Welcoming a DAC into your life can radically improve your enjoyment of music, says managing editor Becky Roberts
If you haven’t heard of a “DAC”, don’t worry; most people haven’t. The thing is, it is one of the best ways to improve the quality of the digital music we consume every day, whether that be through a phone, laptop or proper audio system.
We have a whole explainer on what a DAC is and does at What Hi-Fi?’s website (whf.cm/DACexplained), but essentially it’s a device – available in all shapes and sizes and at all kinds of prices – that converts a digital audio signal (a Spotify stream or local music file playing on your phone, say) to an analogue audio signal so that it can be output (ie: listened to) through speakers or if it has a headphone socket output (which most do), a pair of headphones. This explains its full name – Digital to Analogue Converter.
It’s likely you will own at least one device with a DAC inside – any digital kit you have with a 3.5mm headphone port, such as a laptop, TV, phone or tablet – but the converters built into these everyday devices, and even digital hi-fi components, aren’t typically of high quality – and therefore music doesn’t sound all that great after it has been passed through (and converted by) them. Getting a decent external DAC can remedy that and help you enjoy your music more. It could make more of a difference to your music enjoyment than any other purchase. Here’s why now is a particularly good time to invest in one…
They work across multiple devices
Now that USB-C is becoming more and more ubiquitous in the consumer electronics market (even the iPhone is heading that way soon), more and more DACs have USB-C inputs, making them more universal across multiple types of devices than ever before. That means you can use one DAC for your Android phone, laptop and iPad if you like. Even USB stick-like (USB-A) DACs – and older ones with USB-B inputs, for that matter – can easily be made compatible with USB-C devices these days thanks to the increasingly common, discreet and cheap adapters that can attach to the end of it, enabling the DAC to plug into your device. USB-A DACs are just as easy to make compatible with iPhones, too, via Apple’s Lightning-to-USB camera adaptor. Whether they are primarily designed to or not, many DACs designed first and foremost for portable/desktop use can also slot into hi-fi systems without too much faff as well.
They are becoming less reliant on wires
Most DACs with built-in headphone ampli
