[crazyeyes]

ok i am thinking of switching it up for those of you that read my post "HELP needed chosing a sound card" I am now thinking of buyin an iBook and getting a usb DAC now i am looking at the Headroom Total Bithead and the Micro DAC what is better? Or what are the main differences? Also any other suggestions are welcomed I want to spend $300 or less.

 

[crazyeyes]

come on aren't there any suggestions?

 

[kschul2]

I'm by no means an expert here but am in your situation as well so I'll share what little wisdom I have. As far as a DAC goes the Micro is much better than the one in the Total Bithead. Only thing is, if you get the Micro you need an amp as well whereas the Total Bithead already as the amp built-in. So it just depends on how much you wanna spend!

 

[PITTM]

my friend had a bithead, traded it in for an overture and i now own a microdac. i can say for sure to get the microdac, absouletely no regrets here, except that i dont have a microamp!

rj

 

[crazyeyes]

thanks for the advice i think i will go for the microdac i don't need an amp right now because the main use i have for it is hooking it straight to my preamp in my room stereo system. So any other suggestions would be great.

 

[EdipisReks]

the Headroom microdac is crazy nice.

 

[crazyeyes]

also as far as setting it up on a pc how hard is that to do? I am also thinking of building a desktop instead of getting an ibook but not sure yet. I just want to know how hard it would be to set up?

 

[PITTM]

well if youre going to use it usb, you plug it into your usb port and its ready to go(easy as possible). if you want to use it through optical with your computer you can buy a chaintech av-710 for like 25 bucks at many places and that has an optical out, which is somewhat difficult to set up, but there is a chaintech setup guide if you search the computer as source forum. youre going to need a usb 5 pin mini b to standard usb for connection there and a toslink to optical mini for hooking it up to your stereo, unless youre gonna use coax, in which case im clueless. good luck.

rj

 

[crazyeyes]

thanks for all the replies, I would still like to hear more thoughts on the actual DAC though i am looking to keep it at the $300 price point. Any other suggestions or does the MicroDAC take the prize?

 

[Covenant]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyeyes thanks for all the replies, I would still like to hear more thoughts on the actual DAC though i am looking to keep it at the $300 price point. Any other suggestions or does the MicroDAC take the prize?

Go for the MicroDAC. The next step up would be the Brick, and that'd be somewhat beyond your budget

 

[crazyeyes]

Well looks like the micro dac wins now as far as a computer would i be better of with a pc (what i'm used to) or switching to mac?

 

[S_Dedalus]

Your best options are either a microdac or the optical output of an optoplay or creative mp3+ fed to a CI-Audio VDA-1. If you go with a microdac, I'd still get the optoplay or creative and see whether or not you prefer the optical out to the usb interface. I thought there was a slight improvement when going from the usb to the optical connection. Imaging and low level detail became easier to distinguish.

 

[blessingx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyeyes ... would i be better of with a pc (what i'm used to) or switching to mac?

A Mac, though it doesn't have anything to do with using a DAC or getting great sound.

Actually what you plan on doing with it is really which OS (thus hardware) is best for you.

 

[S_Dedalus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by blessingx A Mac, though it doesn't have anything to do with using a DAC or getting great sound. Actually what you plan on doing with it is really which OS (thus hardware) is best for you.

Actually with a Mac, or with linux, you'll bypass the annoying kmixer in windows, so the difference between an optical or coax link with the usb link would come down to which has more jitter. More than likely, the usb will have almost none.

 

[crazyeyes]

well i guess i have to try to get my hands on a mac to see how i will like the os. I haven't used one more than 10 minutes so? Well we will see i think i am leaning towards a mac and the MicroDAC.