[drandall]

Gents,
 
I've read tons of threads and I'm more perplexed than I was before I started. I have a nice starter system with a little dot mkIII, sen HD600 and a uDAC1 to play back 320kbps AAC's and apple lossless 16/44 tracks from an apple imac over USB.
 
I'd like to upgrade the DAC and have about $300 to do it. any recommendations are welcome and i would especially appreciate any advice on dealing with 16/44 tracks in regards to bit rate and upsampling.
 
 
thanks in advance!
 

 

[drandall]

anyone got a bone to throw the newb?

 

[falis]

I've got one of these: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/436043/new-pop-pulse-1796-dac-usb-input.  If you have optical out from your macbook, it could be good.  Nice sounding, but bear in mind that it's not a portable unit.
 
Updated link to vendor:
http://cryo-parts.com/index.php/pop-pulse/1796-mkii-dac
 
- Ed

 

[drandall]

thanks for the suggestion. i'll investigate. my list has also grown to include:
 
1) audinst MX-1
2) matrix mini-i
3) matrix cube
4) little dot
5) HRT streamer II
6) hotaudio DAC WOW
7) MF v-dac
8) upcoming maverick dac??

 

[Project22a]

Have you considered the E-MU 0404 USB?

 

[drandall]

i know absolutely nothing about it. i'll take a look. thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Vitor Machado]

 
Quote:

Have you considered the E-MU 0404 USB?

But beware of poor Windows 7 drivers. Last driver update was 2/1/2008, and doesn't even mention Windows 7 compatibility (Vista is mentioned though).

 

[Project22a]

Quote:

 


But beware of poor Windows 7 drivers. Last driver update was 2/1/2008, and doesn't even mention Windows 7 compatibility (Vista is mentioned though).

A Windows 7 Beta driver was released on October 2010. It has worked great for me so far.

 

[seanmo]

headfonia review
http://www.headfonia.com/the-new-recommendation-the-yulong-u100-usb-dac/

 

[drandall]

yeah, that needs to be on the list too. dammit.
 
 

 

[upstateguy]

Quote:

Gents,
 
I've read tons of threads and I'm more perplexed than I was before I started. I have a nice starter system with a little dot mkIII, sen HD600 and a uDAC1 to play back 320kbps AAC's and apple lossless 16/44 tracks from an apple imac over USB.
 
I'd like to upgrade the DAC and have about $300 to do it. any recommendations are welcome and i would especially appreciate any advice on dealing with 16/44 tracks in regards to bit rate and upsampling.
 
 
thanks in advance!
 

My advice is to save your money until you can spend a lot more on your source.  A great source with an average amp will blow away an average source with a great amp.
 
USG