[starscream]

I have a Xonar D2X. How would the DAC in that compare to a good portable DAP like a Sony A828 or a D2 for example?

Would the sound quality through the same set of headphones be expectedly better or worse on one or the other?

I would like to hear opinions both with dealing with headphones connect directly to the headphone out of the DAP or the Xonar, then when connected to a headphone amp

 

[Mr_Junesequa]

Soundcard absolutely kill portable players. Its not night and day...its more like different universes

 

[obobskivich]

depending on the soundcard, modern cards vs modern players, yes, the soundcard wins

if you have some obscenely old (like the AWE32 I have on display over my work bench) card, portable players will kill it SQ wise

but modern audio cards (good ones) are just better in every concievable way than a portable player, except for portability