chrisvdberge
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2016
- Posts
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I'm considering buying some active studio monitors and now I'm looking for a DAC and something to control them (as well as use my headphones). Somehow it seems that the 'audio interface world' and DACs are completely separate and it's really hard to find any comparison.
The way I see it now is you get a whole lot more for the same amount of $$ if you go for an audio interface, while they seem to deliver good (enough) quality in terms of DAC.
One other thing I can't understand is the complete lack of output control in terms of switching/controlling headphones and monitors separately. Most devices require you to physically pull the headphone out of the device to be able to use the monitors?! The Fostex HPA-3 was the only device I found with a switch.
The audio interfaces sometimes offer separate volume control which would suffice as well I guess.
As for outputs, a lot of (dedicated) dacs like Schiit seem to have only unbalanced RCA outputs, why is this the case? I hear a lot of people complaining about hiss with studio monitors and it seems this is often solved by using balanced input.
So basically I'm wondering now if I'm missing something or if it really does make (much) more sense to go for a device like the Komplete Audio 6, or even cheaper interfaces instead of a dedicated DAC?
Is there anyone who could actually provide some experience in comparing an audio interface with a dac?
The way I see it now is you get a whole lot more for the same amount of $$ if you go for an audio interface, while they seem to deliver good (enough) quality in terms of DAC.
One other thing I can't understand is the complete lack of output control in terms of switching/controlling headphones and monitors separately. Most devices require you to physically pull the headphone out of the device to be able to use the monitors?! The Fostex HPA-3 was the only device I found with a switch.
The audio interfaces sometimes offer separate volume control which would suffice as well I guess.
As for outputs, a lot of (dedicated) dacs like Schiit seem to have only unbalanced RCA outputs, why is this the case? I hear a lot of people complaining about hiss with studio monitors and it seems this is often solved by using balanced input.
So basically I'm wondering now if I'm missing something or if it really does make (much) more sense to go for a device like the Komplete Audio 6, or even cheaper interfaces instead of a dedicated DAC?
Is there anyone who could actually provide some experience in comparing an audio interface with a dac?