Help a clueless student!

[soggydoughnut]

Hi guys,

So I have been incredibly fortunate to inherit my dad's old hifi set up which consists of a Linn Wakonda, LK (can't remember the exact series number) and keilidh Speakers. As someone who is heavily into their music I am over the moon

Now I have been working out how to realistically play my music through the system. I have some stuff on my iphone and have a good dock to rca cable which I plan to use however I envisage my laptop to be used by myself and my uni housemates to choose music on the fly. Most of my stuff is 320 mp3. Spotify and the like will probably be used too. I understand that these sources aren't ideal and will not get the best out of the system however being realistic that is how it is going to get used/I cannot afford anything else.

So I've been doing some research and it appears to me that the best option is to get an external USB dac (or perhaps soundcard?) as currently all I have is a 3.5mm headphone jack and hdmi as audio outs from my laptop which doesn't even have a dedicated soundcard, it's just on the motherboard. As with all things it seems you can spend absolute silly money on these, figures that I can't even get my head around! Yet at the same time I am aware of the fact that my dad has kindly passed on a incredible (well for someone in my shoes!) to me and I want to do it justice. I don't want to skimp if there's going to be a considerable, easily noticeable difference in sound quality.

I've stumbled across the behringer uca202 numerous time nows and it's apparently a bargain at its price point. Also been looking at the hifimediy sabre dac's which are supposedly good value for money. My dad did a quick search and came up with the Arcam RDAC and HRT Dac music streamer both of which I googled and are pricier than what I've found so far, but perhaps more appropriate!

So I guess what I am asking really is how much money am I going to need to spend to get decent sound, bearing in mind I am already somewhat limited by the source. Just a bit confused by the whole thing at the moment.

Thank you!

 

[Ragworm]

You should able to get quite a reasonable sound out of 320kbps MP3s. There are those that say they can't hear the difference between them and CD quality. I'm perplexed by the kit you're looking at though. You've got some top-notch Linn kit that would probably cost around £3,000 at today's prices and you want to partner it with a £20 DAC? If you're just wanting to experiment then go ahead. I've got a £36 DAC for listening to Spotify but it's a long way off the rest of my system. If you're looking for a true hi-fi solution then you're going to need to spend more.

 

[soggydoughnut]

You should able to get quite a reasonable sound out of 320kbps MP3s. There are those that say they can't hear the difference between them and CD quality. I'm perplexed by the kit you're looking at though. You've got some top-notch Linn kit that would probably cost around £3,000 at today's prices and you want to partner it with a £20 DAC? If you're just wanting to experiment then go ahead. I've got a £36 DAC for listening to Spotify but it's a long way off the rest of my system. If you're looking for a true hi-fi solution then you're going to need to spend more.

Thanks for your reply.

I think you've confirmed what I'd assumed (as much as I was hoping to be wrong), I am going to have to spend a fair bit to get out anything remotely near what the kit is capable of.

So I guess now the question is, how much are we talking? As a student with little money to my name I am now preparing for the worst! It would be horrible to have this great system but not be able to get anything near what it is capable out of it :roll:

 

[Ragworm]

I can't really advise on DAC choice as my experience isn't wide enough but I can suggest some ways to proceed.

If you're going to keep the Linn kit then your first step is to decide what your budget is. Go to your local dealer and audition kit at this price point. Ideally, borrow something and do a home demo with your own equipment. You'll find that a good dealer will be very accomodating. This might sound like sacrilege, but another option might be to sell the Linn system and buy somthing more modest. At least then you'll have a balanced system.

 

[Overdose]

So I guess now the question is, how much are we talking? As a student with little money to my name I am now preparing for the worst! It would be horrible to have this great system but not be able to get anything near what it is capable out of it :roll:

For less than £100, you could have a USB DAC that would be as good as you are likely to find anywhere, ie it's transparent, meaning it will add no audible artifacts, distortion or colouration. Price is a red herring when it comes to digital sources.

I typically give the E-DAC and the Benchmark DAC1 as example recommendations, both being transparent they will sound the same, but with a factor of ten for price differential.

The Benchmark obviously has more functionality, but if you simply want to connect your laptop via USB, I would look beyong something like the E-DAC.

A write up of the DACs mentioned is HERE.

 

[chebby]

HRT MicroStreamer.

