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an important question :dac in general

post #1 of 5
11/21/08 at 7:28am
Thread Starter 
Hi, this may not be the place but i didnt get any answers in other forums so...
i recentely bought a ultra micro amp and pluged it into my computer through the headphones jack.
my purpose is to get the most passive and flat sound possible, to let my ultra micro do the job!
now..i know i supposed to have a dac between my comp and amp...

what is the difference between listening through the hp jack and through thet usb port connected to dac?

is the sound coming out of the hp jack isnt digital..? i mean, the soundcard couldnt possibely have an amp inside of it right...? also not a dac.

does the computer converts the signal to analog when outputing through the hp jack?

if the difference is significance in sound, i will consider to buy a ultra dac instead of using my comp hp jack.

thx , and sorry for the misplaced question.
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post #2 of 5
11/21/08 at 7:49am
Yes, your sound card has a DAC in it, that's why it's a sound card. When you connect either headphones or a device using the headphone port, then it's your sound card being a DAC.

The USB cable is sending a digital signal. When you connect a DAC to your computer using USB, then the DAC is being a DAC and converting the digital signal to analogue.
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post #3 of 5
11/21/08 at 8:04am
Thread Starter 
that is the only reasonable explanation i could think for myself
an you just aproved it for me thx!

so why do i need a dac if the computer already do this job for me!
i mean ...the sound coming out of the soundcard is unamped and my ultra micro gets to amp the signal alone and with authority! like i (and everybody) want.

maybe the sound is better through a usb rather than a hp jack..?
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post #4 of 5
11/21/08 at 11:15am
It's the DAC chipset. In particular, good upsampling DACs like the HR Ultra Micro can really make a difference in sound. At the very least, using an inexpensive one like the Bithead gets your audio output outside of your noisy (EMF disturbances) computer case.
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post #5 of 5
11/21/08 at 12:03pm
Simply put, the DAC in a cheap sound card sounds like crap compared to even a basic external DAC. To give you an example of my experience, I bought a good amp and headphones first, but still used the output of my computer as the source. I was wondering why all the money I had spent gave me almost no improvement until I bought a DAC then noticed the huge difference in sound quality -- noticed because I had a good amp and good headphones.
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