Bithead or AudigyZS + Hornet?

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

I currently have the AudigyZS for my laptop and am considering an amp upgrade... the question is, should I get the Hornet and use the AudigyZS as source or should I get the Bithead and ditch the Audigy altogether?

It seems like the Audigy might be a better DAC (it uses the 24-bit CS4382) vis a vi the Bithead (16-bit Burr Brown PCM2902E). Just wondering if anyone has experience with either of them as DACs.

Also, does anyone know if I could get a line-out from the Audigy to an amp like the Hornet? And if so, how much would that cost in cabling and does it really make that much of a difference?

 

[Cosmid]

Bithead will never out-perform a Hornet. The only advantage of bithead is its USB interface. As long as you have Audigy ZS in your computer it does not matter.