[jmmtn4aj]

Going by what I heard in another thread, the 1212ms don't go well with X-Fis (driver conflicts), and I want the DSP abilities of the X-Fi. Hence I'm now looking for a DAC that can go with the X-Fi to give the same level of transparency that the 1212m offers. Surely if Jahn uses the small brother of the 1212m, the 0404, as the source of his multi-thousand-dollar 'tower of power', one need not spend so many times more for a DAC just because it's external, as opposed to being in soundcard form o.O

So basically what I want is a neutral detailed DAC for a low price. I don't want 'sweet sounding' or 'tight bass' or 'sparkling mids', just one as or more neutral than the 1212m and with as much soundstage and resolution.

Does such a thing exist? If not, I might as well make a second PC using a micro-ATX casing and motherboard with a 6gig HDD and a PIII 800mhZ processor to put a 1212m in and use that as a cheap external DAC

 

[Epicurean]

Maybe a Zhaolu? The 2.5C even uses the same dac chip as the 1212 and you can tweak the sound to your liking by op-amp rolling to get that neutral sound you're looking for, whatever that is.

 

[jmmtn4aj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Epicurean /img/forum/go_quote.gif Maybe a Zhaolu? The 2.5C even uses the same dac chip as the 1212 and you can tweak the sound to your liking by op-amp rolling to get that neutral sound you're looking for, whatever that is.

I've heard many accounts of the Zhaolu sounding horrible, at least in stock form. Is this true? Neutral basically means just that, neutral. Flat frequency response graph..

 

[Epicurean]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmmtn4aj /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've heard many accounts of the Zhaolu sounding horrible, at least in stock form. Is this true? Neutral basically means just that, neutral. Flat frequency response graph..

Horrible? Certainly not horrible. This is the second time now that I hear that. Where have you read that? I've seen a few comparisons where the Zhaolu was put up against the Benchmark DAC-1 and Lavry black, and not surprisingly the Zhaolu wasn't the better one, costing only a fraction of the other ones. In stock form it was nothing mind blowing but definitely better than my 0404.

As for frequency response, I've very rarely seen a source which didn't have a near flat frequency response, so I doubt that has much to with the 'neutrality' of the sound. I believe it is more about different types of distortion at different frequencies.

 

[DarkJC]

Not sure how low of a low price you're looking for, but I'm just throwing this out there. I bought my MicroDAC quite a while ago now, but I've been very happy with it. Works well being driven by the optical out of my Audigy 2 or via USB.

It goes for $300 at Headroom. I never regretted it for one second after hearing the difference it made vs. my admittedly dismal Audigy 2.