Is this a bad idea?

[jmalecki05]

Hello All,

I am looking to purchase a DAC, not so much that I need one, but I am curious as to their benefit. Anyway, I love the Oppo Sonica DAC, but it does not have a 3.5 mm for headphones.

Would it be damaging to both the DAC and/or the headphones (Sennheiser HD 600) if I were to use the analogue inputs for headphone listening (3.5mm female to phono male)?

My other potential DAC is the Emotiva DC-1, which does have 3.5mm for headphones in the front. I prefer the Oppo, for the Sabre DAC, but would consider the Emotiva DC-1 to pair with the Airmotiv 6 speakers. I am also curious about using powered speakers as well as using balanced cables, which is driving my purchase decision.

Thank you for your help,
Joseph.

 

[slipperybidness]

Hello All,

I am looking to purchase a DAC, not so much that I need one, but I am curious as to their benefit. Anyway, I love the Oppo Sonica DAC, but it does not have a 3.5 mm for headphones.

Would it be damaging to both the DAC and/or the headphones (Sennheiser HD 600) if I were to use the analogue inputs for headphone listening (3.5mm female to phono male)?

My other potential DAC is the Emotiva DC-1, which does have 3.5mm for headphones in the front. I prefer the Oppo, for the Sabre DAC, but would consider the Emotiva DC-1 to pair with the Airmotiv 6 speakers. I am also curious about using powered speakers as well as using balanced cables, which is driving my purchase decision.

Thank you for your help,
Joseph.

You seem to be confused....you need an OUTPUT for headphones, and you need a HEADPHONE Output at that. You can't connect headphones to an INPUT and expect to hear anything on the headphones.

Powered speakers can be a great decision, just depends on your end goals.

There is typically no audible advantage to using balanced cables in the home setting. The real advantages of balanced cables is only realized for long cable runs or for particularly noisy (EM noise) environments.

 

[jmalecki05]

Didn't have my coffee this morning. You are right; that answers the headphone question. Thanks!

 

[Bucknekked]

Hello All,

I am looking to purchase a DAC, not so much that I need one, but I am curious as to their benefit. Anyway, .

Joseph
Welcome to the forum. Lots of great information here and even though Santa has come and gone, you can still get great info here for regardless of the season.

My first impression after reading your post is one of raised eyebrows. If you are looking to buy a DAC, not because you need one, but just because you are curious about their benefits, you set yourself up for a disappointing out-of-the-box experience.

First off, on the forum (and in other places) there are some good overviews of the DAC and DAC functionality. What they do isn't rocket science, but, most folks still don't understand what they do in an audio setting. Of all the items in an audio system you could choose to "upgrade" or purchase to improve your audible sound quality, I'd have to place a DAC at or near the bottom of the list.

Before I'd recommend a DAC, with or without a headphone jack, I'd want to know why? What's your current system lacking that you feel a DAC would improve? One of the great benefits to hanging out at the AH forums is if you can frame a problem with your current audio system and then ask for possible ways to improve it, you will get a ton of great advice.

Hope you enjoy the forum and we see you in lots of discussions

 

[mtrycrafts]

...I'd have to place a DAC at or near the bottom of the list.
...

That bottom is a large, flat plate.
But then, even that plate can have a top of the pile.

 

[sholling]

Hello All,

I am looking to purchase a DAC, not so much that I need one, but I am curious as to their benefit. Anyway, I love the Oppo Sonica DAC, but it does not have a 3.5 mm for headphones.

Would it be damaging to both the DAC and/or the headphones (Sennheiser HD 600) if I were to use the analogue inputs for headphone listening (3.5mm female to phono male)?

My other potential DAC is the Emotiva DC-1, which does have 3.5mm for headphones in the front. I prefer the Oppo, for the Sabre DAC, but would consider the Emotiva DC-1 to pair with the Airmotiv 6 speakers. I am also curious about using powered speakers as well as using balanced cables, which is driving my purchase decision.

Thank you for your help,
Joseph.

