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Good DAC for PC (music) and Xbox 360 (games)?

post #1 of 10
11/7/10 at 2:51am
Thread Starter 

OK so I currently have some wharfedale XARUS 5000's connected to a Technics A600MK2 amp.

This is coming hooked up at the moment to my PC which uses an Asus P5K-E deluxe Wi-fi motherboard (on board sound)

 

I wanna upgrade my listening experience!

Now my PC motherboard has an optical out, and so does my new Xbox 360 slim.

 

I like my speakers, so i think the rest of the stuff is what i should be upgrading. I was thinking of upgrading the amp, but i think i should go for a DAC instead - is this a good idea? (ie will i find better improvement this way?)

 

I was hoping to get some sort of DAC that i can hook both my PC and xbox 360 up to, then into my Technics amp (tbh i'm not sure how great the amp is but it's served me well so far)

 

And finally, i'm not sure how much to spend! Will I be able to pick up a decent DAC for less than £100? cheaper the better of course.. I don't want a super DAC if it's bottlenecked by the rest of my equipment!

 

 

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

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post #2 of 10
11/7/10 at 10:03am

have you considered the Astro mixamp, or the turtle beach dss. For gaming those will serve you.

But for music I don't know how great they are.
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by SCOTTBALL View Post

OK so I currently have some wharfedale XARUS 5000's connected to a Technics A600MK2 amp.

This is coming hooked up at the moment to my PC which uses an Asus P5K-E deluxe Wi-fi motherboard (on board sound)

 

I wanna upgrade my listening experience!

Now my PC motherboard has an optical out, and so does my new Xbox 360 slim.

 

I like my speakers, so i think the rest of the stuff is what i should be upgrading. I was thinking of upgrading the amp, but i think i should go for a DAC instead - is this a good idea? (ie will i find better improvement this way?)

 

I was hoping to get some sort of DAC that i can hook both my PC and xbox 360 up to, then into my Technics amp (tbh i'm not sure how great the amp is but it's served me well so far)

 

And finally, i'm not sure how much to spend! Will I be able to pick up a decent DAC for less than £100? cheaper the better of course.. I don't want a super DAC if it's bottlenecked by the rest of my equipment!

 

 

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

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post #3 of 10
11/8/10 at 11:31am

the mixamp is great for console gaming, I tried it out for music and it wasn't that great although I was comparing it to my ef2 so I guess that's a bit skewed

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post #4 of 10
11/8/10 at 1:24pm
Thread Starter 

ah ok thanks

music is the priority really!

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post #5 of 10
11/9/10 at 2:54pm
Thread Starter 

in fact i would go as far to say that music from the PC is the most important thing

xbox sound is not important

(soz for doublepost)

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post #6 of 10
11/9/10 at 5:42pm

http://box-designs.com/main.php?prod=dacboxfl&cat=digital&lang=en

 

I use this one.

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post #7 of 10
11/10/10 at 11:16am
Thread Starter 

I preferable want one with multiple outs (ie so i dont have to disconnec PC to put on xbox)

 

hows the Cambridge Audio DACmagic?

 

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summary.php?PID=320

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post #8 of 10
11/10/10 at 5:04pm

I don't have it but I know that it is well considered here. When i started surfing this website, that was one of the dac people talked about. I even looked around for it, but as it is expensive I let it go.

If you have the money you won't lose anything.

You could also consider the ZERO DAC. you could use it with your pc by USB and your console by Optical in.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SCOTTBALL View Post

I preferable want one with multiple outs (ie so i dont have to disconnec PC to put on xbox)

 

hows the Cambridge Audio DACmagic?

 

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summary.php?PID=320

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post #9 of 10
12/20/10 at 9:15am
Thread Starter 

Hi again all

 

I still don't have a DAC, but i'm gonna upgrade my amp

 

Should i get a hybrid digital/analogue amp? Or just an analogue amp with a separate DAC?

 

Standalone DAC sounds like it will be better...

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post #10 of 10
12/20/10 at 10:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dotapples View Post

the mixamp is great for console gaming, I tried it out for music and it wasn't that great although I was comparing it to my ef2 so I guess that's a bit skewed


Agree on great for console gaming.  Surprised to see you say not so great for music (but I'm unfamiliar with the EF2, so I'm missing out on that comparison).  I recently got a MixAmp 5.8 and decided, just for fun, to throw my NIN "Beside You in Time" HD-DVD into my XBox 360 add-on (yes, I still have HD-DVDs, don't laugh!).  I was floored at how good it sounded, and that was despite the fact I was getting a downsampling from the TrueHD track (I'm pretty sure the 360 can't decode TrueHD, anyway).  Through the MixAmp and my AD700s, the only thing missing from my usual listening experience w/ speakers and subwoofer was the rumbling of the couch (I know the AD700s are supposed to be bass-less, but I find that claim to be nearly baseless - sorry for the pun).


Edited by tlniec - 12/20/10 at 10:04am
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