Recommend an external DAC

Gatticus

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 5, 2006
Messages
1,487
I want to use the digital out on my X-Fi to an external DAC and then to an amp. What's a decent DAC for about $100.00? Don't want USB DAC. Thanks.
 
Aside from a random Entech number cruncher from Ebay and a few DIY solutions there really isn't anything out there that will offer you much of an upgrade for $100.
 
OK, I better up my budget then. What do I need to spend to get a decent DAC?
 
killernoodle said:
Isnt the DAC on the X-Fi pretty good by itself?

Not really. For the ultimate sound quality on a PC it is my understanding that it is best to use digital out from the soundcard to an external DAC and then to an amp. I will be using Audiolab 8000A amp.
 
A quick search on this forum and headfi.org should yield a few results.
There were a few in the budget category that I saw reviewed. The MHDT lab's, although not as well known, got very good reviews. I'm the happy owner of one myself, and it's been good to me! Two reviewers said their budget DAC (Dialogue II) was better than that of the EMU 0404 / 1212m style cards, so take that for what it's worth.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZmhdtlabQQssPageNameZSTRKQ3aMEFSQ3aMESOI

http://www.geocities.com/mhdtlab/

The USB+ constantine would be my pick for 259$us to start off. Although they also have a cheaper 200$ one.

There is also the number cruncher (cheap price) and the microDAC from headphone.com (never tried it). Also, there are some asian built DAC's such as the Zhaolu and Dah-ah, but there are some serious quality control issues that would lead me to never gamble on one.

~Hope this helps
 
I found this page at headfi. It lists just about every DAC there is and their prices. Need to just find one that is decent and not too expensive. Think I'll sell my soul and get the Gaku-On at $250,000.00. ;)

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=199941

I don't want USB unless it also has coax and optic. That would be ideal but I think the best I can do is one with both coax and optic.
 
Why would one pay $300 for a stand alone DAC, when a decent receiver/amp/DAC made by ONYO, Denon or Pioneer be had for the same price? Would the DACs refered to above be that much better than the one in a comparably priced Onkyo receiver?
 
rblews said:
Would the DACs refered to above be that much better than the one in a comparably priced Onkyo receiver?
You would hope so ^_^.
 
rblews said:
Why would one pay $300 for a stand alone DAC, when a decent receiver/amp/DAC made by ONYO, Denon or Pioneer be had for the same price? Would the DACs refered to above be that much better than the one in a comparably priced Onkyo receiver?

unless its a horribly designed dac, then yes

as much as people hate behringer i love my DEQ2496, it just does SOOO much... and if i ever get a better dac then it will just be a digital domain EQ yay :D

also, dosent the X-FI have the CS4398 in it? thats a nice chip found in many standalone DACs... is it just horribly implemented or at the mercy of computer psu's or what?
 
Yea, I pm him about it yesterday when it didn't say SOLD but he pm me back just now and told me it is sold. His mod was to bypass the opamp so it comes straight out of the DAC so don't know if that is really better anyway. Maybe I should suck it up and go for the Benchmark DAC1.
 
I am not convinced that the passive output mod on the DAC-AH really offers you any type of improvement (that mod rolled off the top end to much and NOS DAC's are not exactly bright to begin with).

There is a Lite DAC-72 currently listed on Ebay for a very good price at the moment but it is a little outside your budget. :(
 
It is within my budget but it only ships to U.S. and I am in Canada. Think I'll forget the DAC for now and maybe save up for the Grace m902 headphone amp down the road which has it's own decent DAC.
 
It is within my budget but it only ships to U.S. and I am in Canada. Think I'll forget the DAC for now and maybe save up for the Grace m902 headphone amp down the road which has it's own decent DAC.
Another option is seeing if there are any local canada headfi meets. May be a good chance to demo some dac's.
 
