DAC for use with a Laptop music?

Jason36

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Hi Guys,

I'm looking into buying a DAC to use with my laptop (iTunes Apple Lossless Files and Spotify) music. This will be predominantly for use in my office whilst working with either my Grado SR80i's or Sennheiser IE6's.

I am ideally looking for something that is not too obtrusive as it will sit on the desk and will probably be used for 3 or 4 hours a day whilst I am in the office.

Not really sure on budget for this, but probably no more than £300.00, it would also need to have a USB connection as a minimum...but ideally would like co-axial and optical as well in case I ever decide to add it into my main HiFi system (this would be more important the more money I spend, of course). Initial ideas I have got are:

Firestone Fubar IV (do Firestone tend to have a winter sale at all)

Fiio E7 / E9 Combination (would I be right in thinking that with the right cable I could also use the E7 with an Apple iPad to improve the Sound?)

I was also thinking Arcam RDAC...but then realised this doesnt have an headphone out :-(

Any other suggestions or recommendations between the Fubar and Fiio?

Cheers
 

Jason36

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Cheers Snivilisaton,

That could definately be an option, however I wa ideally looking for something wth smaller dimensions (I believe the Beresford is pretty much full seperates box size), space is at a premium as it will have to sit on top of a work desk.....hence why I was looking at products like the Firestone and Fiio.

Not out of the question, just not ideal I'm afraid.
 

chebby

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Jason36 said:
I wa ideally looking for something wth smaller dimensions (I believe the Beresford is pretty much full seperates box size),...

It's about the size of a thick paperback book. (24cm x 11cm x 4cm including feet.)

It's less bulky than a DacMagic* (5.2cm x 21.5cm x 19cm)

*The DacMagic's case is actually just over twice the volume of the Beresford's case if you do the arithmetic.
 

Jason36

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chebby said:
Jason36 said:
I wa ideally looking for something wth smaller dimensions (I believe the Beresford is pretty much full seperates box size),...

It's about the size of a thick paperback book. (24cm x 11cm x 4cm including feet.)

It's less bulky than a DacMagic* (5.2cm x 21.5cm x 19cm)

*The DacMagic's case is actually just over twice the volume of the Beresford's case if you do the arithmetic.

Thanks Chebby,

There were no dimensions on the link previously provided...that definately makes it more of an option.
 

Jason36

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John Duncan said:
I can recommend the Fubar IV with Grados. Well within budget, so you may be able to add the Supplier power supply or move up to the plus version.

Now that's interesting:

The Fubar IV and Power Supply would come in at £297.58 as it stands today

The Fubar IV Plus would be £285.30

The IV Plus would be a good option because of the additional connection options, I could always add a Power Supply at a later date. How much of a difference does this make John?
 
A

Anonymous

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FYI.

The original Beresford (I have 2), and me and my HTC Desire HD phone.

IMG_8875.jpg
 

Jason36

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snivilisationism said:
FYI.

The original Beresford (I have 2), and me and my HTC Desire HD phone.

IMG_8875.jpg

Cheers Mate,

That does give me an idea of size and its not as big as I thought it was....I could definately accomodate it on the desk.

Does anyone know how the Beresford DAC compares against something like the Firestone Fubar IV / IV Plus?? Selling point on this could be the discounted price on the Fubar IV Plus in the Firestone December Sale. Dependng on the price drop it means I could also actually purchase the power supply as well.

I would suggest I would then have a pretty capable DAC and Headphone Amp for approx £300.00 to use with the Laptop.
 

Jason36

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Another thought with regards to this and probably way out of the park.....

If you have a DAC (for sake of argument the Fubar IV Plus) with USB connection and I connected say an Ipod / iPhone or iPad to the DAC using the supplied Apple Cable.......1) would the music play via the Fubar IV Plus through Headphones and 2) which DAC would I actually be using.....The Apple Internal DAC or the Fubar IV Plus? If it uses the Apple internal DAC is there anyway I can bypass this so the Fubar IV Plus will take over the conversion of the music?

:help:
 

John Duncan

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Jason36 said:
If you have a DAC (for sake of argument the Fubar IV Plus) with USB connection and I connected say an Ipod / iPhone or iPad to the DAC using the supplied Apple Cable.......1) would the music play via the Fubar IV Plus through Headphones

No, which kind of makes your second question redundant. You would need a digital dock like the Pure i20(?) or the Cambridge Audio id100 to take the digital signal from the iPod/iPhone and feed it unadulterated to the Fubar. I did this to excellent effect with a pre-prod id100 I tested. Starting to push your budget up a bit though.

To answer your earlier questions; I haven't had experience with either the Supplier or the Plus, only the cooking IV, though I'm certain a couple of people on here have - a forum search may prove fruitful.
 
A

Anonymous

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Although I have no experience yet, I've been looking at the nuforce udac-2 myself, in different flavours. Perfectly portable too. Headfi has a huge thread on it.

P.
 

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