Budget DAC over running cables from headphone socket?

[ClydeFrog]

There are all kinds of high-end exotic DACs out there.

I'm wanting to connect a Mac Mini / NAS storage to Cambridge Audio stereo gear, leveraging files of at least CD quality not simply 128 kbs.

This is perhaps a naive or noob question but is there enough sonic difference between adding say a NuForce uDAC 2 via USB to RCA stereo over simply having a nice gold-plated, good quality headphone to RCA cable for peanuts?

I've a friend that claims on basic HP Windows 7 box, that the driver itself is the key element and DAC/cabling secondary.

Put another way, with a good driver, is standard digital to audio conversion good enough, presuming no interference, to skip needing a DAC?

Is the DAC like one of those 'go faster PC programs' that doesn't do much but makes buyer feel like everything's better even if the difference is little, or none, especially if they've paid a lot of money - like old Micromega CD that was a Philips CD player in a fancy box with French marketing to justify a massive mark up?

 

[professorhat]

A DAC is a digital to analogue converter. It converts the digital music files into an analogue signal your amplifier can understand. In my experience, upgrading your DAC in a streaming solution can bring quite a lot of benefit, especially over the DAC built into a standard laptop / Mac Mini - for one thing, just because it removes this process from the proximity of the computer's power supply unit.

However, your own experience is all that counts. Why not take your Mac Mini to a local dealer who stocks some external DACs and ask for a demo of them versus a straight 3.5mm to RCA phono cable so you can hear the difference for yourself?

 

[Anonymous]

However, your own experience is all that counts. Why not take your Mac Mini to a local dealer who stocks some external DACs and ask for a demo of them versus a straight 3.5mm to RCA phono cable so you can hear the difference for yourself?

This.

Plus I can strongly recommend you a Beresford DAC as I have one, the TC-7510 which is now discontinued I fear.

The new TC-7520 took its place but it should be a 7510 on steroids with the USB port.

 

[Anonymous]

loads of misinformation here

This is perhaps a naive or noob question but is there enough sonic difference between adding say a NuForce uDAC 2 via USB to RCA stereo over simply having a nice gold-plated, good quality headphone to RCA cable for peanuts?

"Enough" is something that only you can determine. However, do not use the headphone socket. Use the line-out. Putting line-level equipment on a headphone socket will give a sub-quality sound, and it just might destroy either the headphone amplifier or the input socket on the amplifier (unlikely, but possible).

I've a friend that claims on basic HP Windows 7 box, that the driver itself is the key element and DAC/cabling secondary.

Sure. I've also heard claims that using standard SATA cables to connect your harddisk will lead to inferior sound quality, or that using a $500 USB cable between PC and external harddrive will result in an audibly crisper bitstream.

Put another way, with a good driver, is standard digital to audio conversion good enough, presuming no interference, to skip needing a DAC?

The driver is the last component in the digital processing chain. It has nothing to do with the conversion to analog, other than that it shuffles audio data around. The DAC is the first component in the analog processing chain. To put it bluntly: your system will never sound better than the quality of the DAC.

Is the DAC like one of those 'go faster PC programs' that doesn't do much but makes buyer feel like everything's better even if the difference is little

Could be. Depends on the DAC, its price and the rest of the system.

like old Micromega CD that was a Philips CD player in a fancy box with French marketing to justify a massive mark up?

There are only three manufacturers of CD player transports: Philips, Sony and TEAC (I think). If only you could reduce every CD player to just the transport, like you can reduce a car to just its fuel type :|