I want to use the digital out on my X-Fi to an external DAC and then to an amp. What's a decent DAC for about $100.00? Don't want USB DAC. Thanks.

i do not believe you will better the DAC in the X-Fi for $100.

going to have to go into the $1000++ range to better it. Specifically the benchmark and lavry, maybe the DAC3 (but that is yet to be seen).

Creative did make a good product and their volume gives them good component prices.

I went that route, I say relax. You already have a very good DAC.

Yes I have heard them, they are better, but not jaw dropping. Someone may say that it is, more power to them.
 
Liver said:
i do not believe you will better the DAC in the X-Fi for $100.

going to have to go into the $1000++ range to better it.
1000$?
~200$us would be a better estimate I think.
 
You'd be better off getting a $300 receiver than a standalone DAC and amplifier, I would think.

You can get a Denon AVR1507 for $280 (this is a good receiver...and it's high current...). I doubt a standalone DAC that costs $200 will be noticably better than the DAC in the Denon. Plus, you get a good 75watt/channel amplifier and a DD/DTS decoder in it, and tons of other neat fetures that you'd never get in a DAC.
 
I recently moved to a Behringer DEQ2496 (AKM dac) from my Entech for my dac duties...I picked it up for about $210. Keep in mind if you get one... that you will need to convert x-fi's coax digital to optical since the DEQ doesn't have coax digital inputs. I may sell off my entech if the price is right or someone has got something to trade. I still have all the boxes and docs, etc.
 
1000$?
~200$us would be a better estimate I think.

name one that would give a noticeable improvement. better yet I would go to the x-fi elite pro.

audiophiles like knocking on creative, that is just the way it is. they had shoddy products in the past, with the output stage. they have improved substantially, I am not saying they are the end all be all, but have shown a significant improvement. IMO, the days of automatic dismissal of audiophiles are over.

check headfi.com, lot of split opinions. when i see split opinions running very close, it tells me there is no concensus (duh). so sinking more $ into it may not have any tangible improvements.
 
You'd be better off getting a $300 receiver than a standalone DAC and amplifier, I would think.

You can get a Denon AVR1507 for $280 (this is a good receiver...and it's high current...). I doubt a standalone DAC that costs $200 will be noticably better than the DAC in the Denon. Plus, you get a good 75watt/channel amplifier and a DD/DTS decoder in it, and tons of other neat fetures that you'd never get in a DAC.

Yea, but I really want to use my Audiolab 8000A as it has a decent headphone output compared to most integrated amps. I used to have a Denon integrated amp and while they are good they are not as good as Audiolab. Audiolab has a very neutral sound which is something I like in an amp.
 
MD 10 picks up the X-Fi and bitch slaps it basically.

I have an Elite Pro X-Fi.
 
MD 10 picks up the X-Fi and bitch slaps it basically.

I have an Elite Pro X-Fi.

I guess that goes to show you what a difference a power supply/output filters can make... cause the MD 10 uses the same DAC IC as the XFi..

anyhow, one of the nice things about an external DAC like that is you can take the digital out of your X-Fi and run it into the DAC so you can still take advantage of the X-Fi features in games and such
 
and you a way with amps.

yes I use the MD 10 in conjunction with my X-FI. It really just cleans things up and seperates the sound into discernable portions. For my headphones, Open Darth Beyers, it allows me to have vertical and horizontal soundstage. There's upper, middle, lower right and left not just right or left. Also, the horizontal soundstage gives a better perception of near/far aka how close that asshat is to whacking you upside the head with a rifle butt.
 
ah I have it. a decent dac is like a bra for the x-fi.....it lifts and seperates....
 
I'm wondering if anyone knows of an inexpensive DAC that might be similar in quality to what would be on a typical receiver.

Here is my situation, and reason for asking...

I have a Yamaha HTR-5890, which I'm quite pleased with. However, it seems that its 'zone 2' and 'zone 3' outputs can only use analog inputs. (Basically, I suppose it can only 'process' one signal from digital to analog... to the mains). This actually seems to be the way all of them work that I have looked at now that I'm aware of this.

