[ljokerl]

Fellow head-fiers,

I am looking to invest in a low-end optical DAC seeing as how the headphone out on my Audigy4Pro is not clean enough for amping. Ideally, I would like to sever my headphone loop (Amp->headphones) completely from my source loop (Currently Audigy 4 Pro I/O hub) via an optical interlink to prevent any sort of interference. I'm looking at the HifiDiy dacs on ebay but would like to hear other suggestions. Perhaps someone who knows about these things could throw out a short list of low-end optical dacs. I would prefer RCA out, but 1/8" is ok.

Also, maybe someone could explain the possible differences between HifiDiy's 2 DAC models

.

Thanks

 

[auee]

If I were you and I was, I pushed the budget to $400.00 and got the Cambridge Audio DACMagic. It has optical input and it is fantastic for its price. They pop up on Audiogon for about $370.00. It is worth double the price in its features and performance.

 

[ljokerl]

Yeah, being a full-time student that's more than I'm making in two weeks right now. Can't afford to pay 8x more than one of those ebay DACs. If someone can confirm that those suck, I'll get a cheapie USB dac (Icon Mobile perhaps).

 

[crossmd]

I know that the optical in on my Gigalab Moon DAC has served me very well, and was had for 210 shipped new to ConUS.

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crossmd /img/forum/go_quote.gif I know that the optical out on my Gigalab Moon DAC has served me very well, and was had for 210 shipped new to ConUS.

Seems like those go for 200 shipped nowdays. Still a bit out of my budget, but a very interesting option. Will keep a look out on the FS forums

.

 

[crossmd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ljokerl /img/forum/go_quote.gif Seems like those go for 200 shipped nowdays. Still a bit out of my budget, but a very interesting option. Will keep a look out on the FS forums .

Yeah, be sure and do that. At the price you're asking though..it's going to be really hard to find a nice optical in.

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crossmd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, be sure and do that. At the price you're asking though..it's going to be really hard to find a nice optical in.

Yeah, that's why I was hoping someone could definitively say yay or nay on the HifiDiy dacs.

This may be a shot in the dark, but has anyone ever heard of Muse Audio?

USB DAC (PCM2707+DIR9001+PCM1793) + Headphone Amplifier

Also looking at Zero Amp/DAC

 

[labrat]

Delete

 

[labrat]

Delete

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by labrat /img/forum/go_quote.gif Or this one? eBay.com.sg: Mini 1793 DAC with S/PDIF Coaxial/Optical Toslink Input (item 260401162543 end time Jul 27, 2009 08:24:58 SGT)

Yes, thats one of the two HifiDiy DACs I was asking about in my first post. Still can't find any impressions/comparisons of it to higher-priced stuff.

 

[backtoreality15]

Extremely happy with my Musiland SVDAC06 so far

Only at 30 hours burn-in.

$120 on eBay.

 

[labrat]

Delete

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by backtoreality15 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Extremely happy with my Musiland SVDAC06 so far Only at 30 hours burn-in. $120 on eBay.

Looks interesting. Reading up on it now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by labrat /img/forum/go_quote.gif Some more reading for you, this from another forum: eBay.com.sg: Mini 1793 DAC with S/PDIF Coaxial/Optical Toslink Input (item 260401162543 end time Jul 27, 2009 08:24:58 SGT)

That's the same link as before. Mistake?

 

[colinharding]

A zero dac has an optical input and rca out. It a relatively inexpensive amp and dac, having both an optical and coaxial in. you can start at the base model, ~100 and then work your way up via different op amps then hdams, and opamps in the heaphone output.

 

[ljokerl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by colinharding /img/forum/go_quote.gif A zero dac has an optical input and rca out. It a relatively inexpensive amp and dac, having both an optical and coaxial in. you can start at the base model, ~100 and then work your way up via different op amps then hdams, and opamps in the heaphone output.

Still reading up. Any idea of a better place to buy a Zero than Ebay (~$166 there)?