Noise while using DAC

[rs1026]

Hi all,

Recently I purchased an audinst mini hd audio dac. Couple of years back I had also constructed a lm3886 based amplfier with 2 channels. The input to this amp is via a stereo jack. I converted the RCA line out of DAC to stereo female and connected the amplfier stereo jack(male) . I got a huge buzzing sound and there was no audio at all. I then connected the amp input to headphone output of the DAC and then things were ok. Is this buzzing sound because of some ground issues?

Headphone out of DAC is already amplified and it further gets amplfied by the chip amp, is this a better method or connecting to line out of dac directly is better, I had read some where that connecting to line out of DAC bypasses the headphone amp.

Which would give a better sound... If I need to use line out of DAC then I think I need to change stereo jack on amp to RCA male.. =>additional work..

Appreciate your inputs on this...

thanks..

 

[MajorFubar]

I converted the RCA line out of DAC to stereo female and connected the amplfier stereo jack(male) . I got a huge buzzing sound and there was no audio at all. I then connected the amp input to headphone output of the DAC and then things were ok. Is this buzzing sound because of some ground issues?

That would be the most likely cause. Bad earth in the cable somewhere. Regarding the sound, common concensus is that the most direct route with the least components in the signal path will give you the cleanest sound, so usually that means avoiding analogue volume controls and additional headphone circuitry. But what difference you hear in reality will vary from device to device. Maybe virtually none, may be a lot (but unlikely).