" to sound better than the DAC built into a decades-old commodity DVD player isn't it?
I have the SMSL DO200mk2 DAC as part of my main listening rig. About a month ago I found an ooooooold thrift store Pioneer DVD player to use as a "CD transport" feeding into this DAC (since I still own a decent CD collection that had been collecting dust).
Everything works great, and here's something I've learned over the last month: if I set my DAC to -5.5db output level, the volume exactly matches that of the DVD player plugged directly into my amp (SMSL HO200) via the RCA inputs. So if I have the DAC plugged in via XLR, I can toggle the XLR/RCA input switch on the amp and have a perfectly gapless, perfectly volume-matched A/B testing rig.
I honestly really want to believe I can detect a difference, but in truth I don't think there is any (or at least nothing these ears can parse). I know the DO200 isn't top-of-the-line, but still, it's "supposed" to sound better than the DAC built into a decades-old commodity DVD player isn't it?
Last edited: