Should I get a DAC?

Cromulent · 14 Feb 2017 at 04:06

I've just subscribed to Tidal for their lossless music streaming service and I don't think I'm getting the most out of it with my current USB gaming headset which is a HyperX Cloud II. So I was thinking of maybe getting a DAC and also getting a really good quality pair of headphones to go with it. The problem is I have no idea what a good DAC is. Would I be able to get a decent one for less than £100? It would have to be a USB DAC.

Can anyone recommend a good DAC in that price range if possible? Also if I could increase my budget (I'm not saying I can) how much would a REALLY good quality DAC cost?

Thanks for any help

.

rids57 · 14 Feb 2017 at 06:29

If you can wait for it to come back into stock, the Schiit Fulla 2 costs £110 and gives you an AK4490 based DAC, which is a top of the line chip and a half decent headphone amp as long as you don't try powering something ridiculous like the HiFiMan HE6.

When you say DAC I presume you mean an all in one DAC and headphone amp as one isn't much use without the other and most come as separates, probably so they can charge more.

Schiit has an excellent lineup going from the aforementioned Fulla 2 all the way up to the Yggdrasil and Ragnarok, so a range that goes from £100 all the way up to £4,000 for the top end.

A lot also depends on what headphones you are going to use as synergy between headphone and amp can be important.

Cromulent · 14 Feb 2017 at 06:39

rids57 said:
If you can wait for it to come back into stock, the Schiit Fulla 2 costs £110 and gives you an AK4490 based DAC, which is a top of the line chip and a half decent headphone amp as long as you don't try powering something ridiculous like the HiFiMan HE6.

When you say DAC I presume you mean an all in one DAC and headphone amp as one isn't much use without the other and most come as separates, probably so they can charge more.

Schiit has an excellent lineup going from the aforementioned Fulla 2 all the way up to the Yggdrasil and Ragnarok, so a range that goes from £100 all the way up to £4,000 for the top end.

A lot also depends on what headphones you are going to use as synergy between headphone and amp can be important.

Thanks. I currently have a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M40X which I think are reasonably good quality headphones. They certainly sound alright to me. I guess if something was massively better I wouldn't mind upgrading. Do you think they would be a good fit for the Schilt Fulla 2 you mentioned?

rids57 · 14 Feb 2017 at 07:05

Yes, they should be a good match for the Fulla 2, they are pretty easy to drive so a powerful amp isn't necessary.

I've actually been toying with the idea of getting a pair of M40X' myself and fitting some Brainwavz sheepskin pads.

maj · 14 Feb 2017 at 10:34

rids57 said:
If you can wait for it to come back into stock, the Schiit Fulla 2 costs £110 and gives you an AK4490 based DAC, which is a top of the line chip and a half decent headphone amp as long as you don't try powering something ridiculous like the HiFiMan HE6.

When you say DAC I presume you mean an all in one DAC and headphone amp as one isn't much use without the other and most come as separates, probably so they can charge more.

Schiit has an excellent lineup going from the aforementioned Fulla 2 all the way up to the Yggdrasil and Ragnarok, so a range that goes from £100 all the way up to £4,000 for the top end.

A lot also depends on what headphones you are going to use as synergy between headphone and amp can be important.

I'm assuming the Fulla will have a similar sound stage to the Magni rather than the Vali? Interested in one myself as only have a Vali on it's own but not sure I could go non-tube now.

nicktay2605 · 14 Feb 2017 at 11:17

I've got the Schiit Fulla 2 paired with Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones and the combo works very well, I'd imagine the M40x would work well with it too.

Disco_P · 14 Feb 2017 at 17:48

Personally I tried to like Tidal but just could not tell any difference between it's lossless tracks and spotify premium's high quality. I did a blind test and got the answer wrong 50% of the time.

rids57 · 14 Feb 2017 at 18:59

Disco_P said:
Personally I tried to like Tidal but just could not tell any difference between it's lossless tracks and spotify premium's high quality. I did a blind test and got the answer wrong 50% of the time.

I think the vast majority of people would get the same result, I know I find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to tell the difference between a 320K MP3 and a FLAC version of the same track. I do have some high bit rate FLACs (24/96) which do sound incredible but this is more than likely due to them being remixed / remastered to higher quality standards rather than any extra fidelity due to the encoding.

Disco_P · 14 Feb 2017 at 22:08

It's a shame cause the tidal app was really good and spotify keeps trying to break things.

Cromulent · 15 Feb 2017 at 03:49

Disco_P said:
Personally I tried to like Tidal but just could not tell any difference between it's lossless tracks and spotify premium's high quality. I did a blind test and got the answer wrong 50% of the time.

Yeah. To be honest this was my last attempt to see if it was worth it. I prefer the Spotify client to the Tidal client and Spotify also works on Linux which is a bonus. I might just switch back to Spotify and save myself £10 a month but I would still like to have a DAC as my USB headset doesn't sound all that great.