Aune X8 DAC

[yangyaphile]

I have a Cambridge Azur 550C CD player as my source. It has a Wolfson WM8740 dac chip.
Would changing to the Aune X8 dac improve the sound quality?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

The music source and the speakers determine 95% of the sound. DACs are very mature tech - even if your new DAC measures better on the bench, there is 0 change you'd hear any difference.

 

[fmw]

I have a Cambridge Azur 550C CD player as my source. It has a Wolfson WM8740 dac chip.
Would changing to the Aune X8 dac improve the sound quality?

I doubt it. These DAC chips all do the job accurately. It is possible that some designer did a poor job on the overall circuitry surrounding the DAC chip but it wouldn't be because of brand of DAC chip. I've done bias controlled listening tests on DAC's and I can tell you that the sound they generate is not the reason to choose one over the other. Whatever you have should be just fine.

 

[witchdoctor]

The music source and the speakers determine 95% of the sound. DACs are very mature tech - even if your new DAC measures better on the bench, there is 0 change you'd hear any difference.

I think you are a bit optimistic, 95%? Can you share how you recommend allocating budget between source, dacs, preamp, speakers, and amps?

 

[fmw]

I think you are a bit optimistic, 95%? Can you share how you recommend allocating budget between source, dacs, preamp, speakers, and amps?

I think his analysis is probably in the ball park but you need to add room acoustics into that 95%. The only source component that really matters is whatever one uses to play vinyl in my experience. Digital is digital and it all works just fine. If you want the best sound in home audio you use an acoustically good room and put great speakers in it. The rest of the system is really fairly trivial. The other components in a system can be based on anything you want. They all perform well enough through great speakers in a good room..

The best acoustics I have in my house are in my bedroom which is 25 feet long and 12 feet wide. You can place speakers well away from any walls to lessen the volume of reflected sound and still sit far enough away to get good stereo. Unfortunately it isn't how my bedroom is configured for practical reasons but I have tested it.

The money spent on speakers including the subwoofer(s) is likely to produce a greater difference in sound quality than all the rest of the components combined and then multiplied by 10.

 

[witchdoctor]

I think his analysis is probably in the ball park but you need to add room acoustics into that 95%. The only source component that really matters is whatever one uses to play vinyl in my experience. Digital is digital and it all works just fine. If you want the best sound in home audio you use an acoustically good room and put great speakers in it. The rest of the system is really fairly trivial. The other components in a system can be based on anything you want. They all perform well enough through great speakers in a good room..

The best acoustics I have in my house are in my bedroom which is 25 feet long and 12 feet wide. You can place speakers well away from any walls to lessen the volume of reflected sound and still sit far enough away to get good stereo. Unfortunately it isn't how my bedroom is configured for practical reasons but I have tested it.

The money spent on speakers including the subwoofer(s) is likely to produce a greater difference in sound quality than all the rest of the components combined and then multiplied by 10.

So should you go active speakers and sub or passive speakers and sub?

 

[yangyaphile]

Thanks for the replies. You saved me $300 (or the hassle of sending the unit back).
I always thought my Cambridge CD player sounded quite good.
It's just that I happened onto a few videos that were talking about DAC's and they were all raving about the Aune X8. I have a good integrated amp and good speakers, so just thought I'd tinker being I'm an audioholic.
I "think" these DACs are mostly geared for people who get their music from their laptops. Would that be a fair statement?

 

[lovinthehd]

There are some excellent long and detail filled threads on the subject over at audiosciencereview.com (as well as a large number of stand alone dac units tested as well as that part of various components in other tests), take your pick from this search.

I think you made a wise decision in any case.

I think the initial excitement about dacs and the various offerings more came from the old analog crowd dipping into digital. Lots of silly reviews out there, too....just like you can find for cables.

 

[fmw]

So should you go active speakers and sub or passive speakers and sub?

I went with passive speakers and active sub. You can do whatever you like.

 

[witchdoctor]

Thanks for the replies. You saved me $300 (or the hassle of sending the unit back).
I always thought my Cambridge CD player sounded quite good.
It's just that I happened onto a few videos that were talking about DAC's and they were all raving about the Aune X8. I have a good integrated amp and good speakers, so just thought I'd tinker being I'm an audioholic.
I "think" these DACs are mostly geared for people who get their music from their laptops. Would that be a fair statement?

I think $300 dacs are mostly aimed for the desktop PC user yes. Now when it comes to $10,000+ dacs that is an entirely different market.

DACS

An overview of Digital to Analog Converters (DACs) offered by MSB Technology. The Discrete DAC, The Premier DAC, The Reference DAC, The Select DAC II, Theater Master

www.msbtechnology.com

 

[fmw]

I think $300 dacs are mostly aimed for the desktop PC user yes. Now when it comes to $10,000+ dacs that is an entirely different market.

DACS

An overview of Digital to Analog Converters (DACs) offered by MSB Technology. The Discrete DAC, The Premier DAC, The Reference DAC, The Select DAC II, Theater Master

www.msbtechnology.com

A different market to be sure but not a different technology.

