DAC for less than £100?

Vegeta

Vegeta

Vegeta

Soldato
Joined
6 Nov 2004
Posts
5,778
Hi guys,

I'm looking to upgrade my speakers and headphones in the future but I'm currently using:

Antec Soundscience 2.1 speakers

AKG K550 Headphones

So they're not bad at all so I want to upgrade to a DAC first as well I don't have one I'm currently using my onboard sound.

Any recommendations? I would like to be able to have both connected at the same time and be able to switch that's my only requirements really. I was looking at the Audioengine D1's but can't find them anyone below £130 and don't want to stretch to that much really.

Thank you.
 
I can solidly recommend the Creative E3.
I've just been out running with it and then plugged it straight back into my PC where it has two line outs for my headphones and speakers.
It uses a Burr Brown DAC which are supposed to be excellent.
 
Might be better off getting something like smsl separates (skip to 17th minute)

or an external soundcard like the x-fi hd or soundblaster e3 or xonat u7.

 
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I own the sd793ii mentioned in that video. It's a very good dac and hp amp for the price, it just doesn't quiet have the voltage swing for a pair of high impedance headphones but that's really all I can fault for the cost.
 
Vegeta said:
The SMSL can be found for £50! Surely that's a steal guys? Should I just go and buy it?
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Your antec speakers are like a standalone amp right ? with connected tweeters ? not sure how you would bypass that for the dac to feed to override that unit ?
 
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Vegeta said:
The Antec speakers have left and right speaker input into the subwoofer unit would I just connect them to the dac?
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You don't want to connect the satellite speakers to the SD793II; they need to still be connected to the subwoofer. From what I can see the subwoofer has RCA inputs, so you'd just connect those to the RCA outputs on the SMSL.

Not really sure what C64 is talking about when he mentioned bypassing something. 2.1 speakers use a stereo input just as stereo speakers do. You just connect that to the DAC RCA outputs, just as you would for powered stereo speakers.

I've just noticed there's also a VX2 for £55, which looks pretty good bit of kit. Sadly neither VX1 or VX2 are of any use to you though, as they have no RCA line output to which powered speakers can be connected. They are solely designed for passive speakers and headphones.

The SMSL SD793II is looking like a very good option as long as you have optical or coaxial.
 
No I mean connect the RCA inputs straight into the sub woofer rather than straight to the tweeters otherwise I'd miss the amp and bass!

I'm looking to upgrade to speakers to Audioengine A5+ in the future would the SMSL SD793II still be a good choice with this in mind?
 
Marsman said:
You don't want to connect the satellite speakers to the SD793II; they need to still be connected to the subwoofer. From what I can see the subwoofer has RCA inputs, so you'd just connect those to the RCA outputs on the SMSL.

Not really sure what C64 is talking about when he mentioned bypassing something. 2.1 speakers use a stereo input just as stereo speakers do. You just connect that to the DAC RCA outputs, just as you would for powered stereo speakers.

I've just noticed there's also a VX2 for £55, which looks pretty good bit of kit. Sadly neither VX1 or VX2 are of any use to you though, as they have no RCA line output to which powered speakers can be connected. They are solely designed for passive speakers and headphones.

The SMSL SD793II is looking like a very good option as long as you have optical or coaxial.
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I am not sure what i was talking about it was late :D I was thinking some pc speakers have 3.5mm jacks and no rcas, I went off the toppings after z reviews said the headphone amp on it wasn't good
 
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I'm wondering if that guy actually knows what he's talking about. I've got a TP21, and yes the headphone output quality could be better, but I wouldn't say it's bad though. It's certainly not as weedy though as he makes it out to be. Into 32 Ohm, it puts out 10 more mW than the SD793II. With efficient headphones, 50% volume would destroy my hearing given enough time.

As for the sound quality of the speaker amp, that's fine though as far as I'm concerned. The TP20 is a bit better apparently, but terrible sound quality from the TP21?

Looking at his TP21 review, he got some weird bleed through even with the unit unplugged from the mains. That suggests his has a fault to me, because mine doesn't do that and if it was as bad as he said, then having also owned a Cambridge Audio 350A and a Audiolab 8000A, I would have noticed it if it was rubbish. Sure it's not as good, but it's decent little amp for what it costs, although now, the VX1 is the better purchase for speaker amp with headphone out.

$75 for his home made speaker cables though? Wow. Interesting he uses falsely branded Nakamichi plugs. :p


Vegeta said:
No I mean connect the RCA inputs straight into the sub woofer rather than straight to the tweeters otherwise I'd miss the amp and bass!

I'm looking to upgrade to speakers to Audioengine A5+ in the future would the SMSL SD793II still be a good choice with this in mind?
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Sorry, it seemed to me the way you phrased it, you were asking about connecting the satellites to the DAC. :p

No reason why not. If it's got a good DAC, then the sound will actually be better with the A5+, as they are better speakers.
 
