cheaper DAC vs. good sound card

[canercan888]

I was convinced that a DAC was the answer with a laptop but I can't see which would be better with a desktop computer, a DAC or a good sound card?

Consider I can't afford anything above $200 when it comes to DACs. Actually, same goes for the sound card, nothing over $200.

So what do you guys think? A DAC or a better sound card?

[freckling]

i'm actually interested to know what you guys think as well

[rds]

asus xonar dx at $89 with a cs4398 it's a steal... I don't think it has any competition is that price range

[rds]

It sounds really good with these mods:

Asus Xonar DX Mods!

[thedauntlessone]

You might want to consider super pro dac 707 USB. it comes in black now instead of the gay purple

if you are looking for a dac/amp combo you can look into tns sweet II (skylab was impressed by it) or the Zero DAC/amp

[infinitesymphony]

In that price range, sound cards are probably the way to go, though there are a few decent DACs that use chips better than the Burr-Brown PCM270x series common in budget DACs. Check the All the DACs pt. 2 thread if you're interested. Otherwise, sound cards:

Asus Xonar series
AuzenTech X-Fi Prelude
E-MU 1212M
E-MU 0404 USB
AudioTrak Prodigy HD2

[badmonkey]

Inifinite do you hold to that if the budget is stretched a little beyond the OP's $200... e.g. Keces 151 (USB) @ $230, is this outdone by any internal soundcard would you guess?

[ZephyrSapphire]

I don't think anyone has actually answered the OP's question.
DAC or Soundcard? IMO, a soundcard if you're a gamer. but a USB DAC if you plan to listen to music since you can avoid all the fan noise from the desktop's case. Cheers.

[badmonkey]

Well the OP has not specified his purpose. I don't think anyone would consider an external DAC for gaming (other than a simple 2 channel output without any hardware FX), so I think it goes without saying that he is interested in 2-channel quality, read: music.

On this basis it is an interesting question; $200 (i.e. high end) PCI soundcard vs $200 (lower end) external DAC. And I guess one must assume USB to avoid requiring extra cost for a SPDIF transport.

[infinitesymphony]

Originally Posted by badmonkey

Inifinite do you hold to that if the budget is stretched a little beyond the OP's $200... e.g. Keces 151 (USB) @ $230, is this outdone by any internal soundcard would you guess?

From what I've seen, the KECES DA-151 takes the PCM270x platform as far as it will go. However, that DAC has hard limitations that might make a sound card with a superior DAC chip sound better. The PCM270x series is not top-of-the-line, and sound cards in the $200 range are almost all using top chips. It would be tough to know without doing a comparison, since one is essentially like a super-modified low-end DAC while the other is like a stock mid-fi DAC.