dac quality questions

I'm assuming a bit here with the speakers, but it's unlikely the T2900s will win against any actual decent speakers regardless of DAC, if they're at all like typical computer speakers.
 
Often times, if they don't give specs, they aren't very good.
 
Its really what sounds good to you. What are you doing with the system? Music? Movies? Gaming? What type of speakers do you intend on buying? I can say that in my experience, Yamaha makes a great receiver, even on the low end side, they are nice. I have an HTR6803 powering some nanosat 5.1 and a klipsch sub. Switching from my old promedia 5.1's/X-fi was a huge increase in sound. And, given that the nanosats were a love it or hate it sound, that says a lot to me.

Really, if you like the sound of the T2900's, you can go with them. I would prefer the sound of the Yamaha receiver mixed with maybe some B&W bookshelves, but thats just what sounds good to my ear.
 
You can get a used top of the line KES 151 tube DAC for 200, which is theft..You can find so many great sounding, used dacs for much less. Buying used has saved me over a 1,000. And the electronics are build to last a life time..Some vendors allow for a changable warranty, which means a 2nd or 3rd owner would still be covered under warranty..99% of DAC/Headphone makers go out of their way to help you. Even if it does break down, chances are good you can repair it at minimal cost to you. I'm speaking from experience.
 
no2censorship said:
would this yamaha receiver (Link: http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/...67569&CTID=5000300&ATRID=1020&DETYP=ATTRIBUTE ) and decent speakers and wire sound better with an asus d2x or would creative inspire t2900s sound better given the high quality dacs the d2x has?

They don't give detailed dac specs for the yamaha receiver, so I have no idea of knowing whether this yamaha's dacs are better than the d2x's.
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Theres more to SQ then just a DAC chip. I think my V1800 Yamaha has the same DAC chip as yours, or a similar model. I do know that the DAC chip cost around a buck or two. But the DAC capabilities is still very impressive to my ears, but like I said, theres more to SQ then a dac.. I used a 1,000 external DAC/amp combo, A/B with my old HK 150.. For music, there was a very noticeable improvement, but with movies and gaming, it was almost a toss up, and any improvement to my ears might have been a plecebo, since the differences were so subtle, I 'felt' my 1,000 was a bit better with games a movies. Maybe it's because all external DACs are 2 channel stereo, and games and films are made for DD 5.1. I'm still a big supporter for external DACs for two channel, stereo sources, but for gaming and movies, the perceived benefits wouldn't be worth the extra cost IMO.
 
Thank you, but I can't buy any more gear till I get my tax return back.. And will probably go the balanced source route.
 
no2censorship said:
would this yamaha receiver (Link: http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/...67569&CTID=5000300&ATRID=1020&DETYP=ATTRIBUTE ) and decent speakers and wire sound better with an asus d2x or would creative inspire t2900s sound better given the high quality dacs the d2x has?

They don't give detailed dac specs for the yamaha receiver, so I have no idea of knowing whether this yamaha's dacs are better than the d2x's.
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lol wtf.

just run 3.5mm to red white cable from your card to the receiver, congrats, you are now using the d2x as your dac instead of the receiver
 
Omegaslast said:
lol wtf.

just run 3.5mm to red white cable from your card to the receiver, congrats, you are now using the d2x as your dac instead of the receiver
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I think he's indicating he is considering buying receiver or not? So he is asking if it is worth buying the receiver?
 
Omegaslast said:
lol wtf.

just run 3.5mm to red white cable from your card to the receiver, congrats, you are now using the d2x as your dac instead of the receiver
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I knew that=]

but I have a dx and mediocre behringer ms20 for s/pdif, and creative inspire t2900s for analog; I basically was asking if it would be better to buy a d2x and use my creative t2900s, OR keep my dx and buy the yamaha receiver i linked with it.

not considering cost of course.
 
Alai said:
Why are you using SPDIF if you have a DX?
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I'm currently not; I decided to switch to try some creative inspire t2900 that I hadn't used since 2006 with an audigy1, and the dx dac sounds better hooked up to the the analog t2900s than the dx's signal transmitted to behringers dac, but i wanted to have a setup that would use a dac even better than the dx's.
 
Oh. Well, also, for future reference, you don't want to use digital to the MS20. They don't have a good DAC, compared to the DX. Try the DX analog to the MS20.

Anyhow, I wouldn't know if the Yamaha DAC will be better. You need to find the Yamaha DAC model number first. Otherwise, the DX2 would be a good bet for a source upgrade. However, you should probably get a speaker upgrade rather than source at this point. Especially at the cost of a receiver and/or soundcard.
 
alright here's what I want now:
a high quality 2 channel dac that will hook up to my dx via toslink, new for no more than $349.99 not including shipping.

can someone help me find one? thanks=]
 
GDA-600 or GDA-700. Easily can find used for under $350 shipped.
 
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