Best Dac´s through USB input

[nbaptista]

Hello all,

I have the original DacMagic and I want to upgrade it. Mainly I listen music with my PC, so USB input is very important. The Dac´s that are in my short list is the Rega Dac and DacMagic Plus. The Rega is USB adaptive, so I wonder if the Asynchronous USB DacMagic Plus is a better choice?With a transport I think Rega is the one to choose, but I´m interested only listen music with the PC through the USB input, as I said!

 

[Anonymous]

Some high rated usb soundcards could be the HRT Music Streamer II + and the Bladelius USB DAC - both excellent choices.

 

[poldo]

Good question, I do the same, usb --> mac pro, my mf v-dac is a lot worse compared to my Moon cd player so I need a good USB dac too.

The HTR is nice, but has no power supply, Ayre usb dac is one of the best but maybe the Exposure 2010s2 dac is an option too, it has async. usb + some extra features like headphone, pre amp and 2 toslink to upgrade the blu ray player or game console.

I am going to demo the exposure dac next week.

 

[eternaloptimist]

I put a vote in for the Wyred-4-Sound Dac2. Fantastic DAC (though I would say that - see sig).

Asynchronous USB, all sample rates to 192 etc.

Wouldn't win a beauty contest though!

 

[Helmut80]

updated MF M1 has decent USB now

 

[paradiziac]

A USB converter is also an upgrade option...it is said that even some DACs with 24/96 async USB implementations sound better with a converter between computer and DAC. YMMV, obviously.

Just that it's the implementation rather than the list of features on the box, you can't just assume that async + 24/96 is automatically going to sound better.

What do you feel are the DACMagic's shortcomings?

 

[nbaptista]

What do you feel are the DACMagic's shortcomings?

the USB is synchronous and I would like a more refined sound

 

[tino]

This looks like it's going to be a belter ... Wadia 121

... if it ever gets released that is. Word is early this year.

 

[DIB]

At the Chord demonstration at last years Manchester show, they used the Naim DAC for their Coax cables, but switched to the Arcam DAC for the USB cables demo. I asked them why and they said they preferred the considerably cheaper Arcam for USB playback.

.

 

[paradiziac]

In my experience, greater refinement comes with a better powersupply to the DAC, galvanic isolation between computer and DAC, quality of the clock/clocks, better output stage of the DAC (look for discrete Class A [Rega, M-DAC] rather than op-amps/on-chip output stage).

All these things cost money so for a significant upgrade I'd be looking at the M-DAC or above. Rega + converter could be OK too. A slightly cheaper option is the Audio-gd NFB-2 (or 3)--very refined DAC indeed (use it with converter).

 

[CJSF]

I'm no expert, however I use the HRT to feed USB to my Valve line stage amp. I chose it for its simplicity, price and excellent WHF review, I'm more than happy with the sound quality.

CJSF

 

[albireo]

Hrt Music Streamer II+.

 

[poldo]

HRT is good budget , but has no power supply, I would opt for the new Exposure dac it is very good.

 

[Anonymous]

What do you feel are the DACMagic's shortcomings?

the USB is synchronous and I would like a more refined sound

To clarify, the original DacMagic USB input is adaptive, not synchronous as suggested above.

The DacMagic Plus USB input is fully asynchronous.

 

[Larry]

There are tons of DAC´s around, what is the max budget and size ? The new Hegel HD11 is kind of basic looking but I read a good first impression on it. It´s a 32 bit DAC for easy computer use, plug & play.

 

[mikicasellas]

Hi,

Anyone know how do the Calyx compare with the MDAC audiolab?

Cheers!

:cheers:

 

[shafesk]

Hello all,

I have the original DacMagic and I want to upgrade it. Mainly I listen music with my PC, so USB input is very important. The Dac´s that are in my short list is the Rega Dac and DacMagic Plus. The Rega is USB adaptive, so I wonder if the Asynchronous USB DacMagic Plus is a better choice?With a transport I think Rega is the one to choose, but I´m interested only listen music with the PC through the USB input, as I said!

Hi nbaptista! As you can see I have an Hrt Music Streamer 2+ for my headphone setup which is a usb only dac. I bought it over a year ago and the dac was around way before the asynchronous trend started. In my opinion if you want a usb only dac which sounds great then Hrts are great. It sounds better than my dacmagic through usb. Usb vs usb (Dm vs Hrt) its really no comparison, the Hrt has a dynamic full blooded sound and brings up the clarity of the dacmagic in question. Things are close when I use optical on the dacmagic but yet the hrt is more detailed. If you like to toe tap this is a good dac and I believe a good deal cheaper than the rega (just to let you know I haven't heard the rega via usb, only optical and didn't do a direct comparison but its a smoother sounding dac)

Hope it helps,

Shafin