USB powered DAC, which one?

[ejoy]

Hi all,
I am shopping for a USB powered DAC to go with my laptop, so ask for wisdom here

I only play my music via itunes and won't bother any other player (foobar etc.) I have little knowledge of 24/96, ASIO, upsampling, NOS etc and only care about plug-and-play-with-itunes performance. And I do not want to install an XP/Vista driver to get the DAC work. It must be plug-and-play. Currently I'm looking into pico DAC and devilsound DAC. It seems there are some cheaper options like M-Audio transit. Money should not be a problem, but weight and size are.
Thanks,
John

 

[Cankin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by amb /img/forum/go_quote.gif 1/2 of the thanks should go to MisterX, my partner of the γ1 project. As for a high-end DAC, it's on my plate of things to do but that plate is quite full (much of which has nothing to do with audio), so it will be a while. Btw, don't let γ1's low cost and mini size mislead you. It may not have balanced in and outs or fancy displays found on commercial high-end DACs, but it doesn't embarrass itself in their company.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/y1-gamma-1-dac-355293/
The γ1 Modular Miniature DAC

 

[Twoguns]

I am a big fan of any of Styleaudio's offerings. They are small in size, built with high quality components, plug'n'play, and sound great!

 

[fordgtlover]

X2 on the Gamma-1 (y1) option from AMB and MisterX.

Small, easy to setup and sounds great.

 

[Twoguns]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fordgtlover /img/forum/go_quote.gif X2 on the Gamma-1 (y1) option from AMB and MisterX. Small, easy to setup and sounds great.

Since you are in UK, there's one of those on Ebay-UK right now..

 

[opipi0404]

Hmm I don't trust solely USB powered DAC because it may cause music clipping when CPU usage goes high. Am I right? I'm using a laptop though.

 

[geremy]

Are you looking for a dac/amp combo or just a dac? Do you already have an amp?

 

[Meliboeus]

Are there any dacs that use two usb ports ? One for signal and power, the second one for auxiliary power, just like 2.5" hard disks...it could be an interesting solution...

 

[opipi0404]

Hmm ya that sounds interesting lol! But since most 15.4" notebooks only have 3~4 usb hubs, there will be no room left for mouse if connecting a 2.5" HDD and a DAC like that in the first place lol!

To OP, I saw a long thread talking about Devilsound (price is around $250 I remember), and it's solely powered by USB. I thought you might be interested in it

 

[ejoy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by opipi0404 /img/forum/go_quote.gif To OP, I saw a long thread talking about Devilsound (price is around $250 I remember), and it's solely powered by USB. I thought you might be interested in it

Yes, I am interested in Devilsound. However, the price is difficult to be justified from the fact it's just a straightforward NOS DAC w/o any reclocking or advanced jitter reduction, compared to other NOS DAC at a similar price point. More review is needed for me to put more faith in Devilsound. Plus, the cable just looks a bit long for my laptop setup.