I think I know why I need a DAC, but which one?

[Stereognat]

Sound Blaster Z is that red-colored, plastic DAC with the little window, right? I used one for my PC many years ago, and it gave me a headache! The junk software required to run the damn thing quickly became annoying (despite how good the product looked). That was before I got into Hi-Fi. Now I use an iMac.

+1 for iMac.

 

[ontheroad303]

Funny that this thread totally took off and I stopped getting notifications.

On the iMac front, I think my move instead of a DAC is getting a Mac Mini to use as a music server that doubles as my video system. Should have a good enough DAC for my listening needs - unless anyone has a different perspective on needing an external DAC for it?

 

[E.Auer]

That would be correct. But you also forgot to include SACDS, DSD, and others that some current DACs support.

I mentioned DSD and MQA earlier.

Eric

 

[gvl]

Funny that this thread totally took off and I stopped getting notifications.

On the iMac front, I think my move instead of a DAC is getting a Mac Mini to use as a music server that doubles as my video system. Should have a good enough DAC for my listening needs - unless anyone has a different perspective on needing an external DAC for it?

Centrance DACMini CX stacks nicely with a Mac Mini, so if not for sonics there at least will be an aesthetic aspect of it

 

[Poultrygeist]

There are. I mean people rave over Chromcast, on this forum, which has a mediocre 192/24 AKM DAC in it. The SoundBlaster Z cards have a 192/24 bit Sabre DAC. So yes there can be decent DACs on soundcards.

The Chromecast internal DAC is indeed mediocre. But bypassing it into a $20 Fiio D3 DAC offers a major upgrade in SQ.

 

[BillWojo]

Folks need to pay attention to what's happening with Chinese high end DAC board prices.

I take it you mean that they are coming down rapidly? Can you point out a few of the high end boards? I'm curious as to what is out there.

BillWojo

 

[Poultrygeist]

Once the Chinese have a good board like this killer R2R you'll soon see it offered by a multitude of vendors at even lower prices. Look for Douk to offer it fully assembled in a case in the near future.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rev4-0-Denm...490921?hash=item3f69f347a9:g:M4QAAOSwdIFXx9k4

 

[spiralmind]

Which specific SMSL dac?

The M3. Not a bad little unit, but have been considering testing out one of the smaller tube DACs.