DAC... what exactly does it do?

Phal

Phal

Phal

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Recently replaced my old XFi soundcard with a new Titanium HD but since it was designed by idiots I'm thinking of returning it.

The only way to switch between headphone and speaker outs is to unplug the headphones. I've researched this and apparently it's a feature of Creative's flagship soundcard!

Would I still benefit from the soundcard's features for games when using a DAC or would using the optical out of the onboard sound I have be just as good? I guess I'm not sure how much work the DAC really does?

The DAC I'm looking at is a new TEAC one which is out soon which will do what I want (headphone amp with volume as well as outputs for active speakers) but I also still want decent sound support in games :/

The mobo I have is the ASUS P67 Sabretooth
 
Well it seems I may have answered my own question :P

It seems that EAX and game stuff can be played back through a DAC so I should be able to achieve what I want.

The device I'm thinking of getting is http://hddaudio.net/viewtopic.php?id=3221

Basically I want a headphone amp with speaker outs too so I don't end up diving behind my desk all the time so it might be overkill but it'll be nice.
 
Yeah I know that :P but is that all it does? I guess I wanted to know what it did with stuff like EAX/CSSM3d/OpenAL and stuff like that.
 
DAC converts the digital signal from your PC into an analogue signal for your speakers/headphones.

When people are talking about DAC's they are really talking about whole sound cards/audio interfaces when in actual fact the DAC is only a small component part of the entire sound card.

I don't know why but I'm guessing it's just some marketing boys idea to make their sound cards sound special.

Lots of sound cards have got this funny automatic disable/enable of sound sources whenever it detects a connection. Personally I don't like that sort of thing and I just want my audio fixed.

So return that card and get something else. I can't reccomend anything except for say a Focusrite or M-Audio because that's what I've got and have used.
 
Yeah my last XF-i Creative card had an automatic swap over too but this could be configured and the card also came with a faceplate to have on the front of the PC.

Basically I want game sounds coming out of something that lets me choose speakers or headphones and I want it to sound good :P
 
Personally i'm using a Xonar D2X and it sounds better than my old X-Fi Platinum Champion PCI card.

Plus it has optical in and out, plus your usual array of 7.1 outputs, but unlike the X-Fi a dedicated line in(iirc) and mic output that doesn't getting used for multichannel sound.

Its a great card with lots of options but none so many that you have to spend an hour just to get sound to work
 
The DAC chip in the Titanium HD is a PCM1974A, which is one of the best chips around in terms of specifications: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/soundcards/2011/01/14/creative-x-fi-tianium-hd-review/1

Unless you plan on spending a *very* large wedge of cash on an external DAC you will end up getting something of a much lower spec than what's already in your card. External DACs are horrendously overpriced for what they do.

The best solution for you would be to connect your card via the analogue RCA outputs to an external amplifier with two or more outputs, which you can then use for driving speakers and headphones together. The HD benefits greatly from an amp anyway, and you would need an external DAC/amp combo if you went down that route. My suggestion is just get the best amp you can for whatever cash you would have spent on a DAC.
 
Well the specs on the new Teac DAC I was looking at didn't exactly look crap :p But I do agree that the DAC itself isn't strictly needed.

Are there such things as good quality small amps that only have a headphone socket and RCA out for my speakers? :/


Something like the FiiO e9 seems to but not sure?

http://www.iheadphones.co.uk/media/...33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/f/i/fiio-e9-rear.jpg

I assume those RCA Lineouts can be plugged in to speakers?
 
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DACs can be useful and pretty much any decent DAC will have a better processor than a sound card.

I have an external DAC/Amp combo, it's dieing after many many years of service so I will be looking to eventually replace it.

DACs can support a range of features. Might just do exactly as it says on the tin (Convert Digital to Analogue) but they can do more, such as process Dolby Digital/DTS/Dolby headphone and pass that on.

You will pay more for a decent DAC but I personally prefer them, it's something you can keep on using over and over without any future compatibility issues. As it receives a digital signal your onboard sound SPDIF output will be just as good as any soundcard. Pointless to buy a soundcard to do the same job of passing raw data onwards.

There are 100s and 1000s of Amps on the market but they are not DACs. You could use an Amp in Conjuction with a DAC (which is what I plan to do)

There are integrated solutions which combine a DAC and an AMP but they are generally fully featured full sized units that are not all that suitable for PC Desktop usage.

I am personally looking at a Little Dot MKIII Tube amp. It's regarded as exceptional bang for buck. Depends what kind of headphones you want to drive from it though. It has RCA outputs on the back you can run to your speaker system. Likely overkill if you do not use a decent set of cans though.

I will also be looking at putting a half decent DAC between it and my on-board sound. You could use a half decent soundcard and just pass an analogue signal directly to it though.

You have literally tonnes of options here. What kind of headphones do you use and what is your budget/expectations?
 
Well headphones are my headset but the headset is my shiny new BeyerDynamic MMX 300 so something decent to drive those would be nice.

The speakers need RCA connections but have their own amp so something like a headphone amp with simple outputs to speakers is what I need I guess. The trouble with headphone amps is that they all seem to be made by brands I don't recognise lol
 
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Go to somewhere like HeadFi and look up ones you are interested in.

The LittleDot MKIII linked has what you need and is highly regarded, it's not CHEAP though so depends what you want.

There will be no BEST choice as various amps sound different on various cans and are further still subject to personal preference.
 
Beyerdynamic A1 amp has caught my eye again >.< I'm sure I had looked at it before and written it off because it didnt have the connectors I wanted but I just checked it again and it seems to have what I want lol

rearqh0.jpg
 
Yeah this way I can use the DAC on my Titanium HD soundcard and just connect the Beyer A1 amp to that. The A1 is probably much better quality than the soundcard but this will give me room to upgrade at a later date with a better DAC I guess :)
 
Well it can have the best DAC in the world... but having to climb under my desk everytime I wanna switch between headphones and speakers sucks :p Major failing on Creative's imo but they have said there's nothing which can be done via software to allow us control of where sound goes out :(

I guess the reason I looked at DACs was because I wasn't aware some headphone amps had speaker outputs too!
 
Stone22uk said:
I was under the impression the Xfi Titanium HD had a one of the best DACS available on internal sound cards
Click to expand...

Exactly, it does. It's just prejudice to suppose that D/A conversion quality has to be better on an external box. High end soundcards these days have exceptional DAC chips on them, and the only possible advantage I can see is that you might get some interference from other components if you use a soundcard as DAC; possibly also that an external box will have its own PSU; but I am very sceptical about the extent to which these differences are audible.

For my part I think external DACs are part of the audiophile snake oil trade (along with £2000 cables), and I would bet against anyone who claimed to be able to tell them apart from equivalent spec internal DACs in a properly controlled blind test. YMMV.
 
Phal said:
Well it can have the best DAC in the world... but having to climb under my desk everytime I wanna switch between headphones and speakers sucks :p Major failing on Creative's imo but they have said there's nothing which can be done via software to allow us control of where sound goes out :(

I guess the reason I looked at DACs was because I wasn't aware some headphone amps had speaker outputs too!
Click to expand...

Check out the Matrix M-Stage. I use it for the same purpose - speakers and headphones always plugged in. But the speaker out is preamp level only, so unless your speakers are powered, amps like that won't do the job.
 
Speakers are powered/self amped or whatever the term is so no worry there!

Had a quick look around for that Matrix-M Stage and it seems hard to find in the UK :P Ill have a better look when I get home lol
 
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