patmasse17No. The Audioengine A5(+) are powered speakers, i.e. they have an integrated amplifier, and are only fed a line-in signal. The SMSL here is an integrated DAC/amplifier and meant to power speakers directly. You cannot use the DAC part and connect this to the Audioengines - there is no line out.
gzost Ok Thanks, I have the AudioEngine A5+ and also the ATH M50X & AKG K7xx headphones and I’m looking for the best DAC/AMP for both ( speakers and Headphones)…. Any suggestion? (not to cheap and not to expensive solution). Thanks in advance…
patmasse17"The best" is very subjective, I'm afraid. But it does help to know what you're looking for! You need a DAC/headphone amp, with line out. I suggest reading about products on head-fi.org to get a feel for your options.
patmasse17What about the FiiO E10K drop that is currently running? It's got both a line out and 3.5mm headphone jack to connect your gear. It's not the best you can get, but pretty good for the price.
patmasse17Look at the Schitt Fulla 2 it's a DAC/Amp with line out, pre out for your powered speakers, and a headphone out. Pretty sure it's 99 on Schitts website and free shipping. It has a lot of quirks but they don't affect the sound.
patmasse17Just keep in mind with your powered speakers you'll be controlling volume from the back of the speaker and or source output. With the fulla2ypu can control everything from one knob.
Feb 8, 2017
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May 19, 2017
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KelephantOr he could control the input volume with a pc or phone/mp3/flac player.
One could certainly do that, but in the pursuit of the best audio quality, it's a step in the wrong direction. Essentially, the only way to reduce volume digitally is to reduce bit-depth. The higher the bit-depth, the better the potential signal-to-noise ratio. I.e., the bigger difference there *can* be between peak signal and the noise floor. When you turn the volume down digitally, you reduce that difference. So if, for example, you're buying 24- or 32-bit DACs, you might as well throw them in the trash if you adjust the volume digitally.
The typical consumer will never notice the difference, but we're not in the Massdrop Typical Consumer community... this is the Audiophile community!
And if you're wondering, turning the volume down with an analog control is, in fact, different. As long as it's not introducing its own noise (poor quality connections, scratchy potentiometers, etc.), it lowers the volume peaks as well as the noise floor together.
May 19, 2017
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Jun 7, 2017
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DaedYou are correct when talking about mp3 players and likely phones.
As for PC; Bit depth would indeed narrow by digitally lowering the volume, however, you're presenting a bit of an outdated argument. IIRC, OSX and Windows from Vista on up samples everything to a 32 bit stream internally. The resolution loss still occurs when adjusting volume, but now it just happens within a very very acceptable margin. Source: http://blog.szynalski.com/2009/11/an-audiophiles-look-at-the-audio-stack-in-windows-vista-and-7/
Jun 7, 2017
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Jun 9, 2017
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It seems there is no actual DAC chip in this device, I can't find it in the specs. Could someone explain to me how it works?
I'm not sure there is actually a DAC before the amplifier section. It functions as if there is one, though. I'm given to understand that a digital amp can take a digital signal directly, and would have to use an ADC if using an analog signal. But it ultimately IS a DAC, as it takes a digital signal and outputs an analog signal. Well, I haven't put it on an oscilloscope, but I like to think I'd know it if I were listening to nothing but square waves.