Cheap DAC and a little more
I needed optical or coax out from pc to supply an older Musical Fidelity DAC a buddy has let me hang on to for a while. No optical or coax out on my pc, no usb on the DAC. So I looked around for a while, suffering with how much to spend and whether to just forego the older DAC and get into something newer with clock correction, etc. As I think I am pretty satisfied for now with redbook quality, I decided to discount much in the way of up conversion or oversampling. I also thought that I can get something going for some small money while I continue to consider what bigger money is going to get me.
So after some reading and poking around I settled on
this low budget box here.
I believe this box may be available under different branding and such, but Amazon is fast and reliable and it's only a few bucks and I wanted to listen to music already. The 3.5mm jack of the PC was terrible
So what do I actually accomplish ??
First off, it will convert USB to digital, either optical or coax. That satisfies my immediate need to employ the MF DAC I have. It has eliminated the annoying ocassional signal drop out I would get coming off the PC analog out.
Second, it has a built in DAC that has outputs directly to RCA analog so it is versatile in that regard. It runs off USB 5v power supplied through the USB. Not ideal in an audiophile way, but I am not looking at the final solution, more of a stop gap. And truth is, this thing is a huge leap up from the headphone or speaker jack off the PC.
Third, it has a modest headphone output. I haven't used it, but it's there even if I don't know if it's any good.
OK, this thing is not likely going to take me any further up the hi-fi ladder than what I have it doing now. But it IS doing what it's doing now and it's doing it well beyond my $25 worth. Now I can search and read and debate over any other DAC or input/output device I want for however long I want, all the while listening to my redbook level files and not feeling immediate need to purchase anything else.
Last thing. This is a modest and simple device. I did, however come across the web somewhere a blogger type who actually offered some options (info) on upgrading this thing a bit with a few caps and resistors.
To each there own, but if you are suffering with a headphone out jack, this thing is a cheap bridge to get you where ever you might end up. One might even discover it's good enough to satisfy for a while.