Do I bother with an external DAC for my Salnotes Zero?

[Sahelantrophus]

Hey all, I caved in to the hype around the 7Hz Salnotes Zero and I love them. My first pair of IEMs and they sound great.
I'm currently running them through onboard (ALC887) on a shoddy front panel port (they sound terrible if I don't twist the cable the right way) and there's a bit of noise, but if I try to play any demanding games it gets worse in the right channel and it gets distracting. Otherwise it sounds fine.
Besides no electronic interference, is there any improvement in quality for the IEMs if I get an external DAC? I have the choice between either an X-Fi HD and an E10K Olympus 2, both like new at $45. Thanks in advance, I don't really know much about DACs.

 

[baskingshark]

Hey all, I caved in to the hype around the 7Hz Salnotes Zero and I love them. My first pair of IEMs and they sound great.
I'm currently running them through onboard (ALC887) on a shoddy front panel port (they sound terrible if I don't twist the cable the right way) and there's a bit of noise, but if I try to play any demanding games it gets worse in the right channel and it gets distracting. Otherwise it sounds fine.
Besides no electronic interference, is there any improvement in quality for the IEMs if I get an external DAC? I have the choice between either an X-Fi HD and an E10K Olympus 2, both like new at $45. Thanks in advance, I don't really know much about DACs.

If you get hiss/EMI from a poorly implemented DAC in laptop/desktops, then you might get some better noise floor/shielding with a dedicated DAC.

Most modern DACs are pretty transparent and measure well, even cheap dongles like the apple dongle (sub $10 USD) are good enough in my opinion.

Some DACs come with an Amp inside, and the Amp component may benefit you if you need to drive more demanding gear. The Salnotes Zero itself is very easy to drive, so IMHO, you won't get major sonic benefit from amplification.


IMHO, in terms of diminishing returns, the best areas to upgrade the audio chain would be (no. 1 is best returns):
1) Transducer - ie the IEM
2) Eartips
3) Source files - eg upgrade from youtube/mp3 192 to high quality FLAC/mp3 320
4) Amplification
5) DAC
6) Cables

 

[552609]

No. That's the short version. Now, if you have weird sound issues from your computer, and you can't stand it, then yes. That's the short version, let me know if you need further elaboration.