USB/firewire DAC/soundcard equivalent to... - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

ReDVsion · 12-09-2005, 10:15 PM

I'm seriously considering ditching my whole PC and just going for a Mac Mini with an external soundcard or USB DAC. Problem is, I'm very attached to my AP192 soundcard, and don't want to have to sacrifice the audio quality I enjoy now. My question is how much would it cost me to get an external soundcard (USB or Firewire) or USB DAC (I don't suppose they have firewire DACs, do they?) equivalent to a computer soundcard in the $150-$200 range? (e.g. AP192, Juli@, 1212M)

grawk · 12-09-2005, 10:19 PM

The firewire audiophile from M-Audio is just under $200. Firewire Solo, also, if you'd rather have a guitar and mic in.

ReDVsion · 12-10-2005, 01:34 AM

Oh, I guess I should have worded that a little better. I'm looking for external soundcards/DACs at any price that are comparable to internal soundcards that cost $150-$200. It's my understanding (correct me if I'm wrong) that external soundcards aren't as good dollar-for-dollar as internal PCI cards.

grawk · 12-10-2005, 01:38 AM

For listening to music, you can get the micro dac from headroom for $300, I'm sure it would give any pci sound card a run for it's money. For that matter, the Airport Express for $99 will sound better than a $200 pci card if you have a good dac to connect it to.

Tim D · 12-10-2005, 05:29 AM

The airport express is good because with an optical out you avoid grounding/electrical contamination and it has other features. However I do not know how well it provides audio during video playback, etc and if there are sync issues.

I test drove an iBook and really loved the quality trim, design, and software. Just got my rather loaded Dell 6000 and am having a miserable time trimming the dell crap from it (and trying to get my OS CD's shipped to me). The Dell is certainly a lot more noisy than the silent ibooks and the Dell's are considered rather quiet for PC laptops (although I'm still waiting to get my system up and running the way I'd like so I can try out some fan programs). Worse yet, I thought I'd be getting a much faster trackpad, but from what I see so far, its just as slow and doesn't have the 2 finger scroll grrr.

Once my wallet recovers I am thinking of getting a Mac Mini myself. I wouldn't have to worry about getting warranty like I would a laptop...the reliability of the Mac Mini is incredible and if you google'd Mac Mini failure you wouldn't find anything except what you'd expect in low harddrive failure rates.

Best thing is the last revision Mac Mini's come with faster but quiet seagates for hard drives. If I had to do it myself, I think those seagates would be on the short list for ideal hard drive for a quiet pc. They did a silent revision that they have yet to publicize because I am thinking that they are going to do a Mactel update soon to that model. However that doesn't make the last PPC G4 versions a bad deal keeping in mind you are still going with a rock solid reliable platform. Course maybe the new Mactel's may be rock solid as well, time will tell. Still when I consider that the G4's in Mac Mini's are CPU's that basically can run without active fans in an iBook, it makes me wonder if even any current or soon to be released Intel mobiles can run as cool. At best the new ones will have Yonah's, and at worse Celeron's (which still aren't bad since Celeron's are basically much like Centrino's but with worse speedstep or clock throttling for energy/heat).

FrontRow integration and other possible HTPC additions would be a reason to wait however. But it really doesn't matter since what you really want to wait for (and what I don't think could possibly be released in January at current pricepoint although I'd love it if it was), would be a Mac Mini that could easily decode h.264 streams through GPU/hardware acceleration.

ReDVsion · 12-10-2005, 09:43 AM

Originally Posted by Tim D

FrontRow integration and other possible HTPC additions would be a reason to wait however.

I am waiting for this, one of the main reasons I wanted to switch... but I need to plan out my audio setup if I go this route, hence... external soundcards.

ReDVsion · 12-12-2005, 04:43 AM

Any more suggestions guys? I'd like to spend at the very most $500, and while the micro dac sounds like it'd be a great component, I'd really like something that didn't have a mini-jack.

Iron_Dreamer · 12-14-2005, 05:04 AM

Have you considered using a USB soundcard w/digital output to a non-USB DAC? That would give you a lot more options, in terms of DAC's, and I'm sure you could find a DAC for <$400 that would equal or exceed the AP192. It would just be a question of finding one whose flavor you favor

ReDVsion · 12-14-2005, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by Iron_Dreamer

Have you considered using a USB soundcard w/digital output to a non-USB DAC? That would give you a lot more options, in terms of DAC's, and I'm sure you could find a DAC for <$400 that would equal or exceed the AP192. It would just be a question of finding one whose flavor you favor

I have considered it, but in rethinking the whole thing I really need a set of analog inputs plus Midi I/O in addition to just great analog output. That said, I can always upgrade to a DAC later (it's not like any card I do get will be without digital outs).

I'm pretty sure I've narrowed my search down to the M-Audio Firewire Audiophile (although I'm still somewhat worried about the DAC not being as good as my current card) or the Terratec Phase 24 FW; does anyone know if I can still get the Terratec card in the US?

Iron_Dreamer · 12-14-2005, 11:58 PM

Originally Posted by ReDVsion

I have considered it, but in rethinking the whole thing I really need a set of analog inputs plus Midi I/O in addition to just great analog output. That said, I can always upgrade to a DAC later (it's not like any card I do get will be without digital outs).

I was meaning a cheaper, more simple USB option, like the M-Audio Sonica or Audiotrack Optoplay, just to get you a bit-perfect digital output. Then you wouldn't end up paying for all those extra features you don't care about. BTW I should have the Aqvox USB 2 D/A on hand early next week, and will post some impressions. The unit was about $730 shipped, a bit over your price ceiling, but will hopefully provide sound as divine as its design.