HELP A NOOB: Worth getting a sub $150 Dac/amp for 27" iMac with ATH-M50?

First off, welcome to HeadFi!

While the uDAC or the 2 version would definitely be an improvement, you'd be better off either re-burning your cd collection at cd quality, either using the itunes burner, or something like MAX.  

But back to what you originally asked about, the Nuforce would be a wonderful addition to the M50s.  Even your long gone SR-60s would have had much to gain with a quality unit like the uDAC.

And sorry about your wallet!

Macs tend to have quite good-sounding headphone out/line out sockets in my experience. Most of what you can get below $200 will sound better than a crappy generic PC sound card, but in my experience will not do much more with any cheap headphones than essentially give you more volume range. Some, due to their design, sound tonally different, giving the impression of making an improvement when really all they are doing is giving you an effective EQ difference.  While a stand-alone box with a dedicated power supply will usually drive headphones better than the single chip inside the iMac (which has to share power with everything else) the benefits are usually lost on cheaper headphones which are designed to sound fine even being driven by an iPod.

Unfortunately the only model with which I have experience with is the Audio-gd Sparrow, which I think sounds good regardless and is well designed and made. There are some big threads on the more popular models such as the Audinist MX-2 (spelling?), Maverick Audio, Nuforce uDAC 2 and a couple of others, though most people who seem to comment on them tend to be first-timers who have nothing to compare with, and thus get a bit over-excited, as I probably once did when I first joined.

Isn't that like advising him that his two horses and Egyptian style chariot is just fine for commuting back and forth to work, that it basically gets the job done and not to worry about the Honda Civic passing him on the highway.  

All Im saying is that lately on the forums there seems to be a trend by the "experienced" members to post "advice" to newcomers that basically tells them that theres no upgrade to be had at their current level, and I call bull on that one.

Even iPod earbuds sound better through a Fiio amp.  (and I think Fiio's stink)

The original poster asked how to improve his set up and the response was well its going to sound fine with an ipod anyways...

"...cheaper headphones which are designed to sound fine even being driven by an iPod."  the OP didn't ask if his rig was fine sounding enough, he wants to improve upon it!  Now lets either help him do that, or not even post.  Simple really.

I would agree with you kboe, even quality sound cards that have acceptable processing still do not have amp sections that even come close to the output and dynamics that a stand alone amp deliver.  With the price point that the OP is looking for I would recommend checking out the fiio E9.  I will be picking one of these up for Christmas along with the E7 for its DAC.  The E9 would offer a huge jump in power delivery and dynamics over virtually any sound cards amp.

-Chris

We can tell you that it improves things with our gear, and to our ears, but you'll eventually have to take the plunge yourself and see what you think.

In your case I believe fully that the addition of an external amp such as the E9 would be very noticible however because your computer sound card is of higher quality I dont think you would gain much from an external DAC.  I would say go pick up an E9 for $129 and see what you think.

-Chris

I can tell you from experience that upgrading source makes a huge difference in sound, and a quality amp makes an even bigger difference.

I went from a PA2v2 portable amp that I used on my PC to a Matrix M-Stage amp and let's just say that the SQ is much better.

I also upgraded from an internal sound card, the X-Fi Fatalty, to an external source, the Pro-Ject USB Box DAC.  I notice a difference in sound, although sometimes I'm noticing the DAC that I went with is rather bright.  I would recommend it, but maybe others can chime in with their opinions on this particular DAC....

Good luck!

Did you guys actually read what I wrote, or just read into what I wrote what you thought I was saying? 

Honestly, I had about 5 min between meetings when I wrote that and i only skimmed the prior posts.  I have read your response and it is right on, in my hast I did in fact hear things that you did not infer.  So I apologize!!! 
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong 

Did you guys actually read what I wrote, or just read into what I wrote what you thought I was saying?