[mAurelius]

Hello,
 
I'm making my first foray into this world of Headphone Audio with my first pair of decent Cans...Senn HD 595's. Unfortunately, my main audio source will be a Dell Laptop. I know they are notorious for abysmal soundcards (integrated IDT soundcard).
 
Anyways, I don't have much to spend at the moment for a DAC, after some research I've settled on the TBAAM as an acceptable solution, seems to get generally solid reviews for the money.
 
Is there any discernable difference between the Micro and the newer Micro II? It appears Turtle Beach discontinued the old one and has the new Micro II. Both are available on Newegg, I haven't seen a comparison on this site so I thought I'd throw out the question.
 
Micro:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829118107&cm_re=turtle_beach_audio_advantage_micro-_-29-118-107-_-Product

Micro II:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829118007&cm_re=turtle_beach_audio_advantage_micro-_-29-118-007-_-Product

Any thoughts / advice are much appreciated!
 
-Aurelius 

 

[Hybrys]

I'd honestly recommend one of two things.  Either waiting and saving up $100 for a larger improvement with the small variety of DAC/Amp combo units, or just getting the cheaper of the two; the quality difference between them is most likely negligible.

 

[Armaegis]

I used to own the Micro I (which has now been passed on to my brother), and just got the Micro II. From first impressions:
- louder... painfully louder... I'm at 1% system volume and it's still too much; you're going to want something down the line to attenuate the sound
- actually pushes my sextetts and vintage orthos; not great mind you, but still does ok
- less bassy (good thing)
- the extra inch of cable makes it *so* much nicer to work with
- no drivers, no fuss, just plug and play (unless you need 5.1); optical out runs simultaneously, no drivers or setting changes required either
- optical out seems good, better than the Behringer UCA202 which I tried a few weeks ago ($40, has inputs and lineout and headphone out with analog volume control)
 
All in all, at $25 this a fantastic bang for the buck. Yeah the $100+ gear is better, but what do you expect? For someone just starting into the game and with a limited budget, I'd have no problem recommending this.