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What do you folks think for under $500.00?

post #1 of 12
12/28/11 at 12:26pm
Thread Starter 

 

 I have a large library of .flac files on my computer and this is why I want / need a DAC.

At times, I'll be using my cowon S9 to feed the amp. My cousin has a set of these speakers (mentioned below) and I like everything about them.
 

Been thinking about these items ... need to keep cost under $500.00.

Wharfedale - Diamond 10.1 Bookshelf Speakers. (pr)

Price: $349.00 -- Orders over $99.00 Subtract 10% - 314.00
and Free Shipping.

 

Dayton Audio DTA-100a Class-T Digital Amplifier 50 WPC

$89.90 -- Free Shipping.

Now I need a USB | DAC .. Would like to have the best I can get
for under $100.00. Best bang for the buck. Any ideas?

 

Advice will be much appreciated!
 

(I hope I've posted this in the right place.)

 

tw...
 

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post #2 of 12
12/28/11 at 1:20pm

under $100 ... that's pretty impossible .... :(

 

EDIT:

If you mean under $500, Schiit's BiFrost ($449 with USB Input) should be a very good option, but they're now on backorder, a week between order and shipping is expected.

 

Other than that, look at here: http://www.head-fi.org/products/category/amp-dacs

 


Edited by pilus - 12/28/11 at 1:26pm
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post #3 of 12
12/28/11 at 1:55pm

a used UDAC2 is under 100$, budget is rather low and udacs are usually the cheapest dacs you can get. Even a brand new one costs around 120-140$. Should bump that budget a bit more, dac is a solid and useful piece of gear, dont want to cheap out on that.

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post #4 of 12
12/28/11 at 2:20pm
Thread Starter 

Thank You .. pilus and eclipes

 

I'll see what I can do about the low budget.

 

I might just get a dac first and then work

on the rest later.

--

 

 

 

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post #5 of 12
12/28/11 at 11:11pm

I think you should go vintage instead. Better speakers for less, and better than modern standards.

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post #6 of 12
12/29/11 at 6:54am

A fiio e10 around $80.

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post #7 of 12
12/29/11 at 8:43am

Tidewalker, do you need just a DAC, or do you need to use a headphone jack (amp) too? The UCA202 is fantastic as a budget DAC, runs circles around the uDAC2, but don't use its headphone jack because it's got a very high output impedance.

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post #8 of 12
12/29/11 at 3:07pm
Thread Starter 

 

Thanks for replies ...

Let me explain what I have and what I'm doing. I have a laptop with win7 and a desktop with win7. So, I decided to try and turn my XP box into a sort of stereo / jukebox. The XP box has all my music music files. Around 6500 .flac files.

This was the plan .. Come out of the computer via USB to a usb DAC. Get some small, but decent speakers. Get a small amp to drive those speakers. Later on down the road get a good headphone amp.

 

Wish I had thousands of dollars to spend on some fantastic system,  but back to the real world. :) I'm sure there are many ways to do it. Computers are very noisy beast. A much better option might be to go away from the computer completely and use a digital device that plays high-grade / loss less audio files. In my case .. Cowon S9 and my Flac files. Then that still leaves me with a crappy sounding computer sound system. lol

My headphones are - Sennheiser HD 280 Pro / 64 Ohms and Audio-Technica
ATH-M80 / 38 Ohms. RadioShack  (titanium) Pro 35A - Got for $5.00.


My cousin gave me a small set of Sony speakers. He said "they ain't much, but they'll get you by
for awhile." There is a tag on back with - Sony SS-L80 / 8 Ohm.

 

tw..
 

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post #9 of 12
12/30/11 at 1:11am

Hmm Diamond 10.1s are like 150 pounds in the UK and those are rather steep IMO

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post #10 of 12
1/1/12 at 6:24am
Thread Starter 

 

Hi, I agree trog .. they are pricey. I put buying speakers
on hold for now. Still looking for a decent USB DAC.
(No amps, just a Dac.) On the XP box I'm just using
on-board sound. Realtec AC97 Audio. Mobo is MSI K8N
Neo4 Platinum.

 

The ones I've been looking at - I would like to find one that
stays away from the land of make believe and doesn't do

the "up sampling" thing. I suppose the ones that do the
right way, have a very high price tag? Anyway, seems the
more I read the more confused I get. I'm not sure how much
I am going to spend, now that I put the speakers on hold. No
more then $300.00 / $400.00, that's for sure.

 

HRT - Music Streamer II Plus

Jolida - FX Tube DAC

NuForce - uDAC2

Spitfire Mk II 24 Bit DAC
Fubar II MkII (new version)

Schitt Bifrost (requires board for usb)

ILTW asynchronous USB DAC

HRT Music Streamer II USB DAC

 

tw..

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post #11 of 12
1/8/12 at 8:00pm

how about the Keces DA-151 MK2... great reviews, costs around 250. Extremely decent dac for its price.

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post #12 of 12
1/13/12 at 4:59am
Thread Starter 

I'll go and check them out .. Thanks .. eclipes and pilus

 

tw

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