[loudwood]

Thank u all for emptying my wallet!

Currently I have
Audigy 2 NX +
Perreaux SXH-1 +
HD580

I feel the analog output of Audigy 2 NX
is too bad. But DACs are too expensive and
very few places carry them. Can I use a receiver
to replace the DAC? Any good advices on
relatively good quality receivers?

 

[Edwood]

Get a cheaper sound card to use for music only and keep your Audigy 2 for games. Audigy resamples to 48KHz which is not a great thing.

-Ed

 

[loudwood]

I guess I am probably wrong.
But as far as I heard, the 48k is a common
practice. And I want to by pass the DAC
of Audigy 2 NX. I think that should probably
be OK. Any more comments?

 

[Skarecrow]

Yes you can use your reciever as a DAC, but believe it or not the DACs in a lot of sound cards will thrash the DACs in most recievers. A chaintech 710 would probably do a better job than your average $400 reciever. Ed's idea about getting a 2nd sound card is a good one.

 

[cosmopragma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by loudwood I guess I am probably wrong.

Yes, you are wrong.There a lots of bit perfect player/soundcard solutions.
You can get a slightly better SQ by upsampling done by your computer instead by the Audigy chips.No huge improvement, but it's free.
The here often recommended Chaintech AV-710 is no worthwhile improvement IMO, it's cheap and clearly better than most onboard soundchips but not much better than the Audigy.
The cheapest way to get better SQ might be the EMU 0404 ( less than 100 $), I've listened through it and it's OK, not on par with 1000 $ DACs but on par with medium prized CDPs plus the convenience of computer audio.