Quote:
Thank you for your input as well! I really like the audio streamer II+ ( I know someone who has one ) and I have read some reviews that all said it was amazing ( one guy said he liked it more then the benchmark dac ) apparently it uses something called asynchronous USB which makes it sound much better.
I was thinking maybe matching the audio streamer II+ up with a V-Can ( I hear these are good as well )
I wish I could try out these headphones but I don't know where I would do that, there are not any stores around me that I know of that even sell this kind of equipment.
the woo audio I hear is nice but maybe the other poster is right that it is over kill I have never used a tube system before I hear they sound better. but at the same time the V-Can has an SNR of 109db while the woo audio has a SNR of only 95db but maybe thats not importent I don't know this stuff good enough.
I have listend to some Sennheiser 595's and hated the way they sounded compared to the AD700. I can always return the AKG 702's if I don't like the sound so its not a big deal.
I can clarify some things since, like you, I was new once and appreciated honest explanations other members. First thing is asynchronous USB and why some say it's superior. Basically, the digital data (1s and 0s) travel through your USB cable to the external DAC. Now, the DAC does two things:
1) converts the 1s and 0s to an analog signal that it outputs to your headphone
2) reclocks all the digital data so that there is (virtually) no jitter and it's timed (more) correctly (this is the asynchronous part)
Since it doesn't rely on streaming the data directly and basically "reconstructs" the signal, the output is of much higher quality
So, why would I recommend an external DAC as opposed to a soundcard:
I have owned and tried many, many soundcards and they are pretty good. But, some of their main uses are, IMO, for convenience, gaming sound effects (sometimes gimmicky itself), microphone input, etc. The sound quality is usually noticeably inferior (I say usually b/c it also depends on the transparency of the rest of the setup).
But, why? I would attribute it to the usually lower consumer-grade DAC chip, lesser grade supporting circuitry, less room for bigger components (ie capacitors, etc), and (rarely) the power supply cleanliness. A soundcard has a lot more limitations and it is marketed towards a broader range of uses, whereas an external DAC is purely for quality sound (no post-processing, microphone input, etc.) Thus, I would not buy a better soundcard and would go for an external DAC in your pricerange. The "right" one is subject to your needs, research, and budget.
The SNR (signal-to-noise) ratio is something that determines how noisy a signal is. That is, how much of the incoming signal is corrupted by noise. It sounds scary, but I would not worry about it, especially with the products you mentioned and the high SNR values that those products have. Look at the wikipedia article for more info if you want it.
I don't agree with a lot of what Dalamar said, because of scientific fact and personal experience,
but I will support him in his opinion on cables. I would highly recommend that you do not go for 'high end silver interconnects'. There are huge debates of pro-cable vs anti-cable, but my advice is:
1) If you are pro-cable, which means you believe better cables = better sound, wait until your whole rig is assembled, then try cables. Cables are the least likely to benefit your setup, are really low bang-for-buck, and should only be used to tweak the final sound. If you find cables make no difference when you try them later, sell them. Your wallet will thank you
. If you do find a difference, psychological or otherwise, keep them. When it comes to your audio bliss, you decide what's right.
2) If you are anti-cable, just get a good enough cable that's long enough, properly shielded (most are), and durable. This should be sufficient.
I hope that helps
