USB DAC - Yay or nay?

[jim]

I have myself a conundrum - around £150 on an expiring gift voucher type-thing for Richer Sounds, and nothing that I really need.

That's got me thinking.

I have, courtesy of the rather generous g8ina, a Marantz PM-32 Amp hooked up to a pair of Tannoy S30 speakers. At the moment, I'm running a cable from the 3.5mm output on my motherboard to the phono inputs on the back of the amp.

Now, some places I've looked at have suggested that using a USB DAC would greatly improve the quality of the sound. Despite all the marketing nonsense about my motherboard having X-Fi included, it still seems to be routing everything through a Realtek chip, and either way I would imagine that Cambridge Audio will produce a better quality product than either Realtek or Creative (accepting that they have a higher price to match).

Has anyone here tried this? Is it audiophile/marketing rubbish, or is it a worthwhile upgrade when you're running a amplifier?

FWIW, this is one of the CA/Richer Sounds USB DACs: http://www.richersounds.com/product/...ac-mag-100-blk

[wasabi]

Curious what you think is wrong with the Realtek chip onboard?

[jim]

Curious what you think is wrong with the Realtek chip onboard?

Nothing's wrong with it, just a question of whether an improvement could be had.

Or are you thinking about that headphone blind-test that someone did?

EDIT: It was Tom's Hardware. Definitely an interesting bit of testing, far beyond what I'd come to expect of TH when I stopped reading it a year or two back.

[Goobley]

The Dacmagic is certainly decent (I've auditioned it a few times) but it's pricey for its performance. One thing you can't neglect with audio IMO is getting it away from RFI, so getting the DAC out of the case I normally find makes an appreciable difference. Even with those fancy MoBos with separated audio ground planes, more noise is going to inductively couple into your motherboard than through the case walls.

Being a DIY nut I've built a few DACs, I enjoy some of the older ones like the TDA1541, but my day to day workhorse is a grubDac (from Beezar in the US). In the blind tests I've done, the grub has always been the best price to performance contender.

I feel the Cambridge is slightly better (has a higher rated chip and filtering options), but blind testing is inconclusive. My hearing is not good enough to tell many DACs apart when they get better than the grub. Some of the older ones like the TDA are noticeable, they measure with noticeably higher second harmonic, but all the modern chips are pretty much ruler flat to a fault.

The modern realteks themselves are good chips, just normally let down by their implementation (I.e. I can't normally tell them apart due to flaws directly in the music they're producing, other than hearing high frequency component interference in the sound, or they're let down by the quality of the analog parts surrounding them (older motherboards used to couple sound through ceramic caps - the terrible ringing!)).

As someone who has spent too much money build and playing with amps and DACs, my advice would be to get something decent enough (I like external USB), but not to worry overly which. I have decent hearing but don't claim to have magic ears and be able to hear differences between cables or anything. Any DAC by a reputable manufacturer at at least the upper end of low end (I.e. Contains more than just a PCM2707) is probably enough for anybody who isn't an audio snob. Once you've reached this level, amps make orders of magnitude more difference to sound/distortion.

The Dacmagic is certainly a decent product, I was also a fan of the Schitt Modi when I heard it. Nice looking product (small and bus powered), sound differences weren't obvious, and IIRC significantly cheaper than the Dacmagic.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The modern integrated codecs are quite decent,although there are usually more limitations with how they are implemented.

I would definitely look at the ODAC though.

Edit!!

Realised you need to buy it from RS!!

[Noxvayl]

I think my next hardware upgrade will be on sound equipment so would be interested to hear about your experience with a USB DAC, going to read that Tom's Hardware review now to get some sort of idea of what I'm in for.

[jim]

So, I decided against getting a DAC and instead opted to pick something up from RS and flog it on eBay to recoup some cash. I was advised to pick up the Azur 351A amp, which includes a DAC, and even better it was mispriced, £200 rather than £250.

I realised that after fees and so on I'd be lucky to get £130, so I decided to have a go with it and see what happened. Now, obviously I can't dissociate the effects of the DAC, and the effects of a new amp, and suspect that the latter has had a much bigger effect, but the clarity is far, far better than the Marantz PM-32 - delighted, and definitely keeping it.

My plan is to migrate the PM-32 over to the TV, and keep the 351A paired with the Saturn S30 speakers for the moment.

I know in terms of the question, is a DAC worthwhile, this is completely useless information. Perhaps in time I'll do some testing with and without the DAC, but it will likely take me a long time to get round to it.

[g8ina]

IF and WHEN you decide to get a DAC, the Zero USB is a marvel, esp if you swap out the chips !

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-VERSIO...item3cb20fbdf9

I had the non-USB model for a while and my Sennheiser 580s were enormously grateful

[MrRockliffe]

To me, it hasn't made a difference to my speakers, however to headphones, it's made a world of difference getting a headphone amp/dac. Bass is tighter, sound is more open and is less harsh. It does make a difference and there's a clear improvement in sound. Whether or not it's for you I can't say - you need to try it out to know for sure.