[dikyllis]

Better Sound Card for better Digital Out for DAC?

is there any difference between sound cards, for Digital Output? I want to upgrade sound card, but am just wondering is there a great improvement on Asus Xonar or M-audio

 

[girafa]

just better to get a usb converter with optical out, i dont think a better sound card would do anything to quality on an optical out.

 

[LingLing1337]

I made a thread on this that turned out to be pretty extensive.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/do...al-out-436158/

 

[tosehee]

Short answer is, if you have an jitter correcting DAC, you could use whatever SC with the optical output. If not, the timing used on the sound card matters, and you might have to spend some $$ to get that. Musiland seems like quite a good value.

 

[DeusEx]

I currently have a Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty, if I got an Asus Xonar, would I see any difference? I mean, I am sending binary code....

Also, I'm getting a NuForce Desktop Icon DAC/Amp. It has USB, RCA, and 3.5mm inputs. Which one would be the best?

 

[tosehee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeusEx /img/forum/go_quote.gif I currently have a Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty, if I got an Asus Xonar, would I see any difference? I mean, I am sending binary code.... Also, I'm getting a NuForce Desktop Icon DAC/Amp. It has USB, RCA, and 3.5mm inputs. Which one would be the best?

I doubt there is any difference at all. Why don't you get a DAC first then try out with USB/RCA/Optical first? You might like the performance from any of these inputs. Also, your DAC might have a good jitter correction, in which case, buying essence has no advantage at all.

 

[ear8dmg]

There's a difference for gaming, due to effects processing. On a Xonar, you could used it to encode Dolby Headphone and send digitally. For pure, unaltered music there's no real difference.

As long as you aren't using Windows XP that is...

 

[DeusEx]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tosehee /img/forum/go_quote.gif I doubt there is any difference at all. Why don't you get a DAC first then try out with USB/RCA/Optical first? You might like the performance from any of these inputs. Also, your DAC might have a good jitter correction, in which case, buying essence has no advantage at all.

I'm getting the NuForce Icon DAC/Amp.

Does it have what you said?

 

[tosehee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeusEx /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm getting the NuForce Icon DAC/Amp. Does it have what you said?

I am sorry but I have no clue this particular DAC.