 

[The_Lhc]

You should able to get quite a reasonable sound out of 320kbps MP3s. There are those that say they can't hear the difference between them and CD quality. I'm perplexed by the kit you're looking at though. You've got some top-notch Linn kit that would probably cost around £3,000 at today's prices and you want to partner it with a £20 DAC? If you're just wanting to experiment then go ahead. I've got a £36 DAC for listening to Spotify but it's a long way off the rest of my system. If you're looking for a true hi-fi solution then you're going to need to spend more.

Thanks for your reply.

I think you've confirmed what I'd assumed (as much as I was hoping to be wrong), I am going to have to spend a fair bit to get out anything remotely near what the kit is capable of.

I don't think that's what he said at all. You will get a decent sound straight from the laptop, a £20 DAC will not improve on that.

Just try the laptop first, you might be surprised at how good it sounds.

 

[soggydoughnut]

So I guess now the question is, how much are we talking? As a student with little money to my name I am now preparing for the worst! It would be horrible to have this great system but not be able to get anything near what it is capable out of it :roll:

For less than £100, you could have a USB DAC that would be as good as you are likely to find anywhere, ie it's transparent, meaning it will add no audible artifacts, distortion or colouration. Price is a red herring when it comes to digital sources.

I typically give the E-DAC and the Benchmark DAC1 as example recommendations, both being transparent they will sound the same, but with a factor of ten for price differential.

The Benchmark obviously has more functionality, but if you simply want to connect your laptop via USB, I would look beyong something like the E-DAC.

A write up of the DACs mentioned is HERE.

Thanks. I have been doing more research over the weekend and came to basically the same conclusion as what you have said. The epiphany edac looks like incredible value for money, almost too good to be true really. A transparent sound is exactly what I want so I think I will end up purchasing the edac as I don't have the money or the desire for all the extra functionality that the benchmark offers...

 

[soggydoughnut]

You should able to get quite a reasonable sound out of 320kbps MP3s. There are those that say they can't hear the difference between them and CD quality. I'm perplexed by the kit you're looking at though. You've got some top-notch Linn kit that would probably cost around £3,000 at today's prices and you want to partner it with a £20 DAC? If you're just wanting to experiment then go ahead. I've got a £36 DAC for listening to Spotify but it's a long way off the rest of my system. If you're looking for a true hi-fi solution then you're going to need to spend more.

Thanks for your reply.

I think you've confirmed what I'd assumed (as much as I was hoping to be wrong), I am going to have to spend a fair bit to get out anything remotely near what the kit is capable of.

I don't think that's what he said at all. You will get a decent sound straight from the laptop, a £20 DAC will not improve on that.

Just try the laptop first, you might be surprised at how good it sounds.

Yes I understand what he meant now. The thing is I am interested in improving the sound that would be provided if I was to simply hook up my laptop to the preamp and was wondering how much it will cost me to do so. I suppose I was just being incredibly hopeful that I could get away with spending £20-30 for an improvement but I realise now it is not so. However it seems the epiphany edac fits the bill being a transparent dac and at a reasonable price point I think it may just be the one for me!

 

[The_Lhc]

But if you don't try it without a DAC first how will you ever know if does make an improvement?

 

[soggydoughnut]

But if you don't try it without a DAC first how will you ever know if does make an improvement?

Fair point. I guess the best thing to do would be to get the edac and then do a blind test to see if I can notice a positive difference with it. If I can't then I can save the £100 and send it back, no point wasting money!

Thanks.

 

[Al ears]

I didn't realise they did a 'free evaluation' period.

Even if they do you will have to cough up for the postage to send it back if you decide it's not for you.

 

[BigH]

I didn't realise they did a 'free evaluation' period.

Even if they do you will have to cough up for the postage to send it back if you decide it's not for you.

Some Dacs have atrail period like Beresford and John Kennys, also if you buy any product mail order/online you ahve 7 days to return it for any reason but you have to pay postage unless its faulty.

 

[Overdose]

I didn't realise they did a 'free evaluation' period.

Even if they do you will have to cough up for the postage to send it back if you decide it's not for you.

Some Dacs have atrail period like Beresford and John Kennys, also if you buy any product mail order/online you ahve 7 days to return it for any reason but you have to pay postage unless its faulty.

£5 should cover that quite comfortably.