[kittyn]

Hi everyone!
 
I just recently got into this whole audiophile hobby.  This is my first post on these forums, but I've read through them a ton! 
 
Anyways, I do a little bit of music recording, so I own an Mbox-2.  I also own a recent i5 iMac, which seems to use an onboard chip for sound.  Now, I can set the output of the iMac to the mbox2, and plug in my headphones into the mbox2 to listen to music.  This basically means the sound card/DAC is the mbox2, right?  Does anyone know how this compares to a real DAC like the UDAC?  Is it worth it to buy another DAC or should I just use the mbox?  Or am I a dumb dumb?
 
Thanks for any responses! =)

 

[Nagasaki_Kid]

don't waste your money on a udac, the mbox 2 is fine. It's better than a emu 0404 from what I've read. 

 

[alakalaka99]

I was wondering this too, as I have an audio interface similar to the Mbox2. I ended up buying an Audio gd NFB3 because I figured something with as many features as an audio interface couldn't outperform a device dedicated to being a DAC. Unfortunately my DAC hasn't arrived yet, but once it does I hope to have an answer to the question.

 

[kittyn]

thanks -- exactly what I wanted to know!
 
Quote:

don't waste your money on a udac, the mbox 2 is fine. It's better than a emu 0404 from what I've read. 

 

[kittyn]

Let us know if you notice anything~
 
Quote:

I was wondering this too, as I have an audio interface similar to the Mbox2. I ended up buying an Audio gd NFB3 because I figured something with as many features as an audio interface couldn't outperform a device dedicated to being a DAC. Unfortunately my DAC hasn't arrived yet, but once it does I hope to have an answer to the question.

 

[alakalaka99]

I'm no good at describing sound, but I will say that the sound from my NFB-3 is miles ahead of my audio interface (Cakewalk UA-25EX). Soundstage is way wider, and through just minutes of listening I'm hearing new details. It makes sense, seeing as my interface has tons of features like inputs, midi, etc., that a box 4 times the size that is dedicated to being a DAC would sound better.
 
If you have the money a good dedicated DAC is well worth it over your Mbox2. But like someone said above, I would pass on getting a uDac or something in that price range as you probably won't see much of an improvement. You're gonna have to spend more money to see any significant improvement. That seems to be a reoccurring theme here at Head-fi...
 
Quote:

Let us know if you notice anything~
 

 

 

[kittyn]

Where did you buy the NFB-3? I've been trying to look it up online, but I cant find it.
 
Quote:

I'm no good at describing sound, but I will say that the sound from my NFB-3 is miles ahead of my audio interface (Cakewalk UA-25EX). Soundstage is way wider, and through just minutes of listening I'm hearing new details. It makes sense, seeing as my interface has tons of features like inputs, midi, etc., that a box 4 times the size that is dedicated to being a DAC would sound better.
 
If you have the money a good dedicated DAC is well worth it over your Mbox2. But like someone said above, I would pass on getting a uDac or something in that price range as you probably won't see much of an improvement. You're gonna have to spend more money to see any significant improvement. That seems to be a reoccurring theme here at Head-fi...
 

 

[alakalaka99]

I actually bought mine from another user here, but you can order from Audio-gd directly. They don't have any shopping cart system so ordering and everything is done through email.
 
Here's the product page. http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/NFB-2/NFB2EN.htm
 
Quote:

Where did you buy the NFB-3? I've been trying to look it up online, but I cant find it.
 

 

 

 

[kittyn]

Just an update: 
 
I was experiencing a lot of noise when using the Mbox2 as a DAC.  I was frustrated, until I figured out why.  I had my mix knob somewhere in the middle, and my input1 volume turned up.. so I turned the volume down and set the mix all the way to the right.  Then the noise went away!
 
BTW - compared to the built-in headphone jack on the imac, the mbox seems to have way better range/clarity.

 

[stevengamel]

Well the Macbook pro DAC is not great and the Mbox 2 is average at best.
However, the new Mbox range: Mbox mini, Mbox Pro and Mbox are way
better. The AD and DA has been upgraded a lot.

 

[faileas]

Until recently i was using it as my daily use DAC (switched to the fastrack cause its smaller, and fits my desk better.) Its a huge improvement over onboard sound, IMO, especially if you have one lying around. I wonder what's with the sudden interest in mboxen suddenly ;p

 

[kittyn]

Well, mainly it's just because I had one lying around, like you said  It's either use the imac's headphone jack (which I don't want to do since I have computer speakers connected, plus it's located in a very inconvenient place to plug things in and out of ) or use this mbox I had sitting on my desk already.  I was looking at DAC's like the E7 and  the Total Bithead but from what I gather they wouldn't be a noticeable improvement? It's my birthday coming up so...
 
Quote:

Until recently i was using it as my daily use DAC (switched to the fastrack cause its smaller, and fits my desk better.) Its a huge improvement over onboard sound, IMO, especially if you have one lying around. I wonder what's with the sudden interest in mboxen suddenly ;p

 

[faileas]

I suppose - i just got a nforce udac 2, and i'm certain it sounds better than the mbox2 (subjectively...) - as much of a difference as when i switched between built in sound and the mbox. On the other hand, i personally can't tell the difference between mp3s and flac on the integrated sound on my system (your vanilla realtek) , and i can clearly tell the difference on my mbox2. There's other factors - with some of the newer members of the maudio/avid range, there's options for DS and ASIO on windows, and ASIO sounds better. Some experimentation may be needed to get the best out of it.