Do phones' built-in DACs affect external portable DACs?

H

hardus77

Audiophyte
Hello everyone,

So I know my question is probably going to sound silly, but I'm a not-quite-audiophile-yet-guy, and I would just like to know how these things work.
So, I read that phones' factory-built-in digital to analog converters do not do justice to your audio quality. So, I looked up a few portable DACs, which in theory would improve the sound quality from your phone. One question that came to my mind is how it would function. You plug your DAC into your USB port (I guess?), and that factory-machinery simply get's out of the way so that your new extra toy does its job? I assume, another factor is wether or not your phone has a headphone jack, since if it does not, then the USB-port has the DAC, too, as far as I'm concerned. I read sometime in a random comment section, that in some case, you have to manually disable your phone's DAC in order to make the external one function.
I know, this is a super stupid question, so sorry about that ':) . At this point, I do not plan yet on buying such gadget (seeing the prices). Is it worth it, though...? (Currently, I listen to .flac's on my jack-less phone with cheap Sennheiser earbuds, but I would like to step up my game one day.)
Thanks in advance :D
 
S

sterling shoote

Audioholic Field Marshall
Hello everyone,

So I know my question is probably going to sound silly, but I'm a not-quite-audiophile-yet-guy, and I would just like to know how these things work.
So, I read that phones' factory-built-in digital to analog converters do not do justice to your audio quality. So, I looked up a few portable DACs, which in theory would improve the sound quality from your phone. One question that came to my mind is how it would function. You plug your DAC into your USB port (I guess?),and that factory-machinery simply get's out of the way so that your new extra toy does its job? I assume, another factor is wether or not your phone has a headphone jack, since if it does not, then the USB-port has the DAC, too, as far as I'm concerned. I read sometime in a random comment section, that in some case, you have to manually disable your phone's DAC in order to make the external one function.
I know, this is a super stupid question, so sorry about that ':) . At this point, I do not plan yet on buying such gadget (seeing the prices). Is it worth it, though...? (Currently, I listen to .flac's on my jack-less phone with cheap Sennheiser earbuds, but I would like to step up my game one day.)
Thanks in advance :D
I have a 7+ iPhone. My iTunes Library resides there. The iPhone has no analog output, so I needed to buy a $35 Belkin DAC to play music from my iPhone through the analog radio input of my 2007 Cadillac SRX. It sounds great. I have a Kenwood radio in my 1996 Tahoe, which takes digital output from my iPhone and converts it to analog, It sounds great. The only thing that's apparent is via digital out from iPhone, the Kenwood Radio can control some iTunes Library functions. At any rate, since the iPhone only outputs digital these days, unless you are listening to the iPhones internal speakers, it would be difficult to appraise the iPhones DAC quality. I also play music from my iPhone to an Airport Express which is connected to my home theater prepro via S/PDIF and it sounds great: but, again, the DAC from iPhone is not being exercised. BTW, regarding plugging in your DAC to usb port, you are actually plugging in the usb to DAC whereby the DAC converts digital to analog and the analog is output via RCA, or mini plug to analog inputs of your stereo amplifier.
 
Last edited:
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
Hello everyone,

One question that came to my mind is how it would function. You plug your DAC into your USB port (I guess?), and that factory-machinery simply get's out of the way so that your new extra toy does its job?
It depends on your phone, some older phones (e.g. Nexus 4) wouldn't automatically get out of the way, but the N6P, or even the N5 would, so I would imagine the same with other Android phones. Newer iphones and some Andorid phones as well don't have the analog headphone jacks, obviously they still have internal DAC but it should be bypassed via the USB-C or lightning port.
 

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