How many people use DACS instead of soundcards?

TheBiznes

TheBiznes

TheBiznes

Associate
Joined
17 Sep 2007
Posts
554
I thought I would pose a question as i see so many on hear saying which soundcard, but seem to shy away from the blackart of DACS or don't seem to realise what they can do.

I myself have gone through many soundcards over the years. I have now I think found the perfect setup requiring no drivers persay. Unlike the headaches when Vista and XFi were around. I play all games and music films everything through it works with all OS's linux included admitedly I use onboard for mic duties only.

I myself use a Music Fidelity VDAC cost about £140 which I connect with usb cable to my Cyrus 1 amp and ES11 speakers and then if headphone listening though to my headphone amp and Senn HD650. Now a lot of my amps and headphones are expensive. How many of you though have old amps and speakers that are good quality why not use a DAC and fire the phono's from it into that amp etc. A lot of the speaker setup's for PC's are not that great although fairly basic amp speakers are normally better and can be had cheaply.

I also use Foobar and Wassapi for bit perfect playback of all my flac files the sound is amazing. The main thing also with Dac's no horrible hissing in quiet areas interference you get with nearly all soundcards.

Now back to my question. Just out of interest or maybe make more of you aware that there is more than just soundcards out there. So how many are using DACS like this.
 
a lot of motherboards have onboard sp/dif, I use that combined with an AV amp for audio. No hiss etc, and good performance.
 
why do you have to mention the cost of your headphones LOL. Sorry if its not the intention but that comes across as quite pretentious. I dont use a dac atm although i will by purchacing one in the short future, although i hope to purchase a kit and build it myself along with a decent headphone amp so i can get rid of this old JVC amp im current using my to drive my monitors and headphones :)


ive dabbled with wassapi and other foobar output and tbh i dont hear any difference. Maybe my onboard is already pretty well sorted. it must be, i didnt hear any differences with my old d2 either over spdif
 
Last edited:
james.miller said:
why do you have to mention the cost of your headphones LOL.
Click to expand...

It wasn't the cost of the headphones it was to show that for not a lot more over the cost of really good soundcards. it was cost of the Dac alternative. I wasn't trying to be pretentious as anyone can buy a DAC and match it with most hifi equipment and get a good sound.

Corasik said:
a lot of motherboards have onboard sp/dif, I use that combined with an AV amp for audio. No hiss etc, and good performance.
Click to expand...

Yes that is also a good way to incorporate an amp and speakers.
 
I use one, if you don't need the features and connectivity of a soundcard it's a lot better. I have a number of sources and it's nice to get the same great quality from them all so long as they have USB or S/PDIF.
 
What DAC would you recommend to replace a Zonar DX ?

Mobo s'pdif out > DAC ? > Creek OBH 11 Headphone amp > Headphones

Anything around for say £100 ?

Cheers.
 
I use a dac. I like listening to music and it makes it sound good!

What funny is when I first started out in pcs etc, i never understood why people would buy a dedicated sound card!

The I bought one of the xfi cards, then a essence stx then went to stand alone dacs.
 
TheBiznes said:
I thought I would pose a question as i see so many on hear saying which soundcard, but seem to shy away from the blackart of DACS or don't seem to realise what they can do.

I myself have gone through many soundcards over the years. I have now I think found the perfect setup requiring no drivers persay. Unlike the headaches when Vista and XFi were around. I play all games and music films everything through it works with all OS's linux included admitedly I use onboard for mic duties only.

I myself use a Music Fidelity VDAC cost about £140 which I connect with usb cable to my Cyrus 1 amp and ES11 speakers and then if headphone listening though to my headphone amp and Senn HD650. Now a lot of my amps and headphones are expensive. How many of you though have old amps and speakers that are good quality why not use a DAC and fire the phono's from it into that amp etc. A lot of the speaker setup's for PC's are not that great although fairly basic amp speakers are normally better and can be had cheaply.

I also use Foobar and Wassapi for bit perfect playback of all my flac files the sound is amazing. The main thing also with Dac's no horrible hissing in quiet areas interference you get with nearly all soundcards.

Now back to my question. Just out of interest or maybe make more of you aware that there is more than just soundcards out there. So how many are using DACS like this.
Click to expand...

can you plz explain to me what a DAC is?
 
oLysmoLy said:
can you plz explain to me what a DAC is?
Click to expand...

DAC stands for Digital to Analog Converter which is a device or part of one that takes a digital signal and processes it into an analog output i.e. electronic waveform signal that can be sent to a speaker. External sound processing devices or DACs as some people seem to call them are generally of higher quality than cheaper ones such as soundcards (which are also DACs if you look at it that way) and as such produce better quality sound.
 
