Do I need to have a DAC and an Amp, or only an Amp?


Music lovers know this: the quality of reproduction of a HIFI system depends as much on the speakers as on the amplifier which is aimed at fully reproducing all the nuances of a musical signal, and restore all the dynamics.

And in this case, everyone is trying to find the best option and reasonably faces the main question in this matter, “Choose an amplifier with or without a DAC?”

The digital format audio is commonplace

Music in digital format is everywhere and HQ music files have attracted a large audience. Also, streaming services are flourishing at a breakneck pace, and it would be foolish not to use the full potential of these platforms.

The conversion of these media and their digital audio streams to the analog audio signal is done by DACs.Do I need to have a DAC and an Amp, or only an Amp?3

And therefore, there is an opinion that only the best DAC that will give the perfect sound, but this is not entirely true since both the DAC and related components determine the quality of the analog signal, which will then be received by your HiFi system. It is impossible to exclude something from this chain.

Improve the audio quality of a music platform

To convert the digital information written on a media, a player uses an integrated DAC. This analog audio signal, even resulting from a good conversion, will have to be all the better processed by the other components of the DAC to give a rendering whose quality stands out when listening.

And this is true for a PC or a music platform: the built-in converters often show their limits when you listen to HQ music files. Thus, a DAC can transform the sound ensuring a more qualitative conversion of the digital stream.Do I need to have a DAC and an Amp, or only an Amp?2

And all there are scenarios for using a conventional amplifier

Now HiFi electronics and especially home cinemas digitize all or part of the audio signals they receive. A digital amplifier, which passes the signal to analog in the last amplification step, will, therefore, work better if it is directly supplied with a digital signal.

This is also the case for some Home Cinema receivers or devices that use a digital processor for acoustic correction and digitize the signal. Adding a DAC will only convert the signal to analog is not necessary.