[Kestrel452]

Hey guys, I'm throwing away my Bose Companion Series II speakers for a JBL LSR305 pair.
 
1) Can anyone recommend a DAC that will feed audio from my computer's SPDIF/optical out? Can I get one with a volume control knob, and that will allow me to hook up a sub should I decide to add one in the future? What other components are necessary to make a computer audio system out of these?
 
2) Side question: Would a sub be recommended for this system or are they "good enough" on their own?

 

[Kestrel452]

No one has any idea???

 

[watchnerd]

  No one has any idea???

 
Re: Sub
 
How big is your room?
 
Re: DAC
 
Budget? Why SPDIF instead of USB? 
 
I have the LSR305s -- I would suggest you get one with balanced out.  There are a lot of interfaces you can look at, but a basic 2-in-2-out would work if you want to go with recording gear.  If not, there are all sorts of audiophile choices.

 

[jmudrick]

Emotiva and Audio-Gd make fine balanced DACs in the under $500. Over $500 Schlitt and many others. My Audio-GD Reference 5 works great with the LSR305.

Sent from my ONE A2005 using Tapatalk

 

[genclaymore]

I personally use the gustard X12 my self with my JBL 305's, I find them both to work good together.The gustard X12 usually cost between 450-500 unless you find a good deal on one. The only thing I wish is that the JBL had the volume knob on the front, instead of the rear. It doesn't have a volume knob and the only way to change the volume is to change the volume trim setting which might be a deal breaker for you.
 
Also if you look at Audio-gd unit's make sure you get the ones with the XLR on it and not the ACSS as they are not the same thing, even if they look similar other then the sizes.

 

[watchnerd]

  I personally use the gustard X12 my self with my JBL 305's, I find them both to work good together.The gustard X12 usually cost between 450-500 unless you find a good deal on one. The only thing I wish is that the JBL had the volume knob on the front, instead of the rear. It doesn't have a volume knob and the only way to change the volume is to change the volume trim setting which might be a deal breaker for you.
 

 
If you drive them from a headphone amp with pre-outs, or an audio interface, this problem goes away as those have volume controls.

 

[sr2002]

  I personally use the gustard X12 my self with my JBL 305's, I find them both to work good together.The gustard X12 usually cost between 450-500 unless you find a good deal on one. The only thing I wish is that the JBL had the volume knob on the front, instead of the rear. It doesn't have a volume knob and the only way to change the volume is to change the volume trim setting which might be a deal breaker for you.
 
Also if you look at Audio-gd unit's make sure you get the ones with the XLR on it and not the ACSS as they are not the same thing, even if they look similar other then the sizes.

 
Can you please let me know your experience with Gustard X12, with Driver support, long term reliabiltiy and compatibility with Windows? 
Also, you mentioned that you have to use the volume trim on the LSR305s. I am planning to do the same thing, I have the LSR305s and I recently connected them using the Steinberg UR22MkII and I was able to controll the volume through Windows volume controller. Can you do the same with Gustard or Audio-GD products that have the USB audio in? 
 
Also, with the driver, do all the XMOS USB controller based DACs have a unified XMOS driver that will work with any of them or do you have to rely on Gustard or Audio-GD to provide the windows driver?

 

[genclaymore]

There two forms of drivers for them, the unified driver which works on any of the Xmos using devices and then the special drivers that has the other settings such as Asio buffer settings and Usb modes. The Thesycon drivers will need you to mod in the device ID for gustard Dac's for them to be used if you want the asio and usb streaming settingsm As the Thesycon drivers are commonly found with products that bought the license to use those drivers in their products.. I been using the thesycon drivers modded with my X12 for some time now and I haven't had any issues at all. The unified drivers didn't cause issues on my end but The Thesycon drivers had the settings that I wanted. Yes you can change the volume of the X12 dac thru windows, I haven't used the volume trim as I haven't had any issues which would need me to change it.

 

[sr2002]

Perfect! Thats some good information you provided. To tell you the truth, I have never used a dedicated DAC before, so in the initial 5-6months or even more, I will most likely just use the DAC as a USB sound card for playing PC games, watching youtube videos and listening to some MP3s. Can this thing function as a stable sound card for day to day use? Or will it require constant fidling of the driver for different applications and types of media? 
 
Of course, I am planing to get into DSD and Flac music, but there will be a learning curve as to how to use the Asio drivers or foobar to play DSD or lossless music. That is why I want a DAC that atleast has the capability of doing it even though I might not be able to use it immediately. 
 
How has the service been for you so far with Gustard? I think you wrote the review on Amazon right? Do you know what their warranty/gaurantee is? Unlike Audio-gd, Gustard doesnt seem to have a website or customer service email address or anything, which worries me a little. 

 

[genclaymore]

That's one of the main things i do with my Gustard X12 besides music, which is Gaming and movies. So yes you be perfectly fine with doing pretty much any thing with it. I don't really have to mess with any of the settings. I have gave DSD music a listen and I didn't have issues with that either as I tend to use Wasapi if the media player I using doesn't support Asio.
 
Yea I did write a review on amazon and here, I don't know how their warranty is like as I never had to file for a rma.I not really worried as it look like it build really nice, so it should last a long time unless something unexpected happen. I remember back i think a year ago that they had a site, it just wasn't finished. I just don't recall the URL to it. If something does happen and if there no way to contact them,Then I would just sell it for parts,But I hope that never happen.

 

[sr2002]

  That's one of the main things i do with my Gustard X12 besides music, which is Gaming and movies. So yes you be perfectly fine with doing pretty much any thing with it. I don't really have to mess with any of the settings. I have gave DSD music a listen and I didn't have issues with that either as I tend to use Wasapi if the media player I using doesn't support Asio.
 
Yea I did write a review on amazon and here, I don't know how their warranty is like as I never had to file for a rma.I not really worried as it look like it build really nice, so it should last a long time unless something unexpected happen. I remember back i think a year ago that they had a site, it just wasn't finished. I just don't recall the URL to it. If something does happen and if there no way to contact them,Then I would just sell it for parts,But I hope that never happen.

 
Oh I see, thats perfect! X12 sounds like the perfect bargain at its price. Any thoughts on buying it through amazon/Newegg/ Shenzhenaudio website? How long did they take to ship it? Do they send it from China or is it stocked in the US? 
I saw some posts about the output signals being interchanged for left and right channel, did you have that problem or did they fix it? 
And lastly, any thoughts on the Gustard X9? Its being sold for 369$, cheaper option but with pretty decent WM8741 DACs

 

[genclaymore]

   
Oh I see, thats perfect! X12 sounds like the perfect bargain at its price. Any thoughts on buying it through amazon/Newegg/ Shenzhenaudio website? How long did they take to ship it? Do they send it from China or is it stocked in the US? 
I saw some posts about the output signals being interchanged for left and right channel, did you have that problem or did they fix it? 
And lastly, any thoughts on the Gustard X9? Its being sold for 369$, cheaper option but with pretty decent WM8741 DACs

Depends on who selling it cheaper, I got mine from ebay I don't recall the seller and i think it took about a week.I didn't have the interchanged channel issue on my X12.I can't really tell you any thing about the gustard X9 as I never used it. I went from a bifrost uber to the X12. Massdrop had it on sell a week ago in an drop, Maybe if you get lucky another drop might start for it, but it might take some time.