Marsman said:
I'm wondering if that guy actually knows what he's talking about. I've got a TP21, and yes the headphone output quality could be better, but I wouldn't say it's bad though. It's certainly not as weedy though as he makes it out to be. Into 32 Ohm, it puts out 10 more mW than the SD793II. With efficient headphones, 50% volume would destroy my hearing given enough time.

As for the sound quality of the speaker amp, that's fine though as far as I'm concerned. The TP20 is a bit better apparently, but terrible sound quality from the TP21?

Looking at his TP21 review, he got some weird bleed through even with the unit unplugged from the mains. That suggests his has a fault to me, because mine doesn't do that and if it was as bad as he said, then having also owned a Cambridge Audio 350A and a Audiolab 8000A, I would have noticed it if it was rubbish. Sure it's not as good, but it's decent little amp for what it costs, although now, the VX1 is the better purchase for speaker amp with headphone out.

$75 for his home made speaker cables though? Wow. Interesting he uses falsely branded Nakamichi plugs. :p




Sorry, it seemed to me the way you phrased it, you were asking about connecting the satellites to the DAC. :p

No reason why not. If it's got a good DAC, then the sound will actually be better with the A5+, as they are better speakers.
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Well I know he definitely leans towards bigging up usa made stuff.Not sure how many full sized amps good headphone outs not sure the amps you mentioned have anything other than standard headphone outs.Anyway for the money the creative e3 has the best dac chip right ? not sure which headphone opamps it uses.
 
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C64 said:
Well I know he definitely leans towards bigging up usa made stuff.Not sure how many full sized amps good headphone outs not sure the amps you mentioned have anything other than standard headphone outs.Anyway for the money the creative e3 has the best dac chip right ? not sure which headphone opamps it uses.
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I wasn't specifically talking about headphone output quality when comparing the TP21 to the integrated amps I've had, more the speaker output. He seemed to say the TP21 was **** full stop. If it really was that bad, I'm sure I would have noticed if it was that much worse than the integrated amps I have had. But then, maybe it only sounds that bad if you've spent a pile of cash on the speakers. ;) Although, expensive speakers with a cheap little T amp... kind of an odd combination. :p

As for the headphone outputs on integrated amps being nothing more than standard; if you think about it, what actually is a standard headphone output? That might make sense on some cheap PC speakers with a headphone socket, as the components behind it will be cheap as you can get. That won't be the same for a good integrated amp though. You'd be more likely to get an after thought headphone output with cheaper AV receivers, which have a lot more cost cutting than a stereo amp. I think most good integrated amps have a good headphone out though, because it's part of the same circuitry that amplifies the speakers, just stepped down.

There's a guy on AVForums, who bought a Graham Slee Solo for £460 and said it's actually not that much different from the headphone output on his NAD C350. I've seen other people question the validity of these expensive fancy headphone amps too. DAC/headphone amps such as the SMSL SD793-II or FiiO E10K and others are great though. Good quality and inexpensive, without having to have a huge slab of integrated amp on the desk. :D

Creative E3 looks very good too. Whether it's best for the money, I can't say; but with portability in mind, then it has to be one of the best choices for sure. :)
 
I think audio has a lot of wallet justification going on.

For me the last thing in the chain i would look at is a DAC,

Any DAC will do to start with.

But then there is pairing headphones with amps.

For example a bottlehead crack is considered one of the best tube amps to be had for under $1000 yet smack a pair of planars on it and they won't excel. put a pair of HD 650's on and they shine.

There is no right or wrong on such a subjective thing. I do want to listen to a bimby lyr 2 combo on my headphones i imagine it won't be much different but it would be interesting from a knowledge point however I don't really want to part with £900 on a whim.

Especially since I already own a pretty good AMP/DAC that I didn't pay market price for.



But really for my headphones I'm already at my end game It's only if i consider buying some hd 800's or some HE-6's i may have to consider a change.
 
Marsman said:
As for the headphone outputs on integrated amps being nothing more than standard; if you think about it, what actually is a standard headphone output? That might make sense on some cheap PC speakers with a headphone socket, as the components behind it will be cheap as you can get. That won't be the same for a good integrated amp though. You'd be more likely to get an after thought headphone output with cheaper AV receivers, which have a lot more cost cutting than a stereo amp. I think most good integrated amps have a good headphone out though, because it's part of the same circuitry that amplifies the speakers, just stepped down.
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I think that was his issue with the Tp21 as most amp and HP amp combos are usually compromised in some way, whereas the smsl is just dac+HP amp. Its not perfect - its no bottlehead crack - but its very good for the money, imo. Funny you should mention av amps as well - the smsl is definitely better than the HP amp on my onkyo 805.
 
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