Level Up Your Audio Equipment

Whether for listening to music or for Skyping with a friend, earphones/headphones have quickly become integral parts of our lives. In case you were wondering how to attain a more immersive audio experience, this article should provide you with the basics. 

Mechanism of audio equipment:
Audio signal from a source is processed by either a sound card or a combination of a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) and an amplifier. A DAC is an electronic processor that converts digital audio signal into analog that can then be sent to either an amplifier or an audio output device. The better the DAC, the closer the sound quality will be to how it was originally intended to be. On the other hand, amplifiers are self-explanatory – it amplifies the audio signal received from the DAC and sends it to the connected headphones/earphones. The need for an amplifier is determined by a headphone's impedance rating (32ohm, 80ohm, 250ohm etc.)

which is basically the amount of resistance posed by the headphones when outputting the signal from the amplifier. Headphones with low impedance like 32ohm work fine even without a dedicated amplifier but 250ohm headphones won't produce a high enough volume level in the absence of an amplifier. So whether upgrading the amplifier will help is determined by the headphones intended for it. A sound card has both a DAC and an amplifier on it but it is not quite as capable as dedicated DACs and amplifiers.

Upgrading audio processors:
Computers and mobile devices come with sound cards by default. Integrated sound cards on computers are the most basic audio processors available. If you're still using onboard audio, we strongly recommend that you upgrade to a basic discrete sound card like the ASUS Xonar DGX which will produce noticeably better sound without breaking the bank. But if you already have a discrete sound card and yet crave for better sound, we recommend upgrading either to a better discrete sound card (like the ASUS Xonar Essence STX) or a new DAC/amp combo (like the JDS Labs O2+ODAC combo), depending on your budget. If you want better sound quality on your mobile device, you may opt for a portable DAC/amp combo.

Upgrading headphones:
Each headphone has its distinct flavor of sound and each user has their own preferences. This is something that cannot be quantified so this is very much subject to the buyer's preference. There are other factors that can be pre-decided and used as a benchmark to select a pair of headphones. For example, the scope becomes narrower if it is decided beforehand whether or not the user requires earphones, on-ear headphones, full-size headphones or noise-cancelling headphones. Headphones may also be filtered based on criteria like bass performance, sealed or open backsides, durability, comfort and weight, cable dressing and length, noise isolation etc. according to the user's taste and aptitude. Details on these criteria should be looked into for making a more informed purchase decision. Obviously, the best way to decide on a headphone is to actually experience it. But that is impossible in most cases so we recommend consulting reviews of headphones to get a feel of how they might perform. Google is always there to help, but www.overclock.net and www.head-fi.org are specifically very resourceful for information for popular audio equipment.
As for our recommendations, Xiaomi Pistons have an amazing price to performance ratio among recent earphones. As for headphones, we recommend Creative Aurvana Live!, and for a higher budget, Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro 250Ohm.

Pro tips: 
1. Avoid headsets (headphones+microphone combo).
2. Avoid audio equipment manufactured by gaming brands such as Razer, Steelseries, Corsair, Thermaltake, etc unless you're really into competitive gaming.
3. Avoid brands like Bose and BeatsAudio. They have the absolute worst price to performance ratio and in no way provides the best experience.
By now, you should have a basic idea on how to proceed with your next audio purchase/upgrade. But admittedly, such an elaborate topic requires extensive research to lead to the perfect purchase decision, which is why we recommend that you visit the aforementioned websites before you buy.