USB DAC - Budget £100 - Worth It?

[GregE240]

Morning all

I listen to a lot of music from a media centre desktop PC in my office - I'm home based. It runs W7.

Having just upgraded the speakers I'm now looking at maybe adding a USB DAC to try and tighten the output up - its a SFF PC so it doesn't have a sound card per se, just a SoundMax chip.

Has anyone done this, and if so, would you recommend it? What would you recommend? Theres a couple I'm looking at, ranging from about £25 upwards. I don't want to spend more than £100, because frankly, I just don't think I could justify it based on the kit.

All my audio is lossless ALAC or FLAC.

Thanks,
Greg

[GregE240]

[Crackie]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOPPING-D20-PCM1793-High...

I've not heard one but I've seen some good reviews for this DAC and Topping's amps. It uses good TI clock and converter chips plus Nichicon and Panasonic audio caps in the power supply and output stages. The internal build & PCB layout looks very good so I'm thinking of getting one myself to feed a digital subwoofer I'm working on.

[JimbobVFR]

What amp/speakers are you using.

I've got a Behringer UCA202 which I found to be an excellent upgrade for feeding my laptops sound to my stereo, much better than the internal sound and well the relatively small price.

[Dr G]

I have a Fiio E10 and on the strength of its performance a colleague just bought the desktop equivalent (same DAC minus the amp) for home use.

All of their products review well and are reasonably priced.

[aizvara]

I like the Fiio E10 too. It was bought to be used in a project of mine, but it's been plugged into my computer ever since I first tried it out.

I've also heard good things of (though not actually heard) the ODAC/Epiphany E-DAC.

[GregE240]

Cheers chaps - have opted for a Behringer UCA202. That Topping looks very good though - a future upgrade, perhaps?

[GregE240]

That was my Plan B Graphene! Again, gets fab reviews.

[marctwo]

Here is the cheap option.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Behringer-U-CONTROL-UCA2...

[marcgti6]

The new Cambridge Audio DACMAGIC-XS gets good reviews and comes in bang on budget @ £100.00 - http://www.richersounds.com/product/dacs/cambridge...

[GregE240]

marcgti6 said:

The new Cambridge Audio DACMAGIC-XS gets good reviews and comes in bang on budget @ £100.00 - http://www.richersounds.com/product/dacs/cambridge...

Marc, that looks great, but ideally I want a line out from the DAC rather than a variable headphone output?

I've dipped my toe in metaphorically with the Behringer UCA202 just to see what difference it makes to my rig. Then if needs be, I'll go a bit more upmarket.

Cheers
Greg

[marcgti6]

Sorry Greg, I can't really be of much more help if I'm honest.

I like my hi-fi but have never really used DAC's. I was just reading a review of the DAC that I linked about ten minutes before I read your post!

Cheers

[The_Burg]

I own 2 DACs a Musical Fidelity X-24 and Cambridge XDAC.

Never really seemed to sound quite right, replaced the soundcard with a Asus Xonar, can't remember the model but it has a user changeable op amp. Only use the digital output so can't comment on the analogue side. This come with a half height adaptor, cost £50 ish.

The difference between this and the onboard soundmax digital output was staggering. I have no idea why and it makes no logical sense.

[GregE240]

Afternoon all,

I thought I'd follow up after having the Behringer in place for just over 24 hours now. Well. What a difference!

I have connected it via USB, with a dual RCA connector going in to the front 3.5mm line in of my speakers. Compared to my laptop, which is just a 3.5mm cable out the side, the difference is exactly what I wanted. Vocals have gained clarity, and the whole sound stage is far more refined and defined. I'm impressed.

For £25 it's a no brainer. Pleased as!