M-Audio Fast Track or Alien DAC?

[Nazo]

Ok, someone has offered a trade where I would get an Alien DAC for my SR60s (I got the AH-D1001S and they just suit my music and listening preferences FAR better at every single thing I've listened to so far with the Grados.) However, he's talking about a pretty even trade where my SR60s and the L-cush earpads together would be traded evenly for the Alien DAC. I read over a lot of the details about them and the Alien does sound like something I desperately need (currently I'm using a Chaintech AV-710 for sound quality, but I have had troubles with it and I want to put my SB Audigy 2 ZS Platinum back in for gaming and optical audio -- which also ironically is mostly going to be used for gaming. I wouldn't mind that this would also be really good for use on my laptop as well though.) It would be nice if it had a line in though and it's annoying that it really has more of a line output than anything more powerful than that.

I was just about ready to say yes even though it really feels like a loss to me (I spent maybe around $90 total on the Grados after adding the earpads and including shipping and have barely even burned them in.) However, today I passed by a M-Audio Fast Track that had been marked down for clearance (surprisingly enough I checked online and they aren't officially clearance, so I'll probably have to act pretty fast -- especially since there was only one in the store.) I may still be able to find someone who'd buy the Grados and if nothing else that person who was discussing the trade with me originally suggested a CMoy + cash in trade for the Grados and I could probably ask him to make a CMoy that suits my needs just a little bit more than what I currently have. But I want to get what works best since I can't really afford to burn money atm. I couldn't find much information on the Fast Track though. I know it's not going to be as good as most of what M-Audio makes (and it isn't even really designed to be used as a soundcard so much as a convenient recording device and software for recording from guitars and such.) Still, the Alien DAC isn't exactly the top end of the spectrum either as it's largely intended to be cheap (like the CMoy.) At the full MSRP the Fast Track at least used to have the Alien makes a lot more sense, but with the clearance price putting it closer to the same value or really less even I'm not as sure, despite the fact that the Fast Track wasn't entirely designed for this. Also, it's nice to be able to just pick it up locally and to know I can bring it back within a few months if anything goes wrong (plus I was getting the impression that he meant to build the Alien, so it might take a while if I went that route.) It's worth noting as well that with the Alien I'd probably end up adding a CMoy since the Alien only has a line output, so it actually ends up costing more in the end.

Which one should be better overall? This is just for listening to music and that sort of thing where accuracy and quality are more important. I'll be able to dedicate that Audigy to gaming and such. Also, the laptop definitely needs a better quality sound as I do listen to quite a fair bit of music on it.

PS. On this subject btw, is there anything else I should be considering for around the same pricerange?

 

[Nazo]

Sorry. Hope no one minds my bumping, but it's already fallen completely off the page. In particular, I really want to know if there is anything else I should be considering for the pricerange.

 

[ashmedai]

Zero is $150ish. Sometimes you can find an EMU 0202 or something like that under $100, but the cheapest I see one right now is $130 at zzounds...but with more looking, you might find better. Used receivers often fall in the sub-$100 range.

You're mostly right about the Alien, although it will in specific depend on how good a job the builder does and what options you go with. Without having compared all the parts involved, I would guess that it would do better than the Chaintech card but not as good as the Zero. Alien as a kit is ~$40, if that helps any.

With those D1000s, you could probably do better by giving them the Markl treatment and some better amplification before worrying about the DAC stage. Of course, if you go for the Zero, it does both DAC and amp at once...but maybe that's a bit high for you? You weren't very specific about budget.

 

[Nazo]

Well, I'm talking more about the $60 or so range. The M-Audio Fast Track was on clearance for about $70 or so and that's roughly about the value he was offering as a trade with the Alien (this was including the labor of building it.) I figured though that there probably weren't going to be many options in this sort of price range. I guess there isn't much else in this price range then? Given that, between the two options I have, which do you suppose might be the better choice? I can't find much info on the Fast Track -- no doubt due to the fact it is largely oriented towards a different crowd -- so it's hard for me to really tell. I can't even directly compare them because then I'd have to get the Alien as well as it first. I guess my biggest concern here is, would the Alien be notably better? Considering that I have to add an amp to it just to use it, I'm still kind of wondering. Right now I'm kind of leaning that way a bit though as at least it would be notably smaller than this fast track (though I may have to come up with some kind of casing myself to try to get the CMoy and Alien together in a package small enough to carry with my EeePC if that's even possible.)

BTW, I love the idea of that Markl treatment. I'm not 100% certain I'd trust myself to do it all right necessarily (particularly I worry about how he points out that apparently it's pretty easy to knock one of the wires loose in this process,) but I may have to give it a shot. It sounds like it does just exactly what these headphones need to make them perfect for me. It doesn't look too complicated though as about the only thing that looks like there is room for badly messing up would be the wires. (Well, recabling might also be a good idea and I think I'll try that either way.) I'm not sure about keeping out air bubbles though. Also, I'm unclear what he means when he says to "install" the Dynamat. He says to remove the adhesive backing first, so what holds it in? EDIT: NM, I'll ask on there. Makes a lot more sense, lol.