The problem this presents... is that it makes my digital inputs fairly useless. I'm going to run zone 2 to some speakers in the kitchen, and have my zone 3 hooked to some wireless headphones. This way, if someone wants to quietly watch TV, they can use the headphones.... or, someone can stream the computer through Airport to the kitchen, etc.

But, the Airport Express only does either analog out or digital out (only one cord at a time).... and my MythTV based HTPC seems to be quite difficult (if possible) to make send both analog and digital of everything at the same time. I'm sure I'll run into this same problem with other equipment as well. I think even my PS2 is an either... analog or digital, not both at once.

So, I'd like to try to go optical out, split... then run one optical to the optical input on the receiver.... and the other brach through a DAC and into the analog ports. This way, there is a signal present on both for each input. When using the main speakers with surround, etc.... it can always use the digital, so I get the quality / features available when appropriate.

Then, when people use zone 2 or 3, they analog signal is there as well, with no fiddling of settings on the various device (mythtv, airport, ps2, etc.). I'm looking, and all I see are DACs that start at $100, and go into thousands. I'm thinking that this can't be all that expensive to do if they build them into a $100 receiver with all the other stuff it has to do. I understand that some pretty good stuff goes into the good ones for the audiophiles... but I just need this to be roughly as good as what any typical receiver has in it... as it is just being used for my zone 2 and 3 anyway.

Anyone know of anything that isn't so expensive? I'm thinking something like this should easily be available for under $50... maybe in kit form for even quite a bit less. Heh, maybe I should dust off my electronics skills and try to make one.
 
I went and ordered the Musiland MD10 from Pacific Valve but they are out of stock so have to wait for them to get more in.
 
i wonder how well the circuit design of an x-fi would fair against all these external dacs if it didnt have all the interferance inside of a PC. I had an x-fi plat with the standard dac chip, onboard, my sony dvd player and a pacific valve modded great march. All these solutions are under $300 because i bought the great march used. I would say the great march is the best for music but the x-fi best for gaming. I think a great compromise would be either something like a emu 1212 that was on sale for $99 if you like music or an x-fi elite pro $200 on sale if you had to have it do games, movies , music all in one.
 
I think the Emu 0404 USB might be the best compromise all around as it is external, has good DAC and apparently has a decent headphone amp too.
 
im not a fan of USB. USB Is considered the most noisy out of all the digital connections. I know i know, its digital so you either get it or dont. I have yet to use usb as an IC. What i dont like personally that i do see alot is USB = cpu cycles. I already see stuttering on my singlecore system playing Itunes and while web browing. If im gonna pay for anything its gonna be hardware accelerated to take the load off my poor 1.8ghz opty 144.
 
You'd be better off getting a $300 receiver than a standalone DAC and amplifier, I would think.

You can get a Denon AVR1507 for $280 (this is a good receiver...and it's high current...). I doubt a standalone DAC that costs $200 will be noticably better than the DAC in the Denon. Plus, you get a good 75watt/channel amplifier and a DD/DTS decoder in it, and tons of other neat fetures that you'd never get in a DAC.

but when using the 3 mini-to-RCA into the 6-discrete input into a reciever, it will using ur sound card DAC.. how would the external DAC prevent that?
 
Anyone know of a place in the US that sells it?

That is the US site.

Otherwise, by the time I shipped, put in a case, got power, etc.... I think it would be over $100 anyway.

There are a few pictures of the one I built here--->
http://us.hifidiy.net/Article.asp?articleid=179
(not the one in the plastic case)

The DAC kit was $45 shipped
The TREAD (LM317 PSU) kit was like $17 but I also ordered a whole bunch of other crap at the time so I dunno what the shipping was...
The AC to AC adpter was $7
The enclosure, switch and rca jacks were less then $30
The Black gates caps totaled $38 :D

So yeah if you go all out it could cost a little more then $100

If you use the suggested AC to DC adapter for the power supply, some crap rca jacks and a cheap enclosure I don't see how the total could be more then $75 :p
 
Back
Top