Fubar III --- any major flaws?

[wes.coleman]

I've been hunting around for a DAC and an amp to add to my setup when I stumbled upon the Fubar III last night. It seemingly has everything I want in a DAC/amp combo right now. That is, it's somewhat inexpensive, and allows me to upgrade later (via the two RCA out jacks on the back) if I want a better amp, but still need the DAC. Basically, I'll just be using it with iTunes or Windows Media Player (when I stream internet radio), so I'm not going to be using any fancy software with it, and none of my music is crazy high bitrate (mostly 128 or 196, but I have a couple of albums that are 320 that I got from iTunes Plus), just very basic stuff.

Are there any of you with horror stories about this unit?

 

[unkle11]

i don't think you will find much to be displeased about for the price, build quality is solid, sound is good, coincidentally i have one for sale in the FS section heh

 

[souperman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wes.coleman /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've been hunting around for a DAC and an amp to add to my setup when I stumbled upon the Fubar III last night. It seemingly has everything I want in a DAC/amp combo right now. That is, it's somewhat inexpensive, and allows me to upgrade later (via the two RCA out jacks on the back) if I want a better amp, but still need the DAC. Basically, I'll just be using it with iTunes or Windows Media Player (when I stream internet radio), so I'm not going to be using any fancy software with it, and none of my music is crazy high bitrate (mostly 128 or 196, but I have a couple of albums that are 320 that I got from iTunes Plus), just very basic stuff. Are there any of you with horror stories about this unit?

There's nothing wrong with this unit, but IMO it's just not that great. The Fubar II DAC is nothing compared to the DAC on the D1, and the Cute Beyond amp was not a very good amp even after opamp rolling. It's a great starter, but I feel like the D1 was much more worth it. I think you will benefit greatly if you get the D1 instead of the Fubar III. Again, this is just my opinion. Fanboys please do not flame.

 

[gdeth]

it probably sounds good enough. i'm going to use it for the same purpose, wes - just a simple way to listen to my mp3 collection on my computer and get rid of the computer noise.

(but, really, i'm getting it purely based on looks... between this and the bithead)

ps unkle's fubar3 is no longer available

--
oh, one other note - as far as i can tell, it doesn't come w/ any input other than a usb one. so, unlike the bithead, you can't use it w/ a cdplayer or something else. correct me if i am wrong please.

 

[GSurge]

For the price you're better off getting a 0404 USB.

 

[wes.coleman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by souperman /img/forum/go_quote.gif There's nothing wrong with this unit, but IMO it's just not that great. The Fubar II DAC is nothing compared to the DAC on the D1, and the Cute Beyond amp was not a very good amp even after opamp rolling. It's a great starter, but I feel like the D1 was much more worth it. I think you will benefit greatly if you get the D1 instead of the Fubar III. Again, this is just my opinion. Fanboys please do not flame.

The only thing that would stop me from buying something like the HeadAmp Pico, or the iBasso D1 is that it doesn't look like you can just use the DAC parts of the unit. I'd like to eventually purchase a tube amp to go with my setup (maybe something like a Little Dot mk. II). That's why the Fubar III was so appealing to me. Do you know of some way I can use the D1's DAC without using the integrated amp? Also, how much does the D1 cost and how long am I going to have to wait to get one? The fact that it's portable is very nice, though. I'll keep it in mind.


Quote:

Originally Posted by GSurge /img/forum/go_quote.gif For the price you're better off getting a 0404 USB.

This looks like something that I'd like very much. The only problem is, I'd still have to buy an amplifier to pair it with, so this would only solve half of my problem; I'd still have to shell out another $200 for an amp of some sort.