How the heck can my Realtek soundchip sound so bad? - Page 2

No, I highly suspect it's the sensitivity of your cans since as you said the onboard was fine with less sensitive iems.

The output of your phone is typically not going to be much better, if not worse than onboard audio, but it should have less output power which may be why it's fine. Not making any promise, though - just saying, super sensitive gear around 110db/mw++ tends to do weird stuff.

That's why I suggest trying a cheap attenuator or resistor of some sort to see if it helps.

Most amps have analog attenuation (volume knob) which can essentially do the same function.

Yes, lose the crummy onboard.

Make sure it has a volume knob, and any dac worth a hoot will have an amp capable of driving just about anything integrated with it. TPA6120 IC amp's very good for that purpose, but it seems the cheapskate get rich quick producers don't want to give us budget-minded individuals a break.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mralexosborn 

Imma get a DAC! YAY!

What are you considering?

While I loathe audio gd's colored nonsense, the Sparrow actually seems like a decent value.. at least compared to toys like uDAC. too bad it lacks a line out, and too bad nobody has posted an RMAA test of it.

Shipping price is a real downer though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mralexosborn 

I am thinking about the Audio-gd Sparrow and have an optical switcher between my PC and my two audio components: HT system and the Sparrow.

 

This would work, right?

I guess you psted just before I did asking you what you were looking at.  Sure, that should work.  There are a few around here that give it good marks for sound quality based on their testing.

It is nice to have input selections to if you are working with multiple sources.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mralexosborn 

Yeah, shipping puts it at about $170. 

I guess I could try to buy it used off of someone here...

Sure, check the buy and sell forums there should be many sources there for good prices.