[darth_vato]

I don't really have enough money to buy both a DAC and Amp, so how does the Auzentech compare? I'm sitting on a lousy mobo integrated sound card at the moment, so I could really use an upgrade.
 
Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[Meliphcient]

I don't know if it'll be comparable to a dedicated DAC + amp combo, but when I upgraded from motherboard audio to my Forte the difference was night and day. I was using AKG701 at the time.

 

[snafup]

I used a forte for almost a year before it died.It sounded good but ran very hot.If you get one make sure you have lots of cooling on it.
Since it died i've gone to using an asus dx for now.Most anything is a step up from onboard sound.You'll prabably be happy with whatever you get.

 

[Meliphcient]

Soundcard got hot? could you point out to me what parts were heating up?
There's a great pic here or here
I've got my Forts sitting between my CPU HSF and my gfx card. When I first put my PC together I used the "finger" method for detecting whether any components were getting too hot. I had planned to cut up some old heatsinks from dead/useless hardware and attach them to anything that was hot but didn't find anything.