As others have said you need to analyse what you are trying to accomplish, learn about hardware differences, and then decide what hardware that you need. And as Buck said you probably don't need to use an external DAC with an existing receiver.

One point of confusion seems to be about DACs. Pure DACs do not have headphone jacks, DAC/headphone-amps do as do most preamplifiers, and integrated amps. The next thing to be aware of is that most good quality headphone amps have a 1/4" headphone jack because in theory they are more durable than 3.5mm jacks. Finally, Sennheiser's HD600, HD650, HD6XX are really high impedance headphones and are happiest (sound best) when they are paired with headphone amps that put out a lot of power at 300 ohms.

Edit: I don't see a need for a megabucks DAC and chose a Schiit Stack for my HD6XX. The latest iteration consists of their well regarded Modi 2 DAC ($99) and mini-powerhouse Magni 3 ($99) headphone amp which also works as preamp for powered speakers. I've connected mine with Schiit's short PYST RCA cables ($20). And yes I have used them with powered studio monitors.

 

[2channel lover]

Hello All,

I am looking to purchase a DAC, not so much that I need one, but I am curious as to their benefit. Anyway, I love the Oppo Sonica DAC, but it does not have a 3.5 mm for headphones.

Would it be damaging to both the DAC and/or the headphones (Sennheiser HD 600) if I were to use the analogue inputs for headphone listening (3.5mm female to phono male)?

My other potential DAC is the Emotiva DC-1, which does have 3.5mm for headphones in the front. I prefer the Oppo, for the Sabre DAC, but would consider the Emotiva DC-1 to pair with the Airmotiv 6 speakers. I am also curious about using powered speakers as well as using balanced cables, which is driving my purchase decision.

Thank you for your help,
Joseph.

Welcome...I see you're getting some good feedback.

My 2 cents on the DAC thing.

There will be some audible differences from a DAC in a $100 CD player or an Ipod and a CD player that costs $1000, particularly with a good pair of speakers.

But you reach a point of depreciating returns pretty quickly imo...for instance using that same $1000 cd player...if you connected the CD player to a stand alone DAC that costs $10,000 it would be difficult to know which DAC is playing in a blind test.

 

[jmalecki05]

Thank you for politely responding to my (obvious) newness to DA converters. My question was dumb, and should have thought more intelligently before hitting submit.

I appreciate the clarifications on DACs and all forum responses thus far; great information!

As to the why -- I am looking into a D/A converter to use with my Mac Mini, as well as the Fiio X5 DAP. The location is a small bedroom / home office for the short term with the final location a larger living room. For aesthetics sake, I want to maintain as low a profile as reasonable in both rooms, hence the powered speakers / DAC / Mac Mini layout. Critical listening is not as important for this instance. This setup is secondary to my existing hi-fi setup. The Emotiva and the Oppo are in consideration for potential future use. I like the appearance of both models, and appreciate the network capabilities of the Sonica. The headphone amp is not crucial in this setup.

 

[2channel lover]

Dumb questions are those not asked.

I have the Oppo UDP205 which has dual Sabres in it...love it....subtle but there is more detail in this source than my Rotel CD player which was good, but 20 yrs old now.

 

[Bucknekked]

As to the why -- I am looking into a D/A converter to use with my Mac Mini, as well as the Fiio X5 DAP. The headphone amp is not crucial in this setup.

I too use a Mac Mini for my sound system and in my case it feeds my main sound system.
Rather than buy a standalone DAC, when I upgrade my system in 2017 I chose a new Denon x4200W AVR that has one of Denon's best DACs (imo). The AVR is in the bottom of the equipment rack and it basically disappears because its black, the room is dimly lit, and well, its on the bottom of the rack.

The Mac Mini will drive headphones !. Since I do gaming occasionally as well, I have a very nice set of USB attached headphones that I plug right in to the Mini. Just another thought. Audio purists want 1/4 phono jacks because that used to be the audio standard but I'm not much of a purist these days. These days I use what sounds great. My gaming headphones, USB attached, sound great.

Just some observations and random information. Nothing earth shakin'. Enjoy