Folklore #5: High Power CPU Is Better Than XXX Branded DAC Chip
If one has to postulate, a DAC chip being a specialised circuit and designed from the ground up for a purpose should be the best performing of the three. After all it is designed to do one job, and one job only - digital to audio conversion.
Things are never that simple. And it is entirely possible that a DAC can totally suck at doing that one single job.
At the end of the day, It is not a given that FPGA and CPU will automatically be better than DAC. Functionality will dictate your solution:
FPGA and/or CPU when you need pre or post processing besides pure digital to analog conversion
FPGA implementation over traditional DAC as the former can be firmware upgraded to support new formats
DAC when you do not need the bells and whistles.
Personally I’m choosing the DAC route. There are good redbook. PCM and DSD materials, as there are bad ones. Instead of using FPGA and CPU slutions to make all music sound better, I’m playing music ranging from the very good to the extremely bad. This is me, personally I cannot appreciate the good without knowing the bad.
Founder and lead architect of Snakeoil OS - the ultimate audiophile operating system for music playback. My primary focus is in applying technology without losing the human touch.
