I need something to connect my laptop to my receiver, please. USB DAC maybe?

Hi Shevanel77,

I have a uDac (a very common and popular budget USB only amp/DAC here),  I have it connected inbetween my laptop and my denon receiver, usb from laptop into udac, RCA cables into the denon. The improvement I got from previously just using my headphone out was fantastic. I only use the DAC side of it, not the headphone amp which I think for the money is great.

The v-dac is another budget dac, which I havnt tried, but was my second choice, it has optical in too, which the udac doesnt.

Thats my cheap and chearful setup, ill leave it for someone else to recommend a more high end solution :)

Welcome to HeadFi! I've got a Devilsound DAC that you might be interested in. Nice thing about it (in addition to the sound) is that the cables are attached, And it is powered by your computer's USB, so nothing to plug into an outlet. All this makes it feel more like plugging in a cable than a component. No fuss, no muss. If you have a long distance to run a cable to your system, they also include a USB extension cord (15') or so.

Here is a review:

http://www.soundstagenetwork.com/ultraaudio.com/equipment/devilsound_dac_21.htm

The DevilSound won many Best of Year awards last year.

Another option, which I couldn't offer for sale would be the HRT Streamers (though you would need to purchase cables for these).

PM me about the DevilSound if you are interested. I'm interested in selling mine, but haven't gotten around to putting up an ad.

Best thing about used audio is that you can try things out and if it doesn't work for you or you decide to upgrade, you can usually sell the device again, while losing little to no money.

You need to start with a budget. Then targeted recommendations can pour in. Otherwise, you'll run the gamut of $99 to $400 options as seen here. Heck, the sky's the limit...

shevanel77, your Onkyo receiver already has a 192KHz/24bit upsampling DAC built in. With surround sound too. So to upgrade from that you will need something fancier than a normal budget DAC. (Disclaimer: I have no experience with Onkyo. Just basing this on the specs.)

I don't have anything to sell you, but my suggestion is that since you already have an optical cable from your laptop to the receiver, you should look into DACs with optical inputs, rather than USB ones. Many high end DACs have both anyway. This way, you can place your DAC near the receiver instead of next to your laptop.

The V-DAC and the Gamma2 are both nice DACs with both optical and USB inputs. They can be called budget DACs because they are relatively affordable (in the $300 range when new). But they are often compared to others with a much higher price. They are quite small in size also. I only mention them because I had considered buying them previously. I ended up getting the Gamma2 used. It's not easy to do since not many Gamma2 owners want to sell theirs!

(Also, I may be wrong but it didn't seem like doorhandle was looking to sell his uDAC.)

I see. In that case you may want to look into a USB transport instead. Something like the M2Tech HiFace or the Teralink-X2. These will convert USB input into digital audio output that your receiver's DAC can use. They're supposed to be very good at minimizing jitter.

The HiFace has won a lot of praise, but it has digital coaxial output only. So you'll need a different cable. The Teralink-X2 has both coaxial and optical outputs, and is plug-n-play without installing drivers. Cheaper too. These two are pure transports, that do only one thing and do it well.

Or you might want to try DAC+transport combinations. The Gamma2 full++ (or Gamma1 full++) can convert USB to optical/coaxial. uDAC can convert USB to coaxial. Audinst HUD-MX1 can convert USB to optical. And they are also nice DACs by themselves.