Question Would a DAC improve my system?

Check out this site AudioScienceReview for actual objective measurement of DAC's, headphone amps and now even speakers. The main contributor, amirm, uses hi-resolution test gear, often with brutal results for high priced boutique brands. Reading through the other posts here, several of the suggestions tested very well on AudioScienceReview and would be good choices.

It's a fascinating website, isn't it? Tons of great objective info. Hope it's for real - appears to be. From memory, I don't think the reviewed Chord products measured well yet magazines and enthusiasts rave over them.
 
I was a bit disappointed (but not surprised) to see that my low end SMSL AD18 that was praised by several prominent You Tube reviewers got trashed in the tests. I paid <$200 and am not a golden ear, so in this case functionality wins out for me. A different story if I had shelled out $1000+ for some technical hi-fi atrocity. It's just nice to have objective information to factor in when making purchase decisions, rather than 100% subjective conjecture. Not currently in the market, but I still spend way too much time pouring through the reviews. ...though I do have my eye on the Denon AVR-X3600 receiver which did very well. :)
 
Sorry for jumping in here, but I thought as this question is very closely related to the one I have, thought I might as well ask here.

I have a desktop PC, running a soundblaster Z audio card. I use the optical out to feed my Yamaha A-S301 amplifier, which then goes to a pair of B&W M1's (soon to be upgraded to 686's or 685's, I have both sitting here, just deciding what to do with them) and a Yamaha YSTFSW050BL Subwoofer. The amplifier is also fed by an old TEAC CD-P1100 CD player for when I want to go old school (ha ha).

When listening to audio on my PC, I generally listen to FLAC files, usually CD rips. Nothing Hi-Def or anything usually. Although I do record my DJ mixes, and when I play a vinyl set, I usually record that in 24/96, so listen back at that bitrate. Although it is usually converted back to 16/44.1 FLAC.

Or I do watch movies / TV shows a lot here too.

So my question is this.

Would I benefit from a new DAC in about the £100 range (don't mind going second hand here, or pushing the budget a little if it's going to be worth it)?

Or would I be better using the Soundblaster Z DAC over my Yamaha AS301 DAC? And using a 3.5mm to RCA here.

If I do go for an external DAC, I potentially would like the ability to "upgrade" my CD player, at some point, to one with an optical out, so I can feed the DAC with it too. So any suggestions here?

I have recently considered getting an older surround AV receiver, as I do have enough speakers and stuff to put in a surround sound set-up. But that may be overkill. Although the room is probably the easiest room for me to do such a thing. It would likely be one of them slim Marantz things if I did though. Then the audio would be going over HDMI I would assume (through my 1050ti).
 
Please let us know what you went for, and if you felt like it made an improvement.
I'm in the same boat and would like to add a DAC to the laptop.
Regards,
Warren.

I have experience with all range of DACs from cheapish to high end DACs and they barely make any difference to PC playback so you are really wasting your money :). The high-end DACs will make some impact but you have to also have high end rest of the accompanying gear to be able to hear and aprecaite it.

The problem is not a (built in) DAC with PC but the PC. By adding external DAC you barely change the equation as they still use (electrically) noisy USB bus from even noisier general environment of PC.

If you want to get better sound from PC your best bet is spdif converter and external DAC as you are getting some sort of isolation but then it is no longer a small setup.

People writing about adding external DAC is like seeing colours for the first time is not even funny.
 
There’s a lot to be said for isolating your pc from the dac.

Has your pc got an optical output? That would be best; into a dac with a decent jitter control. Most have these days.
 
There’s a lot to be said for isolating your pc from the dac.

Has your pc got an optical output? That would be best; into a dac with a decent jitter control. Most have these days.
If it was directed at me, there is no point to reinvent the wheel. PC is basically big and complicated calculator. Jack of all trades. You can spend years trying to make it sound decent by simplifying it and, well turning it into CD player or streamer, so instead of trying to do so by buying DACs (which will be money wasted) just buy a dedicated device for music playback and be done with it. I am taking from experience.

Or keep using whatever came with your laptop. External DAC (over usb) will change nothing or extremely close to nothing. Over Spdif or optical it can be better depending on implementation but in the end you are dealing with the flawed source / transport in form of a PC so you have lost this battle for better sound even before you have started.

