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noob question: soundcard vs. DAC

post #1 of 4
12/22/04 at 7:33pm
Thread Starter 
i have a asus motherboard, which has optical outs, and i don't think upsamples to 48k. right now i am just using the analogue line out to my amp, and would like to upgrade.

i only ahve about 150$ to spend...

would the money be better spent buying a soundcard, or buying an external DAC. Just about every DAC you talk about is over 500$, so i haven't been able to decide what is the best option. It would seem doing the DAC outside of the computer box would result in a better signal, and more versatile (such as playing from my iriver).

thanks for the help.
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post #2 of 4
12/22/04 at 9:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by oyo
..snip.. every DAC you talk about is over 500$,
I have the same question, but in a different way. Why can you get a decent soundcard for $25, but an audiophile DAC costs so much more? Isn't the soundcard basically a DAC?
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post #3 of 4
12/23/04 at 7:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by geardoc
I have the same question, but in a different way. Why can you get a decent soundcard for $25, but an audiophile DAC costs so much more? Isn't the soundcard basically a DAC?
Yes, every soundcard has a DAC but most of the time its quality is inadequate. A better solution: Bypass the soundcard's DAC and send the digital signal from your soundcard to an audiophile DAC.
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post #4 of 4
12/23/04 at 6:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by geardoc
I have the same question, but in a different way. Why can you get a decent soundcard for $25, but an audiophile DAC costs so much more? Isn't the soundcard basically a DAC?
  1. A no more than "decent" sound card obviously won't measure up to an audiophile standalone DAC, since I'd assume the latter to use the best quality DAC chips and analog components (opamps, caps etc.) available, with a better clock generator circuit than on your average sound card.
  2. Nonetheless, sound cards can be excellent value, given you don't have to pay for a case, power supply and all that, plus they're made in far greater amounts than standalone DACs (i.e. lower cost per unit, potentially better deals on chips etc.). I'd expect a card with current top-end DACs like, say, the E-MU 1212M (or even the 0404) to perform very well, especially with an opamp/cap mod. (It be noted that it doesn't take a 1212M to beat older standalone CD players - the Aureon 5.1 Sky is definitely better than my trusty Onkyo DX-6920/DX-703, for example. Given the choice to sink the same amount of cash into a better-quality used CD player or a current sound card, I'd consider the sound card the better investment in most cases.)
(Please note that "DAC" can mean both the chip and the standalone component.)
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