Sorry another advice thread

[reddavies]

Hi, I'm still pretty new to the world of audiophile equipment. I worked for a theater company in high school running their sound equipment so I know something about audio/electronics, but have never been really able to afford the money to experiment with audiophile equipment.

Here's my question. I just bought a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M50 that I really love. I only use have a laptop and as a college student kind of need my equipment to be "somewhat" portable. (At least sit on my desk.) I'm wondering if it'd be best to just buy a portable amp or a whole USB Soundcard + DAC + amp combo. I looked at UHA-3 and the Zero. I like the idea of the Zero a lot, but don't really want to buy a usb soundcard on top of it. Any ideas? I'd like to spend between $100-$200 altogether - preferably on the lower end, but I don't want to sacrifice too much quality over price.

 

[paaj]

The zero has a built in DAC with USB input right? No need for another soundcard then. Another 'big' alternative is an 0404USB.
If you want something portable, an iBasso with USB input works the same in a smaller package.

 

[reddavies]

Hey, thanks for the reply. The 0404USB looks pretty cool - at the high end of my price range though. How's the cheaper 0202 USB compare? No sorry as far as I know the Zero only takes a coaxial or optical. Anyone know anything about the Icon Mobile by NuForce? Looked it up last night as well. Part of the reason I want to go with the Zero is that I'm actually in China right now studying abroad for a semester. My Chinese isn't too bad so I thought I might be able to get a pretty good deal on the Zero if I could find a supplier here.

 

[paaj]

I think I have read somewhere that it comes standard with a USB to S/PDIF converter. Might be wrong though, then you might need one of those

check if your laptop has optical out, and if so, if the onboard soundchip does not resample the signal to 48khz. You could use that output, otherwise turtlebeach often comes up as one brand that offers the needed converter.

Have no experience with 0202USB, but searching around this forum should turn up some info.