Help picking DAC

[ProtegeManiac]

  I just don't know why I didn't get this background noise at all with my old PC and the E10. Ever since I got my new PC, the noise coming through the USB ports is awful, or at least it is with the E10. My FiiO X3 doesn't have any audible background noise when using USB.

 
It depends on the motherboard and the PSU. Sometimes it's low power output, sometimes there are interactions with a lot of stuff in there, which is why potentially there are a lot of problems with using a computer. That's why some motherboards now are advertised as having 5v on all USB ports (even simultaneously) as well as some kind of shielding on the audio circuit (like ROGs that have them on daughterboards or Gigabyte isolating the analogue section on the reverse side of the PCB).

 

[martinrajdl]

  I think it is the original E10 that martinrajdl has. I too have the original E10 one and I think it is known for having these issues. I don't think the E10k is as bad.
 
I just don't know why I didn't get this background noise at all with my old PC and the E10. Ever since I got my new PC, the noise coming through the USB ports is awful, or at least it is with the E10. My FiiO X3 doesn't have any audible background noise when using USB.
 
I went for the S.M.S.L SD-793II DAC and that seems to have solved my issue completely. I use the optical input and there is now only a slight hiss and that is only noticeable when not playing music and turning the dial up to full. That is far louder that I would ever go anyway.

I also never notices any noise when I used it with E09K, but with Valhalla 2, the noise was just insane. Luckily enough, my current setup not only sounds great, but is also dead silent. 

 

[TheGiantHogweed]

 
I also never notices any noise when I used it with E09K, but with Valhalla 2, the noise was just insane. Luckily enough, my current setup not only sounds great, but is also dead silent. 

I think I will keep my E10 though as it still is a step up from a basic computer sound card and it works with other some PCs fine. I also think it is pretty good with laptops.