joe2
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2010
- Posts
- 25
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- 11
having decided to upgrade my soundcard and skip cable upgrades, i'm focusing only on DAC and amp, and at my budget it's probably more feasible to get a good combination unit. so based on that here's what i have to consider so far:
(Cankin) Pico DAC/amp (specific to IEM's or suitable for HD800 also?) [uses batteries? no AC power]
(St3ve) apogee duet [i don't understand what this is. it has a serial connector? no digital input?]
(shabta) Audio-GD Compass [now obsolete, replaced by Sparrow or Fun, can't find prices, site is confusing]
(shabta), (baka1969) Schiit Asgard [amp only, $250]
(Bilavideo) AMB M3 aka MMM (with variable bass boost - is this an option or an upgrade?) [can't find one on sale anywhere]
(Bilavideo) STEPS PSU [what is this? power supply unit?]
(cj3209) Benchmark DAC1 [dac+amp, $1000, out of my price range]
(cj3209), (baka1969) Headroom Amp [$350+]
(cj3209) used Lavry DA10 (is the lavry just an amp, or is it DAC also?) [can't find one under $900]
(project86), (baka1969) Matrix M-Stage amp [amp only, $275]
(project86) Audinst HUD-mx1 [a DAC with no digital input? how does it interface with sound card?, $180]
(baka1969) Musical Fidelity V-Dac [DAC only, $300]
(baka1969) Cambridge Audio DacMagic [DAC only, $430]
(Shahrose) Musiland 02US [USB input only? how does it interface with sound card? $120 - $225]
(Uncle Erik) PreSonus Central Station [$500, large item for musicians]
from my own research:
firestone fubar IV/IVplus [$280/$350 but one report of hiss on amazon review]
aune [$140]
so from these suggestions i can narrow it down to:
Combo units: aune, fubar, audio-gd fun or sparrow
DAC only: V-Dac, DacMagic
amp only: Asgar, Headroo, M-Stage
any clarifications/additions?
another couple technical questions:
I've seen "opamps" mentioned everywhere. What is an opamp? (i'm going to look it up on this site when i finish typing this post
Does a PC media program (e.g. foobar or winamp) output digital sound to the sound card, which converts it? or does it output an analog wave at the OS level? does it matter if the source is wav or mp3 or flac? I'm slightly confused by digital sound - in PC terms, every data stream has a protocol or format. do i need to worry about what format is going to the optical output on my soundcard or is there only 1 universal format? if the sound card converts it from analog back into digital for the digital output, wouldn't i be better off just using the analog output?