 

[witchdoctor]

A different market to be sure but not a different technology.

Are you sure? MSB uses a proprietary bespoke technology in their products:

About MSB

Get to know more about MSB Technology. Meet the owners of the company and hear a little about MSBs long heritage in high-fidelity audio

www.msbtechnology.com

 

[fmw]

Are you sure? MSB uses a proprietary bespoke technology in their products:

About MSB

Get to know more about MSB Technology. Meet the owners of the company and hear a little about MSBs long heritage in high-fidelity audio

www.msbtechnology.com

Pretty sure. There are several DAC chips available for manufacturers to use and all of them do the same thing competently in virtually the same way. A company would have to be nuts to design a DAC Hi Fi unit without using one of these chips. I suppose a manufacturer could do things to alter the signal in the analog portion of the circuit but you would do better doing such a thing with a tone control or equalizer.

We tested outboard DACs in our bias controlled listening tests and found nothing meaningful between any of them or the DAC sections of other hi fi components. Admittedly these tests took place a while ago but I don't think the technology has changed meaningfully. If you have something beyond marketing comments by the manufacturer I would be interested in reading it.

 

[witchdoctor]

Pretty sure. There are several DAC chips available for manufacturers to use and all of them do the same thing competently in virtually the same way. A company would have to be nuts to design a DAC Hi Fi unit without using one of these chips. I suppose a manufacturer could do things to alter the signal in the analog portion of the circuit but you would do better doing such a thing with a tone control or equalizer.

We tested outboard DACs in our bias controlled listening tests and found nothing meaningful between any of them or the DAC sections of other hi fi components. Admittedly these tests took place a while ago but I don't think the technology has changed meaningfully. If you have something beyond marketing comments by the manufacturer I would be interested in reading it.

"Unlike most DAC makers, MSB uses no off-the-shelf DAC chips, but instead makes their own converters. Each of the four Prime DACs at the heart of the Premier is a fully balanced, discrete, ladder DAC." Jeff Fritz, Soundstage

MSB Technology Premier Digital-to-Analog Converter

 

[lovinthehd]

I think $300 dacs are mostly aimed for the desktop PC user yes. Now when it comes to $10,000+ dacs that is an entirely different market.

DACS

An overview of Digital to Analog Converters (DACs) offered by MSB Technology. The Discrete DAC, The Premier DAC, The Reference DAC, The Select DAC II, Theater Master

www.msbtechnology.com

Yes, those $10k dacs are for the complete 'phools.

 

[BMXTRIX]

So should you go active speakers and sub or passive speakers and sub?

This is a topic that can have a lot of debate associated with it.

Most people, in a home theater setting, use passive main speakers and a active subwoofer(s), myself included.

Passive main speakers allow for a AV receiver to be purchased which can drive all the speakers to solid listening levels and allows for upgrades in the future to a better amplifier/AV preamp combo in the future if you desire. It allows the speakers to be swapped to different/better speakers in the future without the added cost of buying an amp with each of those speakers along the way.

Subwoofers tend to be different because they are typically purpose built with a need for a lot of power, so a good amplifier, or at least a matched amplifier is important. Spending as much on a subwoofer as you do on the rest of your speakers isn't unheard of. It is one of those areas where as you spend more, you tend to get more out of them (up to a point). So, that $200 Polk subwoofer isn't in the same league as that $2,000 SVS subwoofer.

More importantly, adding a more powerful amp to most subwoofers won't change much with their sound and could hurt the final sound. So, that properly matched subwoofer amp is a part of what makes them sound so good.

Are there active speakers that sound great? Absolutely! I don't knock active speakers at all. They also have matched amplifiers with them. But, there is a cost for that, and it can be a lot all at once. You can literally start with a bottom of the line AV receiver and some $50 speakers, and a $100 subwoofer and that same AV receiver can then power some $1,000 speakers in the future. So, it leads to a nice upgrade path.

 

[fmw]

"Unlike most DAC makers, MSB uses no off-the-shelf DAC chips, but instead makes their own converters. Each of the four Prime DACs at the heart of the Premier is a fully balanced, discrete, ladder DAC." Jeff Fritz, Soundstage

MSB Technology Premier Digital-to-Analog Converter

If true, then we know there is at least one nutty company selling DACs.

 

[witchdoctor]

If true, then we know there is at least one nutty company selling DACs.

Chord is another company I know of using proprietary dacs that is well regarded:

Home review

Chord has done it again - another superb DAC sets the benchmark.

www.whathifi.com

 

[lovinthehd]

Chord is another company I know of using proprietary dacs that is well regarded:

Home review

Chord has done it again - another superb DAC sets the benchmark.

www.whathifi.com

Well regarded by who particularly, tho? They sell a lot of bullshit too.

 

[fmw]

Chord is another company I know of using proprietary dacs that is well regarded:

Home review

Chord has done it again - another superb DAC sets the benchmark.

www.whathifi.com

Not well regarded by me if that is true.