Last edited:
I use a usb it is very good although i do get some interference from the usb not being grounded well enough on the mobo.
 
A friend of mine just bought a Musical Fidelty V-Dac and i must say it sound superb, very tempted to up and sell my Xonar STX and get one along with a Graham Slee Nova. The difference i heard was quite astonishing
 
What is the comparison here?

I just don't see how a DAC would provide me with a new experience over my Essence STX connected to my NAD C325BEE which in turn drives either the HD555 cans or Mordaunt-Short Avant floorstanders? Especially in gaming performance!
 
TheBiznes said:
I thought I would pose a question as i see so many on hear saying which soundcard, but seem to shy away from the blackart of DACS or don't seem to realise what they can do.

I myself have gone through many soundcards over the years. I have now I think found the perfect setup requiring no drivers persay. Unlike the headaches when Vista and XFi were around. I play all games and music films everything through it works with all OS's linux included admitedly I use onboard for mic duties only.

I myself use a Music Fidelity VDAC cost about £140 which I connect with usb cable to my Cyrus 1 amp and ES11 speakers and then if headphone listening though to my headphone amp and Senn HD650. Now a lot of my amps and headphones are expensive. How many of you though have old amps and speakers that are good quality why not use a DAC and fire the phono's from it into that amp etc. A lot of the speaker setup's for PC's are not that great although fairly basic amp speakers are normally better and can be had cheaply.

I also use Foobar and Wassapi for bit perfect playback of all my flac files the sound is amazing. The main thing also with Dac's no horrible hissing in quiet areas interference you get with nearly all soundcards.

Now back to my question. Just out of interest or maybe make more of you aware that there is more than just soundcards out there. So how many are using DACS like this.
Click to expand...

It kind of sounds obvious, but the DAC is only one link in the chain, a lot of PC audio implementations I've come accross are more the passable for the DAC stage, the amp/speakers or headphone amp/headphones are normally peoples weakest points that need addressing first..
 
I've got a Maverick powering some A900s and JVC A-X2. Got it largely due to the fact that it will work instantly with any system nevermind if i have to switch to a laptop for uni also has a tube out and can act as a full preamp hub.
 
I use a HiFiMAN EF2A with a pair of Sennheiser HD600's with my PC.

For speaker use though, I just haven't got around to replacing an aging Technics amp with Kef Cresta 10's with my Audigy 2 ZS.
 
TheBiznes said:
I thought I would pose a question as i see so many on hear saying which soundcard, but seem to shy away from the blackart of DACS or don't seem to realise what they can do.

I myself have gone through many soundcards over the years. I have now I think found the perfect setup requiring no drivers persay. Unlike the headaches when Vista and XFi were around. I play all games and music films everything through it works with all OS's linux included admitedly I use onboard for mic duties only.

I myself use a Music Fidelity VDAC cost about £140 which I connect with usb cable to my Cyrus 1 amp and ES11 speakers and then if headphone listening though to my headphone amp and Senn HD650. Now a lot of my amps and headphones are expensive. How many of you though have old amps and speakers that are good quality why not use a DAC and fire the phono's from it into that amp etc. A lot of the speaker setup's for PC's are not that great although fairly basic amp speakers are normally better and can be had cheaply.

I also use Foobar and Wassapi for bit perfect playback of all my flac files the sound is amazing. The main thing also with Dac's no horrible hissing in quiet areas interference you get with nearly all soundcards.

Now back to my question. Just out of interest or maybe make more of you aware that there is more than just soundcards out there. So how many are using DACS like this.
Click to expand...

got the same dac myself mate ... have the sennhieser hd600 with a nad c315 bee amp ... ive had a lot higher end in the past but kept the odd old bit of kit .. still got my mission 780 se speaker for the nad .. wil get a dedicated hedphone amp at soem point .. but atm this is abig improvement over my old yam av amp for headphones .. let alone stereo use
 
Khaaan! said:
What is the comparison here?

I just don't see how a DAC would provide me with a new experience over my Essence STX connected to my NAD C325BEE which in turn drives either the HD555 cans or Mordaunt-Short Avant floorstanders? Especially in gaming performance!
Click to expand...

well gaming wise a dac isnt an issue .. for pure music usgae then they come into play ... trust me the dac work wonders .. that before i moved to my amp from yam av amp .. you can hear a big dif .. but then again i'm going from my mobo sound to dac ... not you soundacard to dac
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom