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Good Versatile USB Dac

post #1 of 10
10/18/11 at 10:26am
Thread Starter 

Hello all. I've recently obtained some dt880 600 ohms and will be building a bottlehead crack amp to go along with it. I run my music from my several computers from a hard drive that I always take with me. I need a dedicated usb dac because I do not want to have to use these phones off of my netbook soundcard. Something like the HRT MSII is what I am looking for but with the ability to be a stand-alone dac (like E7) as well as part of my system with the crack. I definitely don't want to shoot for anything above $200 but I don't mind buying used. All I am looking for is the best quality dac (not too colored) that fulfills these requirements and plays well with my system. Can you bless me with some helpful suggestions?

 

Edit: At least 24/96 playback is a must.


Edited by juantendo8 - 10/18/11 at 10:27am
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post #2 of 10
10/18/11 at 10:38am

You mean a DAC with a battery?

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post #3 of 10
10/18/11 at 10:52am

I guess you mean a dac/amp combo?

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post #4 of 10
10/18/11 at 11:20am
Thread Starter 

I guess a dac/amp would be the correct term for it. I'm mostly just concerned about the quality of the dac section however. Something like the udac2 looks nice, but I am skeptical of its performance.

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post #5 of 10
10/18/11 at 1:23pm

 

Okay so you need a Dac/Amp under $200 that can power a 600 ohm headphone with 24/96 native/upsampled playback.

 

What type of output does this Dac/Amp need to have? Optical? Coax? RCA?

 

 

If you just want some random suggestions to lead you in the right direction, well... the Fiio E10 seems to be the current "omg" sub $200 Dac/Amp out there, I think typing in "DAC" in ebay and filtering out everything above $200 and every listing with the word "TDA1543" in it is your best bet, hehehe.


Edited by kiteki - 10/18/11 at 1:25pm
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post #6 of 10
10/18/11 at 3:40pm
Thread Starter 

Wow, thanks for the suggestion. I've just read several E10 impression threads and the headfonia review and this seems to be just what I was looking for. A high quality affordable dac that can be used solo with a myriad of headphones. Will it connect just fine to a bottlehead crack? If so, I better order it before I start contemplating pricier options. biggrin.gif

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post #7 of 10
10/19/11 at 3:45am

 

I don't know anything about tube amplifiers, sorry about that.

 

The E10 seems pretty popular right now, and cheap, but you might want to check reviews about if they tried the DAC section alone since that's what you'll be doing, and not only DAC/Amp combined.

 

There are lots of DAC's out there under $200, and since you are building a tube amplifier you might be interested in a NOS DAC such as the "Valab" or "TeraDak" on ebay, so I suggest you look those up too.

 

 

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post #8 of 10
10/19/11 at 7:38am

Check out this one too, since you like tubes http://www.head-fi.org/t/550692/impression-ber-muzik-tiny-tube-dac

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post #9 of 10
10/19/11 at 11:58am
Thread Starter 

I have heavily considered the tiny tube dac as it also seems very practical for my usage and would seem to bring out the lush mids in the dt880s. ATM I'm not willing to spend for the crack + tiny tube dac so it would either be the tiny tube or crack + E10. Tiny tube has a superior dac, but probably an inferior amp to the crack. Such difficult decisions.

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post #10 of 10
10/24/11 at 4:23pm

I am using a stock crack and the HRT streamer 2 and EXTREMELY happy with the combo.  Also using the DT880 600 ohm with it as well.

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