[Cutshaw]

I've been trying to work out my options, and DAC seems to be the way to go. Any suggestions on a DAC that would give a significant improvement over my Prelude? I've been looking at the HRT Music Streamer 2, MF V-DAC, Nuforce udac, but I'm wondering if I set my sights to low and they aren't a whole lot better than my sound card.

 

[apatN]

I was really close to getting a Prelude as all the reviews I read were pretty impressed with the card. It's pretty good as far as I know but of course you want better. You're a head-fier.
 
Keep in mind that you will need an amp with your DAC also. What a DAC simply does is convert your digital audio to an analogue signal so an amp can amplify it.
 
What you will need to do is read a bit into all the different DACs and set yourself a budget. I can only recommend you take a look in the for sale section here. Good luck!

 

[Cutshaw]

I've a bad habit of making posts far too long and with a lot stuff people don't need.. I can feel the urge to ramble now! I tried to keep it simple and missed out some important stuff.
 
I've got a neco soundland headphone amp, k702s, sr80s, goldring ns1000s and at the moment getting the juicy stuff from my Prelude.
 
I'm just worried that I'll be wasting money on something that wont absolutely flatten my Prelude in the music quality stakes. Will a vdac or music streamer cream the Prelude or should I aim higher.
 
 
PS. I clicked on your last.fm, we have the Gza and Jedi Mind Tricks in common I'm listening to Antipop Consortium - Arrhythmia as I type this and would really recommend that album if you haven't heard it. I think it was just yesterday I had on JMT - The Psycho-Social, Chemical, Biological & Electro-Magnetic Manipulation of Human Consciousness, hilariously long album title and chock-a-block with great tracks.

 

[Cutshaw]

Anyone else with some ideas? This would be a lot simpler if I could go somewhere and listen to the stuff.

 

[genclaymore]

Another option is to grab a Xonar ST besides have usb Dac as a option. Auzentech Bravura would work as well both Headphone amps on both cards should work for your headphones. As well as both has replaceable op-amp sockets.
 
If you rather have a usb dac then more people may pop in and recommand some Dacs.

 

[apatN]

The V-DAC is a good place to start looking. There has been said a lot of things about that little unit here. Read reviews, comparisons etc and make up your mind. It's the best way I think.
 
Oh, I really like the GZA but I don't think I am a real fan of JMT. They're good but not that good imo.

 

[Cid]

If you really want a noticeable difference, you need to move away from sigma delta DACs and this is about the cheapest that isn't sigma-delta that you'll find. http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/DAC19/DAC19EN.htm

 

[jenneth]

I've had some experience with the Prelude (along with the Claro Halo & STX). Strictly as a source, these sound cards are actually quite decent (for how much they cost). The Claro Halo & STX are both a little better than the Prelude. The PS Audio DLiii is, in a similar fashion, a little better than those two previously mentioned sound cards. In order to get a more significant upgrade, you'd probably need to look into some of the Audio-GD offerings or something along that tier.

 

[Cutshaw]

Thanks a lot. Going by what's been said, I'm going to need to double my budget and then some. It's bittersweet. I've sent a mail to audio-gd to get a price with shipping to the UK on the DAC19. I was really hoping that these DACs being dedicated no frills devices would do that give me a large improvement. I'll just have to set the sights a little higher.
 

 

[Cutshaw]

It turns out that the total for the cheaper of the two DAC19 models will total at £370 and I just can't stretch that far, at least not for the moment. £200/$300 is much more agreeable. Any suggestions along the lines of that budget?

 

[Cid]

I liked the look of the dacmagic, since it's also UK based, but I can't comment on how good it is. Just something I was looking into!