DAC / Soundcard for Mac

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Is it worth investing in a good DAC in order to connect the Mac to a high end amp? Is it necessary to both get a DAC and a new soundcard or does the DAC do the same as a soundcard?
 
J

jcbrum

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[quote user="Koonsism"]Is it worth investing in a good DAC in order to connect the Mac to a high end amp? Is it necessary to both get a DAC and a new soundcard or does the DAC do the same as a soundcard?[/quote]

You don't say which mac you have. Most macs have quite good built in sound so for no money outlay you can just use a 3.5 stereo jack to two phono lead, straight from the audio out on your mac to the line in on your hifi.

As combined dac/adc you could consider a Yamaha GO44 cost £65 or Edirol UA25 cost £140.

Either of the above will give excellent sound quality and many say they out-perform cd players in the hi end bracket such as Linn or Naim.

As another option many macs output optical s/pdif digital stream which can be fed into a separate dac of your choice such as a Beresford or Benchmark, but in my experience they are not better performers than the above choices and are unnecessarily expensive. Your mileage may vary.
 
A

Anonymous

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I highly recommend against the built-in DAC. If you plug in some sensitive headphones like Ultimate Ears to the headphone jack you'll hear all kinds of things. An external DAC is the way to go in my experience. An external DAC is the soundcard so you'll not need anything internal.
 
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Anonymous

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A Minidisc recorder is another good DAC option. Should only set you back about £40 on eBay. Invaluable should you need to make MP3s from Vinyl or cassette (or Minidisc!) too.
 
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Anonymous

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Many thanks! I am using a MacBook Pro which only have a one socket phone jack. Would you know if it is worth paying the high price for the Russ Andrews or instead get the Moodlab, see both here http://www.avreview.co.uk/news/article/mps/UAN/953/v/1/sp. Will this even make a difference to the sound quality?
 
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Anonymous

Guest
I have the Beresford dac plugged in to my mac and it sounds fantastic. If your mac is fairly recent the headphone socket should also be a digital out, Beresford will supply you with a lead and an adaptor. Email Stanley if you're in any doubt, he's really helpful.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Sorry here's a link to the Beresford website http://www.homehifi.co.uk/main/main.html
They're about £100 and very well respected.
 

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