[Nasir]

If one already has a good sound card, what does an external DAC (like the Entech Number Crunchers) do for sound quality? Wouldn't the sound card's own DAC be sufficient?

Or is the improvement not really that great, just something you'd purchase for inching closer to that optimum quality?

 

[regal]

I don't know about the number cruncher but going from the soundcard's dac to a quality DAC gives more bass, better stereo separation, and lower noise floor. I was surprised at how much more impact drums had after going to an external DAC.

 

[Scrith]

It really depends on the DAC and the sound card you are comparing it to. I think there are probably DACs out there that don't sound as good as some sound cards. But, generally, a high-quality external DAC is superior to a high-quality sound card (with the exact differences depending, again, on the DAC and sound card in question).

To answer the question with more details than that (e.g. an external DAC will always have better bass, or better soundstage, or better clarity) cannot be accurate, because there are all types of external DACs (and "good" sound cards), each with their own unique characteristics.

 

[Balisarda]

As I understand it, the inside of a computer is a very noisy environment for electrical signals. Whereas digital signals are more or less immune to such noise, analog signals are not. If you use the DAC on your soundcard inside your computer, the analog signal can pick up noise. Therefore, I think regal was correct when he said an external DAC lowers the noise floor.

 

[nightfire]

Like Scrith suggested, it really depends on the DAC and the sound card.

In my case, I went from a Thinkpad's onboard output to a Lavry DA10.

Needless to say, there really is no comparison.

The biggest differences for me were: less fatigue, noise floor, treble clarity (far less smear and hash), and imaging (related to noise floor and clarity). I didn't notice any bass changes but I wasn't really paying attention.

 

[alex_cs]

I can say Juli@ analog compared to Juli@ > Zhaolu was immediately noticeable, clearer, sharper etc.

Juli@ compared to USB DA100 is huge. I will state I cannot so far tell the difference between the USB and optical on the DA100. I will say there is no comparison the headstage, the detail, the PRAT, everything! The smooth natural sound.

Now I dont know how the Juli@ compares to say a 1212 or 0404 in terms of analog, but it is considered a quality soundcard with a good onboard DAC.

If you have the money, I would suggest DA100/DA220, the Lavry, DAC-1 etc. the quality of source has everything to do with how the rest of the system sounds. crap in, crap out.

 

[Nasir]

How much do "nice" DACs typically cost? A price range would do.

 

[nightfire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NTak How much do "nice" DACs typically cost? A price range would do.

A very nice DAC is the Zhaolu D2 (http://www.ifiaudio.com/d2.html). It's Chinese and dirt cheap ($200-300USD depending on configuration).

The Lavry DA10, Benchmark DAC1 and Aqvox are all around $1k USD. All great DACs, though many would put a well configured Zhaolu D2 up against them.