[daveip]

ok ... some of you might have seen my other thread about getting an emu0404 or similar.

i've got optical out on the x-fi notebook i have and there's spdif out on the onboard sound of my laptop.

i take it i don't really need a USB dac as such?

but my query is, will what comes out of the optical out of my x-fi notebook be the same as what comes out of the spdif of the onboard sound? i've only just started looking into using my pc properly as a source.

i'm currently looking at getting a trends audio ud-10.1 and super dac combo. is the digital that comes out of the usb transporter going to be different from the digital that comes out of the optical on my x-fi???

thanks!!!

 

[1UP]

The content is the same (digital data) but one signal is light, the other is electrical.

Depending on implementation of the output socket and input receiver/DAC, one may sound better/different from the other.

Question - why have more than one DAC "combo" when each one has both coax and optical inputs??

 

[daveip]

x-fi has digital, OB sound has coax ... neither of them have both afaik.

 

[da_burl]

The "combo" part comes from the fact that it includes the Super Dac Pro and the amplifier. The DAC does appear to have both optical and coax inputs.
Were you planning on using that amp with headphones??

 

[Chri5peed]

Sending a digital audio signal out of your computer is pretty much bypassing the computer and making any decent soundcard obsolete[expensive way of sending an S/PDIF signal].

I bought my Juli@ long before my MicroDAC.