[Skylab]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gradofan2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I wouldn't know... except that the DC RA-1 can not drive Senns, not even close - not enough voltage to do so - and no volume and no SQ. It's fine with... Grados, because its got the current to drive them. .

I certainly find that very believable, but have no direct experience. I do know my brother had a DC RA-1, and when I gave him the much cheaper but AC powered Travagan's Red for his BDay, he told me it sounded much better with his Beyer DT770/250's. But the Red is actually a very nice little amp

 

[Bigmouth]

Can I get a bit more detailed review of the DAC please? Does it support 24 bits/96 khz? I'm planning to buy this and use the DAC until I have a bit more money to spend on something else. Is the only way to get a better sound from the computer to buy a new DAC then? How about using the line out of a quite good sound card?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Gradofan2]

I tried the v8's USB DAC out of my laptop with the stock sound card / software.

I was "unimpressed," to say the least. I wouldn't buy the v8 for its DAC - only for its amp with low impedance phones.

 

[Bigmouth]

Oh, okay. That's bad actually.

Would it be better to connect it to the line-out on a cheap sound card (Sound Blaster Audigy)? What other possibilities are there to connect it to the computer?

 

[Gradofan2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigmouth /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oh, okay. That's bad actually. Would it be better to connect it to the line-out on a cheap sound card (Sound Blaster Audigy)? What other possibilities are there to connect it to the computer?

Very possibly... I didn't try that. I just used the USB cable, which may have been a limiting factor.

Perhaps some others have tried that. Though, I think the universal opinion... is the DAC is weak. I just don't know whether those opinions were with a USB, or RCA connection.

 

[arteom]

My views of the DAC differ from Gradofans. It is acceptable to say the least. Before I had the v8 I used a Zero DAC/Amp for my headphones. After I got the v8 I determined that the DAC in the Zero really limited my experience with the v8, the sound was unrefined, and soundstage was narrow, also it did not reproduce the deeper low frequencies. The DAC in the v8 matches well with the rest of the unit, better/more-practical than any of the lower end external unit on the market (I would speculate). I did a small writeup some pages back comparing the Zero DAC and the integrated DAC. But all said, I do plan on getting a mid-level DAC to use with the v8 soon.

Btw, its 16 bit/48khz.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gradofan2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I tried the v8's USB DAC out of my laptop with the stock sound card / software..

Maybe I misunderstand (that's been known to happen, once or twice...or a few thousand times

), but if you are connecting to a USB port, the stock sound card has nothing to do with it; it's completely bypassed. When you connect via USB, you take a pure digital stream and feed it to the external DAC, which replaces the sound card. Am I missing something here?

 

[Gradofan2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrBenway /img/forum/go_quote.gif Maybe I misunderstand (that's been known to happen, once or twice...or a few thousand times ), but if you are connecting to a USB port, the stock sound card has nothing to do with it; it's completely bypassed. When you connect via USB, you take a pure digital stream and feed it to the external DAC, which replaces the sound card. Am I missing something here?

That may be... I have only tried it using the DAC of the v8... which is not very good. If the sound card provides the digital to analog conversion... then you wouldn't be using the DAC of the v8... so it wouldn't be relevant.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gradofan2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif That may be... I have only tried it using the DAC of the v8... which is not very good. If the sound card provides the digital to analog conversion... then you wouldn't be using the DAC of the v8... so it wouldn't be relevant.

Exactly. But if it's just a stock sound card, it (with some exceptions) probably isn't very good. The DAC, at least in theory, shouldn't be anywhere as good as the one in the V8. But, depending on whether the V8 DAC is any good, it is possible that a stock sound card could sound better. I'd be pretty shocked by that, but stranger things have happened.

 

[Claus-DK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by arteom /img/forum/go_quote.gif My views of the DAC differ from Gradofans. It is acceptable to say the least. Before I had the v8 I used a Zero DAC/Amp for my headphones. After I got the v8 I determined that the DAC in the Zero really limited my experience with the v8, the sound was unrefined, and soundstage was narrow, also it did not reproduce the deeper low frequencies. The DAC in the v8 matches well with the rest of the unit, better/more-practical than any of the lower end external unit on the market (I would speculate). I did a small writeup some pages back comparing the Zero DAC and the integrated DAC. But all said, I do plan on getting a mid-level DAC to use with the v8 soon. Btw, its 16 bit/48khz.

I agree with Gradofan and I am very happy with the zero-->V8 combo....

It is quite funny because I normally agree with Arteom and his taste just not in this case..

 

[Bigmouth]

It seems like I'm buying this one after all.

I live in Sweden. Where is the best place to buy it? I can't buy it from US, right? Where else would it be cheap to buy it?

Thank you for your help everyone!

EDIT: I Probably should ask one more question after all. I'm going to buy a pair of Denon AH-D2000. How big will the difference be if I'm using this amp with the DAC, or not using any amp at all? From a PC with a quite cheap sound card.

 

[Gradofan2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrBenway /img/forum/go_quote.gif Exactly. But if it's just a stock sound card, it (with some exceptions) probably isn't very good. The DAC, at least in theory, shouldn't be anywhere as good as the one in the V8. But, depending on whether the V8 DAC is any good, it is possible that a stock sound card could sound better. I'd be pretty shocked by that, but stranger things have happened.

My comments are re: the internal v8 DAC compared to my external DACs.

There is no comparison - my external DACs are vastly better.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gradofan2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif My comments are re: the internal v8 DAC compared to my external DACs. There is no comparison - my external DACs are vastly better.

I had the impression from your post that you were using the sound card without an external DAC.

 

[Gradofan2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrBenway /img/forum/go_quote.gif I had the impression from your post that you were using the sound card without an external DAC.

No... just used the laptop drive as the CD drive, connected to the DAC via a USB cable.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gradofan2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif No... just used the laptop drive as the CD drive, connected to the DAC via a USB cable.

Oh. That makes complete sense. Sorry!