TEAC AI-301DA Integrated Amplifier w/ USB DAC Discussions | Drop

TEAC AI-301DA Integrated Amplifier w/ USB DAC

Showing 1 of 64 conversations about:

Dec 17, 2017

I can't quite tell, does this have balanced outputs? Could I use this as a DAC for, say, the Little Dot III SE that's dropping right now? Thanks!

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Dec 18, 2017

Yeah, I've been looking for a balanced dac for not long, nothing will come of it, probably. The cheapest one I've found is the Schiit Gungir, and I was leery at spending $850 for a dac. And that's before considering that I'm planning for probably years out with this one. If you know of a good one, I'd appreciate it so I can keep an eye out for any sales.

ProfessorPat

380

Dec 19, 2017

StarPupilThe Emotiva DC-1 is $500, full differential. There are a few things cheaper than a Gungnir, but proper differential circuitry is pretty expensive to do.
As I say any time it comes up though, "balanced" tech itself is basically pointless for headphone use. The things that are capable of it may be great stuff (never heard an Emotiva product I didn't like), but differential circuitry is meant for long run, high noise applications, where you need active noise rejection, not to better your short headphone runs in a quiet listening room.

Dec 19, 2017

ProfessorPatAh. So this is one instance where the people who claim to be able to hear a difference are probably drinking the snake oil?

ProfessorPat

380

Dec 20, 2017

StarPupilI mean, psychoacoustics are real, and if you believe it will be better, it may actually be better to you than an otherwise equivalent single ended amp, but the main purpose of that design is to reject noise. Good power supplies, shielding, cables, etc. will reject enough noise that you shouldn’t be having to do any active rejection in a run as short as your average headphone amp/cable sees. That’s not to say you can’t benefit, or that balanced amplifiers are worse, but it shouldn’t be expected to be inherently superior purely because it has an XLR jack in it. There are certainly some balanced amps that are superior, but don’t expect something to be superior just because it’s “balanced” (especially if it’s not actually balanced... lots of things just have phase splitters stuck in somewhere with halfhearted “balancing” as a sales gimmick).

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Dec 20, 2017

ProfessorPatAlright, thanks! I'll probably pick up a Valhalla 2 or something to see what tubes are like, and pinch some pennies until I can demo a balanced setup, see if I can hear any differences.

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