[myk7000]

Hi folks,

My friend is looking for a usb dac/amp that is decent around the $50 area.

I was unable to provide him with anything because I felt only decent usb dac/amps start around the 90-100 range.

Any advice on usb dac/amps in the 50 dollar range? This may be my chance to get him into headphones!! Haha just joking.

 

[TopPop]

hotaudio, great deals on Electronics on eBay!

 

[myk7000]

Hmm, it seems that most of them are still at least 20+30 over his budget, I was thinking about the Hotusb1 but I looked on his site and it went up from like 40 dollars to 80 or so now.

 

[TopPop]

If he's lucky enough to snag one of the auctions without anyone else placing any bids, though, he'll walk away with the opening price of $49.99.

 

[itsborken]

Quote:

Originally Posted by myk7000 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi folks, My friend is looking for a usb dac/amp that is decent around the $50 area. I was unable to provide him with anything because I felt only decent usb dac/amps start around the 90-100 range. Any advice on usb dac/amps in the 50 dollar range? This may be my chance to get him into headphones!! Haha just joking.

Isn't going to happen; component costs are greater than that ignoring shipping, labor and some form of profit. DIY is about the cheapest and only way to get something decent for low cost.

 

[Booda]

Quote:

Originally Posted by myk7000 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi folks, My friend is looking for a usb dac/amp that is decent around the $50 area. I was unable to provide him with anything because I felt only decent usb dac/amps start around the 90-100 range. Any advice on usb dac/amps in the 50 dollar range? This may be my chance to get him into headphones!! Haha just joking.

My suggestion is to look for a second hand one with good quality of such a budget

 

[brendon]

^^ Yeah I picked up a Meier Porta Corda III AMP+DAC for about $100 directly from Meier Audio. Sounds amazing for its price and I doubt you will get any other Amp+DAC that sounds better for anything less than $200 new.

 

[K_19]

Hotaudio stuff are great, or you could try to land a used Total Bithead on the For Sale forum.

 

[LingLing1337]

Alien DAC+CMoy?

 

[Crackerman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by K_19 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hotaudio stuff are great

I'll throw my support behind them as well. I got a DAC Destroyer recently and its great. Really simple, no-nonsense little unit with fantastic sound. I think its the best you can do in a lower price range.

Plus the guy who runs it is really communicative and helpful too.