05-29-2021, 01:47 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-29-2021, 10:17 PM by Miss Sissy Princess.
Edit Reason: Perfectionist writer/editor stuff.
)
I did some more research.
Looking at measured performance of the Khadas Tone Board, I am skeptical of the notion that you could audibly improve your sound quality by changing to another DAC, whether to the Loxjie D30 or one of the Toppings. Mind you, I'm still not a fan of the Khadas Tone Board, but I have a begrudging respect for it having seen the results if instrumented testing.
I know that audiophiles often report near-religious experiences when changing DACs. But most people hear differences when they expect to, even if there are no audible differences. If I put two different DACs on a shelf (maybe including one with a pair of glowing vacuum tubes), most audiophiles would "hear" a difference when I "switched" between them -- even if I never really made the switch and, instead, just momentarily muted the audio.
If you want the fun of buying new gear, want some new feature in your DAC, or just want new gear to inspire you to do some more listening, that's fine. I've bought gear for all of those reasons. But if it's important to you to get an audible (vs. imagined) improvement, then get a friend to help you do blind testing to prove to yourself that you really can hear a difference. If not, then Amazon's generous return policies might be your friend.
Please don't take any of what I wrote as a criticism of you, your hearing, your listening skills, your source music, or your audio system. We're all subject to expectation bias, fleeting audio memory, and other factors that lead us to hear differences when there are none. Here's a great read on the topic, entitled What We Hear.
Looking at measured performance of the Khadas Tone Board, I am skeptical of the notion that you could audibly improve your sound quality by changing to another DAC, whether to the Loxjie D30 or one of the Toppings. Mind you, I'm still not a fan of the Khadas Tone Board, but I have a begrudging respect for it having seen the results if instrumented testing.
I know that audiophiles often report near-religious experiences when changing DACs. But most people hear differences when they expect to, even if there are no audible differences. If I put two different DACs on a shelf (maybe including one with a pair of glowing vacuum tubes), most audiophiles would "hear" a difference when I "switched" between them -- even if I never really made the switch and, instead, just momentarily muted the audio.
If you want the fun of buying new gear, want some new feature in your DAC, or just want new gear to inspire you to do some more listening, that's fine. I've bought gear for all of those reasons. But if it's important to you to get an audible (vs. imagined) improvement, then get a friend to help you do blind testing to prove to yourself that you really can hear a difference. If not, then Amazon's generous return policies might be your friend.
Please don't take any of what I wrote as a criticism of you, your hearing, your listening skills, your source music, or your audio system. We're all subject to expectation bias, fleeting audio memory, and other factors that lead us to hear differences when there are none. Here's a great read on the topic, entitled What We Hear.
Cheers,
Miss Sissy Princess
Miss Sissy Princess
