birdsong
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2004
- Posts
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I'm interested in others' opinions on options for an all-in-one USB audio, DAC, headphone and small power amp combo. The most popular along these lines that seems to be decent is the Nuforce Icon-2. I'm basically in the market because I want to save space and simplify my setup. Here is what I have:
27" iMac
Teralink X2 for USB -> S/PDIF
Zero DAC / Headphone Amp
Lepai LP-2020A+ for desktop speakers
(The reason I have the Teralink is an annoying one--the iMac's optical out causes the Zero DAC to go to sleep when there is no audio, so starting a new track after silence for a while results in the very beginning being cut off.)
Budget is in the < $400 range. Do not need excruciatingly high volumes. Just enough to drive a pair of 89 dB/W speakers at a comfortable level. (And to be clear, the use case for this is music, 99% of the time.)
27" iMac
Teralink X2 for USB -> S/PDIF
Zero DAC / Headphone Amp
Lepai LP-2020A+ for desktop speakers
(The reason I have the Teralink is an annoying one--the iMac's optical out causes the Zero DAC to go to sleep when there is no audio, so starting a new track after silence for a while results in the very beginning being cut off.)
Budget is in the < $400 range. Do not need excruciatingly high volumes. Just enough to drive a pair of 89 dB/W speakers at a comfortable level. (And to be clear, the use case for this is music, 99% of the time.)