DAC recommendations

S

Silent.Sin

Gawd
Joined
Jun 23, 2003
Messages
969
I've been reading through various posts here and on head-fi looking for something new to feed my newborn interest in audio. I started by buying a pair of SR-80s and love them, but after about a year of use I want something of higher quality to accompany them than my NF7-S v2.0 output. First I looked at amps since they seemed to be the cheapest next step forward. Then I got to thinking I should resolve my source problem before going for an amp. I figure the only reason for buying a higher end sound card is for a better DAC on it, so why not just keep the soundstorm and get a standalone DAC?

The problem is I can't seem to find much info or user feedback about DACs. I'm a poor college student so my budget isn't too high (max of $150 probably) and what I have found seem to average a lot higher than my budget will permit. Is there a decent sounding DAC in this price range or am I pretty much SOL? The DAC needs to have optical input as my NF7-S doesn't have coax. Any suggestions?
 
I've never heard an outboard DAC. A modified ART DI/O is supposed to be pretty good. Google for it and you'll know just about as much as I do.
 
If your budget is only 150$ forget about a dac.
A GOOD one will set you back at least 300$... unless you have the skill (and time) to transform this------>
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ARTDIO
Into this---->
before.JPG

And then back into this----->
DIO.JPG


You might want to forgo the DAC and buy a real sound card. ;)
 
is there a real noticible diff between analog and digital sound?
 
Well I figure spending $150 on just a DAC would be better than spending $150 on a soundcard with a bunch of other crap on it I don't need besides the DAC, right? I mean I've seen a few DACs for sale around $150 on audiogon I'm just not sure of how good they are (has to be better than what's on my motherboard tho, right?). I've mainly seen some audio alchemy DDE 1.1's and DAC-in-a-box's but there are a few others I'm not sure of. Has anyone here had experience with audio alchemy? They seem to have gone under a few years ago so info is a bit sparse but what I've read seems to be somewhat promising.
 
Originally posted by infiniti029
is there a real noticible diff between analog and digital sound?
Click to expand...
There's no such thing as digital sound. Anything you can see or hear is analog. Digital interfaces are used to defer the conversion of digital information to a higher quality digital to analog converter for final output. By keeping the signal digital for longer, the signal is better at rejecting environmental influences like radio frequency interference, electromagnetic interference, etc. If you want me to elaborate, I will.
 
Digital interfaces are used to defer the conversion of digital information to a higher quality digital to analog converter for final output.
Click to expand...

Reminds me of something I read in a text book 20 years ago. ;)


If you want me to elaborate, I will.
Click to expand...

Please do.... And while you are at it tell us what the role of the audio control is in the big scheme of things.
Maybe you can shed some relevant light on topic of this thread. :)
 
An external DAC will have limited uses when paired with a SoundStorm board. The Nforce2 APU can only output 48khz PCM via SPDIF, so everything is resampled. Get a new card first.
 
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