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Give me a hand guys :) DAC to accompany HA-160. $400.

post #1 of 9
1/23/11 at 2:10am
Thread Starter 

Hey guys, I'm searching for a USB DAC unit to accompany my Burson HA-160. It will need to be run from my PC as I play my music from Foobar. I need the option of running my KRK RP6 monitors from it, then to go out to my Burson amp and run my headphones from that. What's my best option in the $300-400 range? I was thinking the Audio-GD Fun or DacMagic might be a good option. Does anyone have any other suggestions they could help me with?


Edited by matthewh133 - 1/23/11 at 4:00pm
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post #2 of 9
1/23/11 at 10:08am

You need to describe the sound signature you are after.

 

Any Dac will work and some sound different than others....what sound are you after?

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post #3 of 9
1/23/11 at 10:10am

If you are looking at Audio-GD and only need a dedicated DAC, I would recommend NFB-3 rather than a FUN since it is a better dedicated DAC but has no headphone amplifier circuit.

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post #4 of 9
1/23/11 at 2:53pm
Thread Starter 

I am after something to accompany an AD2000 that I wish to purchase in the near future. I'd be looking for something to mate well with that signature, which is quite energetic, airy and detailed, so a SLIGHTLY warm DAC with nice bass slam is what I'm after. This would also accompany my KRK monitors well as they are very neutral and analytical.

 

The problem with the NFB-3, and the reason I suggested the fun was because of the amount of outputs. I would preferably like to be able to keep my headphone amp plugged in at the same time as my speakers.

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post #5 of 9
1/24/11 at 3:43am
Thread Starter 

Added the DAC Magic into the equation. What do you think would be the better option? An advantage of the DAC Magic is balanced outputs for the monitors. A question I have is if I have RCA outs to the HA-160, and XLR outs to the monitors, what can I control the monitor volume with on the DAC Magic? Would the FUN's volume knob have the option of using that for the monitors and the HA-160's for the headphones??

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post #6 of 9
1/24/11 at 5:21am
Quote:
Originally Posted by matthewh133 View Post

The problem with the NFB-3, and the reason I suggested the fun was because of the amount of outputs. I would preferably like to be able to keep my headphone amp plugged in at the same time as my speakers.



It should be possible to have the ACSS output reconfigured as a RCA output on the NFB-3 and 2.

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post #7 of 9
1/24/11 at 1:27pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by burgunder View Post



Quote:
Originally Posted by matthewh133 View Post

The problem with the NFB-3, and the reason I suggested the fun was because of the amount of outputs. I would preferably like to be able to keep my headphone amp plugged in at the same time as my speakers.



It should be possible to have the ACSS output reconfigured as a RCA output on the NFB-3 and 2.


Hmm, I may enquire about that and see what Kingwa says. Hopefully it wouldn't be much extra. Thanks for the suggestion.

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post #8 of 9
1/24/11 at 2:26pm

Can highly recommend the HRT Music Streamer II+ as a USB DAC. In my system, I prefer it to the highly regarded $500 Apogee Duet (which I have up for sale)

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post #9 of 9
1/24/11 at 2:43pm
Thread Starter 
The hrt doesn't have enough outputs for what I want to use it for, thanks for the suggestion regardless.
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