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Not a One! Some people will tell you to build your own but if that is not your thing then the Bithead cant be beat in that price range.
What about the E-MU 0404 USB? Technically, it's Creative, but the drivers are simple and well done. I'm not sure about the current level of Vista support; I s'pose the BitHead has the advantage of using the basic USB audio driver of both OSs.
For me my headphone knowledge extends as far as using IEMs with portable music players (Eg: CX300s with an ipod).
In the near future I'll probably get a Bithead along with a pair of quality headphones (Sennheiser HD line most likely. HD650 would be awesome but I might go for something cheaper). I'm just wondering but would this Bithead fella be decent enough to power those kind of headphones as I've read something along the lines of them requiring quite a bit of juice to sound optimized. Or should I be looking at something else? I don't want to get headphones that I can't listen through at their top quality.
I think having native USB drivers is the best way to eliminate one set of problems. You can use the Bithead with the 650s but they really need a better amp. You would want something more like the Pico for that. Its 5 bills and it has an upsampling DAC so it can be used with DVD-Audio and other High Bit Rate audio files. And the Amp is amazing. You dont need to stay with low end headphones though. Grado makes alot of 32 ohm headphones and they would work well out of the Bithead.
I purchased the Creative Sound Blaster USB 24/96khz and was not at all impressed. However, I already have an Analogue Devices, SoundMax 20 bit internal native sound card which sounds amazing to these old golden ears One more thing 128 bits is just fine I cannot tell the difference when adding or subtracting bits.
__________________ iRiver H340
Meier Corda Move
Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 Pro
w/Null-Audio Enyo and Selene
I bought a Bithead & never looked back. I listen to it my laptop at home, take it to work to use with my Zen or the songs I have stuck on the company computer.
EMU0404 USB is your best bet if SQ is your priority.
Although the Bithead is a good fit-in-your-pocket solution, the EMU's DAC chip is on a different level entirely, being the same one used in the $2000 Transporter among other more expensive DACs.
I've owned both and felt the EMU was a significantly better source.
One more thing 128 bits is just fine I cannot tell the difference when adding or subtracting bits.
Linear Mode
