[kys]

Hey everyone, i'm wondering if i can get an opinion on something

I'm assuming my laptop has only a decent-at-best sound card on it. I also have a headphone amp that only takes RCA L/R inputs. From the limited knowledge i have, I only know of 2 choices i can make:

1. laptop > mini-jack to RCA L/R cable > amp > headphones

2. laptop > usb dac > amp > headphones

Again, making an assumption, but i would think running it through a usb dac first would give me a better quality sound. That leads me to my question.. how much of a difference would an average usb dac(maybe $150-200?) compare to just using a mini-jack to RCA converter?

Hope that all made sense >.<

Thanks for reading^^

 

[HeatFan12]

Hello kys

Welcome to this wonderful and $$$ draining site.

A DAC would definitely improve your onboard sound. Since you have an amp already there are many usb DACs out there for that price and even some with usb, optical, coax input in case you want in the future to connect a cd player via optical or a dvd player and use it as a transport for music.

Quote:

how much of a difference would an average usb dac compare to just using a mini-jack to RCA converter

If you use mini to RCA directly into your laptop, you are still using onboard. The DAC bypasses onboard and gives you a nice clean signal.

 

[GreatDane]

See this recent thread for good recommendations:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f15/go...etbook-462934/

 

[kys]

Thanks heatfan and greatdane~

I did take a look at that other post as well, i guess i just wanted to know how big of a difference a low end dac would make. Seems like it would still be quite significant.

Thanks again for the feedback^^