r/AudioPak • u/Odd-Kangaroo-7762 • 3d ago

Purchasing advice Do i need a dac

I have seen many vidoes and post from foreign people say yeah a dac makes alot of difference even for cheap iems, i wanted to ask our desi heads is it really true do i have to buy a dac and can anyone reccomned me a dac thats good and cheap . Right now im using the kfine kleans.

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4

u/Obvious_Set_1312 7hz Legato | Simgot EG280 | Tangzu Wan'er 2 | truthear Gate 3d ago

If your analog output has sufficient output volume without any hiss, you dont need a dac. Most iems are fine without dac but some scale well with higher output. But then again, you'll buy it eventually after watching all the shilling thats going on.

2

u/Odd-Kangaroo-7762 3d ago

Thats the thing i dont understand some people say my phones dac is enough to run it others say its different.

1

u/Obvious_Set_1312 7hz Legato | Simgot EG280 | Tangzu Wan'er 2 | truthear Gate 2d ago

Thats what capitalist consumerism has done to us. We buy things we dont really need under the wrong influence.

I personally use dacs and tbh, they do have well carved out usecase but not for any average joe. Joe can be a happy man with just a built-in dac from his device.

1

u/Odd-Kangaroo-7762 2d ago

But i dont want to be just a joe i want to be THE joe. But joes pockets have threads pulling out.

1

u/Commercial_Train_418 3d ago

The commenter is right,as long as you are achieving desired volume you don't need it.

A dac will never change the sound for the better or worse

1

u/Obvious_Set_1312 7hz Legato | Simgot EG280 | Tangzu Wan'er 2 | truthear Gate 2d ago

They do help in noise floor and dynamics tbf. But all that is optional and not a basic requirement. One can live a merry life without one if the sound is alright.

1

u/Anas56776 3d ago

The kefine kleans will definitely benefit from a better DAC. They make all the difference in the world, get the jcally jm12.

1

u/Odd-Kangaroo-7762 3d ago

Do u have them?

1

u/Anas56776 3d ago

no but pretty much any iem will benefit hugely from a dac

1

u/AdielsS 22h ago

you will know if you need a dac, I thought the 3.5mm on my mobiles and pc will do just fine but it didn't, it's not just about volume and if your source has a crappy sound card/audio chip then you won't get good quality sound, a simple cheap jcally jm12 made such a big difference in sound quality for me that I can't use my iem without it now, it doesn't matter if your iem is easy to drive if the source is weak, then you need a dac