Hey guys,

I have been searching around reading about dac technology but I can't seem to find out things that effect what we hear in weights. Jitter I know is much less of a problem than people say, so what all goes into what I should consider on the internal workings of a dac to upgrade my total bithead? And which aspects to place more emphasis on?

Also, I noticed that in order to use the microdac from headroom for example, you have to have an amp just for volume control. Is there another way of doing this since I will be using a new dac with er-4s and won't need an amp (I don't think ).

I usually don't have a problem finding out which things are mathmatically needed for a purpose when buying a digital product but I can't seem to get past the smoke cloud with dacs. I am looking for accuracy here not, "sounds full."

Thanks for all the knowledge everyone!

A DAC is not designed to power headphones. It may have some sort of opamp but will be designed to go to a line in with a high input impedence. So you shoudn't rely on it to work with headphones without significant distortion. It is very rare for DACs to come with volume controls also.
In general amplification introduces more distortion than DACs.
You are probably best off getting an amp instead of a DAC. Or both or neither.

Personally I find the er4s is a headphone for a purpose and not hi-fi enough for me to appreciate good DACs and amps and I usually just plug it in to a headphone out.

It has a nearly flat frequency response and is very fast. For reproducing a recording accurately what would be better? And for reproducing recordings with ones own sound engine using head functions, an IEM is a nessesity.

These are far more accurate and quicker than my hd650's, perhaps some of that has to do with the air between my ear and 650's but I don't have that kind of knowledge.

So if amplification is going to introduce more distortion that the dac why would I not consider using the dac with a separate volume control, considering all the amp is going to do is add distortion apparently... I don't understand.

A DAC with a separate volume control is a DAC with an amp.

The reason you need an amp is because your headphones have only a few ohms impedance, and you can't drive something like that with a DAC. Without one, you won't hear anything.

Ah ok, well that makes sense, thanks. So do we have recommendations here on dacs less than 1000 dollars or more preferably dac+amp combos (portable). I know the microdac and amp at headroom seems well designed. Is there anything more ACCURATE for the price 600 bucks? Have they not reached a point where there are dacs that are considered as good as it will get? So where is the point of extreme diminishing returns? is that anything above the micro?

My recommendation would be not to spend so much on a DAC and a headphone amp ! Perfect results can be achieved for much less money.

What would give these results?