[DustinT]

So, I've got a New MacBook Pro with Retina Display, Sennheiser PC 360's and a love for PC gaming. So, I'll boot into Windows 7 for my fix and I'll chat with the team I'm playing with using my Sennheiser's. The sound quality in the builtin mike is great and the overall quality is satisfying, if a little sterile. All in all, I'm happy with my setup. Here's the dilema, I need a reasonably priced ($150 or less) DAC that can drive these Sennheiser's to their max, provide a mic level input and will work with both the Mac and Windows operating systems.
 
I have been using a Creative Labs usb sound card instead of the built on on my new MacBook (Cirrus Logic cd4206b ab40) simply because the Creative Labs product has seperate Mic and Speaker jacks, plus it's USB so I can leave my headphones and sound card plugged in when I take the Mac off my desk and travel. So, when I'm in my home office I've got the DAC, headphones, gaming monitor, keyboard and mouse and it's all convenient with just one USB cable and one monitor cable.
 
I know the PC 360's aren't that hard to drive with the 50 ohm impedance. Considering my usage is mainly gaming with occasional music, should I worry about upgrading the DAC? If so, I'd love recommendations on under $150 DACs that give me an easy way to handle the Microphone input. If the DAC is flexible enough to handle a high impedance pair of can's down the road that would be icing on the cake.
 
Thanks!

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

So, I've got a New MacBook Pro with Retina Display, Sennheiser PC 360's and a love for PC gaming. So, I'll boot into Windows 7 for my fix and I'll chat with the team I'm playing with using my Sennheiser's. The sound quality in the builtin mike is great and the overall quality is satisfying, if a little sterile. All in all, I'm happy with my setup. Here's the dilema, I need a reasonably priced ($150 or less) DAC that can drive these Sennheiser's to their max, provide a mic level input and will work with both the Mac and Windows operating systems.
 
I have been using a Creative Labs usb sound card instead of the built on on my new MacBook (Cirrus Logic cd4206b ab40) simply because the Creative Labs product has seperate Mic and Speaker jacks, plus it's USB so I can leave my headphones and sound card plugged in when I take the Mac off my desk and travel. So, when I'm in my home office I've got the DAC, headphones, gaming monitor, keyboard and mouse and it's all convenient with just one USB cable and one monitor cable.
 
I know the PC 360's aren't that hard to drive with the 50 ohm impedance. Considering my usage is mainly gaming with occasional music, should I worry about upgrading the DAC? If so, I'd love recommendations on under $150 DACs that give me an easy way to handle the Microphone input. If the DAC is flexible enough to handle a high impedance pair of can's down the road that would be icing on the cake.
 
Thanks!

Asus Xonar DG or DGX sound card.

 

[DustinT]

Sorry, I guess I should have been more specific. Since I'm using a MacBook Pro, the system can't accept a pci or pci-e sound card. So, it would have to be USB.