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bataras
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Jan 11, 2015
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ShpetzI just bought an Audioengine B1 and have been comparing it's DAC to various devices. The B1 has the same DAC as the D1 but the B1 does aptx bluetooth streaming which sounds damn good using Tidal from my Galaxy S4. I'd love to try the D1 with USB instead of bluetooth because I'm really curious what difference there might be between FLAC over USB vs aptx all else being equal (DAC, amp, speakers, wires etc).
I have compared the Audioengine D1 DAC and sound via headphones to these devices:
Audioengine D1 $169 AKM AK4396 (same as the B1) Parasound zdac v2 $499 Analog Devices AD1853 Marantz HD-DAC1 $799 Cirrus CS4398
I have compared just the DAC part of Audioengine to the above devices and also the 2 devices below.
Onkyo TX-NR626 $299 TI Burr-Brown for all channels Visio S3820W-C0 $99 DAC unknown
2 days ago, I went to an audio store and compared the Audioengine D1 to the Parasound and Marantz using a $400 Sennheiser headset, FLAC streamed in via coax. I have to say I tried really hard, switching back and forth between them at the same volume level and I couldn't detect a difference with a nice dynamic recording of a Stevie Ray Vaughn track on loop. Maybe with harder-to-drive headphones, super high volumes etc it might make a difference. But that could be unrelated to the DAC part.
So my guess is you won't be able to detect any difference in the D1 vs the xDuoo unless you're driving super expensive headphones and you're really doing a/b switch testing. I like the looks of the xDuoo more for sure.
What is the return policy here on Massdrop? I would buy a D1 on Amazon and return it for cost of shipping (what 5$?) and just compare them side by side.
I have compared the Audioengine D1 DAC and sound via headphones to these devices:
Audioengine D1 $169 AKM AK4396 (same as the B1) Parasound zdac v2 $499 Analog Devices AD1853 Marantz HD-DAC1 $799 Cirrus CS4398
I have compared just the DAC part of Audioengine to the above devices and also the 2 devices below.
Onkyo TX-NR626 $299 TI Burr-Brown for all channels Visio S3820W-C0 $99 DAC unknown
2 days ago, I went to an audio store and compared the Audioengine D1 to the Parasound and Marantz using a $400 Sennheiser headset, FLAC streamed in via coax. I have to say I tried really hard, switching back and forth between them at the same volume level and I couldn't detect a difference with a nice dynamic recording of a Stevie Ray Vaughn track on loop. Maybe with harder-to-drive headphones, super high volumes etc it might make a difference. But that could be unrelated to the DAC part.
So my guess is you won't be able to detect any difference in the D1 vs the xDuoo unless you're driving super expensive headphones and you're really doing a/b switch testing. I like the looks of the xDuoo more for sure.
What is the return policy here on Massdrop? I would buy a D1 on Amazon and return it for cost of shipping (what 5$?) and just compare them side by side.
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