KEF LS50 Wireless Internal vs External DAC ??


I am finding my KEF LS50 Wireless to sound warmer, fuller, and more spacious, with better resolution of image location, when running my streamer (Audio Alchemy DMP-1/PS-5 power supply) to Audio Alchemy DDP-1 DAC/Preamp into its RCA inputs (which are then internally converted via ADC and again DAC) than I am running my streamer direct to the speakers via USB.
Given the numerous redundant conversions at play, I speculate that the ADC conversion is so much more transparent than I imagined and that the internal DAC in the KEFs is so much worse than I expected that I would recommend others use a high-quality external DAC with these speakers (even if they are to be internally re-DACed within them). 
Anyone have this experience?? Thoughts??
transience

Showing 5 responses by guidodg

After having read the reports about sound quality using the RCA inputs and an external DAC on these speakers I tried it myself and am pleasantly surprised by the results.

I am using a heavily modified Yulong DA8 DAC and definitely feel there is an improvement in detail retrieval and overall sound quality compared to using the USB input on these speakers.

I have no idea why this is the case, especially bearing in mind that the RCA analog inputs are resampled by the internal DAC of the speakers...
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I tested he analog RCA inputs vs the PC inputs again.

The analog RCA inputs fed by my Aries Femto streamer > Yulong D8 [highly modified] DAC sound way better than the Aries straight into the PC [USB] inputs or using the KEF app as a streamer.

It is not even close....there is so much more warmth, realism ...everything improves through the analog inputs even though I know the analog signal is resampled by the KEFs DAC .

Obviously this analog signal I am sending the KEFs is of a much higher quality then the one decoded by only the KEFs DAC.....

The ADC in the KEFs seems to be incredibly transparent and lets in any benefits from using a high end streamer and DAC

..another advantage of using the RCA inputs is that one can take full advantage of the DSD and upsampling features of an external DAC instead of being limited to 192 on the USB input...
as usual lots of answers from people that do not own the speakers, have never tried them or even listened to them...:)