External DAC

[admin_exported]

Looking to go from a PC fitted with an M Audio Audiophile 2496 soundcard, to a laptop/notebook with an external dac.

Strong contender is the Fubar 2.

Other recommendations gratefully accepted.

 

[Anonymous]

Anybody?

 

[Anonymous]

You give very little info to work with... Kit? Taste? Goals? What do you want to play as sources? What do you want to hook up? Need Volume control/headphone? USB/SPDIF in?

The normal set of candidates (DacMagic, VDAC, Beresford) are also discussed in similar threads, plus maybe some others. What is important: most users seem very satisfied with what they have, and CA PSUs do not seem to melt anymore.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

http://community.whathifi.com/forums/2/387353/ShowThread.aspx

this thread has some dacs listed with links to info about them

 

[idc]

I am more than happy with the Fubar. If you also get The Supplier to go with it you get added dynamics and depth to the sound. I listen to a wide range of music and compared with the DAC in my Musical Fidleity X-CAN amp, the Fubar made the music sound more alive.

 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the initial replies.

Source will is Spotify.

Amp is a Temple Audio XC2

Speakers are Tannoy F1 Customs.

Looking for a simple, but reasonable quality dac, for music purposes only. So USB in, phono to amp etc.

 

[idc]

The Fubar is USB for one source only, will that be enough for you in the future? It is for me and one of the appeals was that I am not paying for anything I will never use, such as other inputs and a headphone amp, which many DACs come with.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, one source only.

Purely music & the XC2 has a class A headphone amp built in.

Looks like the Fubar 2 is a strong contender.

 

[True Blue]

Beresford Caiman. Class A headphone output

http://www.homehifi.co.uk/products/Caiman.html

http://www.homehifi.co.uk/products/Caiman.htmlGot mine hooked up via USB, equals most CDP's below £800

 

[John Duncan]

Still three Fubar IVs available here at special price...

EDIT - actually sorry, that was the American site. None on the European one that I can see...

 

[Anonymous]

I got the DACmagic and im thinking of taking it back. I genuinely cannot tell a different apart from that is slightly louder than direct from sound card link.

I can switch between the dacmagic and the soundcard with my PC/amp whilst the song is playing on napster and when i factor in volume in the options it sounds identical :S

I dunno if im missing something. Any1 know what i should set windows sample rate at? I can set it to 24/96 in windows but shud i leave it low so that the DAC will do the upsampling instead? Is this even how it works? lol

 

[Alec]

What bit rate are is the napster music? I think you may not hear much difference unless you're listening to lossless files.

 

[Anonymous]

Jon,

It does not sound like you are feeding the DAC Magic a nice clean unmolested PCM signal.

1) I am guessing if you are using Napster then the sound is being routed via your Windows Mixer (probably no choice) which you have set to upsample, which is generally a bad idea.

2) What soundcard do you use that sounds as good as the DAC Magic ?

3) Do you use the USB connection or Toslink/SPDIF ?

When using an external DAC and a Windows PC, it is better to use the USB connection to ensure no molestion via the PC's soundcard SPDIF output, although this is not always an option if you are wanting to send the DAC 24bit audio as some DAC USB connections (your's included) only allow 16bit 44.1/48 PCM.

If you also bypass the Windows Mixer using in your case ASIO/WASAPI and send the audio via USB you should get "bit perfect" playback (ie the DAC receives the original audio in its native sample rate).

If you have use the Windows Mixer to listen to Napster, then ensure the Napster Application is set to Maximum volume and all other applications muted so as to avoid any mixing, although I am not sure this makes any difference in Vista but it should not sound worse.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks bendrummond,

I have 3 sound cards to compare the DAC to. One is the onboard sound (VIA HD audio on my Asus mobo), this is also the source of the Optical Toslink for the DAC.

Second card to compare is the old creative audigy2 zs, thirdly I have an X-FI USB sound card to test. These two card havent got optical outs so that is why Im using the onboard VIA as the optical out source for the DAC.

I have also compared the DAC USB input to the toslink.

In all sources I cant tell a significant difference with napster (i have no other audio to compare, CDs etc)

I have not yet sorted the WASAPI malarky. Maybe I just havent a keener listening ear as everyone else. Either way the upgrade from normal PC speakers to a hifi setup was a massive difference so I am least happy with that.

Cheers,

John