Do I need to remove soundcard now I have a DAC?

[admin_exported]

Firstly, I hope not! Of course I will if necessary though... :roll:

I have an Asus D2X in my PC with a 3.5 mm to 2 RCA into my Arcam A85. I loved the sound at first as it was an improvement now I feel it lacks a little something. I am not very good at being critical and descriptive so I mean it sounded a bit tame and sort of loose with some music. Great with some but with Prodigy or similar it could have been more attacking I feel.

Now I have a choice of a Beresford Caiman Gatorized and an rDAC. As these have the same inputs and outputs basically it should not matter apart from the actual sound!

What I need to know is whether I can feed the DAC with the digital out on my Asus or not or is there some conflict with the DAC in the soundcard.

Whole new area for me so apologies if this is an obvious question heh heh.

 

[Ryan92]

Assuming your PC has a digital out . . Which I guess you've looked into, that will be from the soundcard, you'll need to keep it in. You may find you'll have to go into either the software for the soundcard or just control panel to set it up, especially if you're playing hi res files, though it may just recognise it straight out.

 

[Anonymous]

Having said that, if I connected the DAC via USB would music when played automatically go via USB? From Itunes for example?

If so then I can keep my Asus and have the DAC connected to my hifi amp with a USB connection.

 

[Anonymous]

There is no problem with having multiple sound cards in a system. But you will have to set which card to use yourself, through the control panel or in your music player software.

 

[lazar1980]

Hi,

you can get rid of your soundcard if you connect dac via usb or if you use motherboards optical out, providing your mb has one.

I use second option and everything work perfectly.

Cheers

 

[lazar1980]

Firstly, I hope not! Of course I will if necessary though... :roll:

As Tremon said there is no problem with keeping your soundcard but I personaly can`t see reason for it once you get external dac.

 

[Anonymous]

I should have explained my set up better as I have a further question.

I use the D2X to feed the Arcam amp for music and my Denon AV amp via coax for music videos etc.

If I connect a DAC via USB then I need something to feed the Denon. Unless I have optical on my mobo I am going to need a soundcard with optical.

However I believe I would not need the D2X just for this, any old soundcard with optical or coax would do the same job would it not? And because it is opt/coax it would be of exactly the same quality to the Denon. Is that right?

I don't want to keep a £90 soundcard if a £20 one will do the same job.