Why is there a DAC in wireless headphones?

radiorog

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As per title, why? I send a digital signal from my phone via bluetooth to my amp (with no internal DAC) so using the DAC in the phone, and music is made. So then why do my headphones need a DAC when sending the signal from my phone, via bluetooth, to them? The headphones I'll be using are B&W PX7. So if this is the case, is the digital signal going through 2 DACS? If thats the case surely the sound is going to be quite compromised.?
Thanks.
 

abacus

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Bluetooth is a digital transmission system, which means the analogue has to be converted to digital before transmission and converted back to analogue at the other end. (This is why both your phone and amplifier have a Bluetooth transceiver built in)

Bill
 
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radiorog

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Bluetooth is a digital transmission system, which means the analogue has to be converted to digital before transmission and converted back to analogue at the other end. (This is why both your phone and amplifier have a Bluetooth transceiver built in)

Bill
Cheers Bill, but my amplifier doesnt have one.
Or maybe it does but this would be the first I've heard of it. Cant find any mention of one anywhere....
 
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abacus

Well-known member
If your amp does not have a Bluetooth transceiver built in (Or a separate Bluetooth Dongle) then it cannot playback any music from a Bluetooth device unless the device is plugged directly into the amp. (Which means Bluetooth is not being used)
What amp is it?

Bill
 

radiorog

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Ok cool, so looks like it must have a DAC then. Cant believe Ive only just realised this.
How come my nexus tablet sounds so different (its all relative) to my S8 phone? Is it simply because the S8 uses AtpX almost HD, but the tablet uses plain bluetooth? I had originally attributed it to the different DACS and the bluetooth signals (I now know its not the different DACS).
 
Ok cool, so looks like it must have a DAC then. Cant believe Ive only just realised this.
How come my nexus tablet sounds so different (its all relative) to my S8 phone? Is it simply because the S8 uses AtpX almost HD, but the tablet uses plain bluetooth? I had originally attributed it to the different DACS and the bluetooth signals (I now know its not the different DACS).
It's probably just a codec converting chip rather than a full blown DAC board that would allow differing digital connections that the K3 doesn't have.
 
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