Cheap Dac suggestions

[plastic penguin]

My daughter wants to connect her lap top to the Leema, as it's her birthday in two weeks. She's buying it but it has to be sub-£100. She uses a Jam Hangaround Bluetooth speaker but wants a better sound.

Bear in mind the amp has no digital connectivity.

Cheers.

 

[gasolin]

topping

 

[jjbomber]

As always, Behringer UCA222 for £20 or thereabouts. Add a phono lead to that price if she doesn't have one spare.

Behringer | Product | UCA222

www.behringer.com

 

[plastic penguin]

topping

Any particular model for the budget?

 

[plastic penguin]

As always, Behringer UCA222 for £20 or thereabouts. Add a phono lead to that price if she doesn't have one spare.

Behringer | Product | UCA222

www.behringer.com

When you say add a phono lead, is that just bog standard RCAs? Should have a set in the hi-fi drawer or Ican use the ones from the tuner.

 

[plastic penguin]

Anyone with experience with Pro-ject Dac E Box? They are selling for around £50-70.

 

[jjbomber]

When you say add a phono lead, is that just bog standard RCAs? Should have a set in the hi-fi drawer or I can use the ones from the tuner.

Exactly that. The Behringer has analogue outputs as well as digital. From the photo in the link, they are the top two connections on the right.

 

[nopiano]

An Audioquest Dragonfly is well under £100 - often sold used, cheaper still - and can later be used for headphones while travelling (say). All you need to connect to your Hi-Fi is a stereo 3.5mm to two RCA phono cable, available any length you need.

 

[nopiano]

PS. Avoid the Cobalt version as I don’t think it’s worth the extra. Red or Black is fine.

https://www.whathifi.com/audioquest/dragonfly-black-v15/review

 

[twinkletoes]

My daughter wants to connect her lap top to the Leema, as it's her birthday in two weeks. She's buying it but it has to be sub-£100. She uses a Jam Hangaround Bluetooth speaker but wants a better sound.

Bear in mind the amp has no digital connectivity.

Cheers.

The laptop already has one built in, suspect all you really need is a 3.5mm to RCA splitter.
2 quid should do it from amazon

Or find a chrome cast audio on the ebay

or if you want something nice there are plenty of dongle dac's out there to suit everybody's pocket

 

[plastic penguin]

Thanks guys. She's seen the options you've suggested, it's down to her whether to buy a Dac or use the built-in one.

She has a huge Spotify playlist on her PC.

 

[Mcc]

Can I suggest the Airplay 2 Wiim mini, plus a 3.5 mom jack to rca. you get Bluetooth , usb and WiFi for £89. Bit more future proof and the Dac spec looks good too
mm. Not mom

 

[plastic penguin]

Can I suggest the Airplay 2 Wiim mini, plus a 3.5 mom jack to rca. you get Bluetooth , usb and WiFi for £89. Bit more future proof and the Dac spec looks good too
mm. Not mom

It's only occasional use with the full-size amp. We've already got wifi from the router. But that doesn't help with a basic analogue amp such as I have. And it should sound much better than my daughter using a tiny Bluetooth speaker.

 

[Mcc]

It's only occasional use with the full-size amp. We've already got wifi from the router. But that doesn't help with a basic analogue amp such as I have. And it should sound much better than my daughter using a tiny Bluetooth speaker.

Not sure why not. A jack from the mini to the Leema amp, presumably rca connection in. usb or Bluetooth from the laptop, or even WiFi if the laptop is networked.

 

[plastic penguin]

My daughter has ordered a cable for her PC and amp. No idea yet what she ordered, but hey-ho. From Amazon should only take a couple of days to be delivered.

Her Birthday is on the 4th Nov let's see how it sounds when it arrives.

 

[doifeellucky]

I appreciate she’s already ordered but for a laptop a Zen Air DAC for £99 might be a good option. In my office I use the Zen DAC V2 connected to my PC plugged into a budget Class D amp.

However for what is likely to be a one off use 3.5mm to RCA out of the headphone socket is probably all you need.

I personally wouldn’t bother with the Wiim Mini as the inbuilt DAC, which you’d have to use via the aux out, is probably no better than the one in the laptop. Optical out to a DAC is how the Wiim Mini should be used.