If one is not looking for high end sound there is nothing wrong with using laptop or PC for music playback. Just spending money on DACs in this situation is pointless as they will not make big enough difference to justify the cost. We are taking gains in margins of 0 - 1% if you have good hearing and very good gear to hear it on.

I use 6k DAC at home (and few in between) and I can bet you that you will not be able to hear the difference with a standard PC and unknown track and unknown (high end or not) headphones to you. If you would bring your own HPs and track, you know well, after few back and forth you would hear the minute differences but I bet you again that you would not pass double blind test.

Do not get me wrong, that DAC is quite amazing but as always garbage in garbage out. And in this situation standard PC is the limiting factor. But what I am trying to say it is equally limiting to any decent DAC and thosedays 99% of DACs are decent.
 
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If it was directed at me, there is no point to reinvent the wheel. PC is basically big and complicated calculator. Jack of all trades. You can spend years trying to make it sound decent by simplifying it and, well turning it into CD player or streamer, so instead of trying to do so by buying DACs (which will be money wasted) just buy a dedicated device for music playback and be done with it. I am taking from experience.

Or keep using whatever came with your laptop. External DAC (over usb) will change nothing or extremely close to nothing. Over Spdif or optical it can be better depending on implementation but in the end you are dealing with the flawed source / transport in form of a PC so you have lost this battle for better sound even before you have started.

If one is not looking for high end sound there is nothing wrong with using laptop or PC for music playback. Just spending money on DACs in this situation is pointless as they will not make big enough difference to justify the cost. We are taking gains in margins of 0 - 1% if you have good hearing and very good gear to hear it on.

I use 6k DAC at home (and few in between) and I can bet you that you will not be able to hear the difference with a standard PC and unknown track and unknown (high end or not) headphones to you. If you would bring your own HPs and track, you know well, after few back and forth you would hear the minute differences but I bet you again that you would not pass double blind test.

Do not get me wrong, that DAC is quite amazing but as always garbage in garbage out. And in this situation standard PC is the limiting factor. But what I am trying to say it is equally limiting to any decent DAC and thosedays 99% of DACs are decent.

Actually directed at xs2man.
 
There’s a lot to be said for isolating your pc from the dac.

Has your pc got an optical output? That would be best; into a dac with a decent jitter control. Most have these days.
Actually directed at xs2man.

Ahhh. Directed at me. Sorry, I couldn't find this thread again, ha ha.

Yes. My Soundblaster Z Soundcard does have an optical out. And I currently use that to feed my Yamaha A-S301 amp.

I mean, it's not like I'm disappointed with the sound I'm hearing. I was just wondering if it was worth the expense fo an upgrade. I am about to upgrade the B&W M1's to a now spare pair of B&W 686's I have.

I recently bought a new amplifier for my garage, a Rotel RA-02, and it is fed with a Chromecast Audio. It sounds MILES better than the old Sony STR-DG910 that it replaced. What a difference. This has changed my focus a little now though. I'm now thinking of ditching the Google Home thing I have in the kitchen, and getting a small stereo amp for there, running my other chromecast audio and my now spare M1's. So I'll probably leave the DAC question for now, and hunt down a suitable little amp for the kitchen instead.
 
Ahhh. Directed at me. Sorry, I couldn't find this thread again, ha ha.

Yes. My Soundblaster Z Soundcard does have an optical out. And I currently use that to feed my Yamaha A-S301 amp.

I mean, it's not like I'm disappointed with the sound I'm hearing. I was just wondering if it was worth the expense fo an upgrade. I am about to upgrade the B&W M1's to a now spare pair of B&W 686's I have.

I recently bought a new amplifier for my garage, a Rotel RA-02, and it is fed with a Chromecast Audio. It sounds MILES better than the old Sony STR-DG910 that it replaced. What a difference. This has changed my focus a little now though. I'm now thinking of ditching the Google Home thing I have in the kitchen, and getting a small stereo amp for there, running my other chromecast audio and my now spare M1's. So I'll probably leave the DAC question for now, and hunt down a suitable little amp for the kitchen instead.

It’s certainly not worth replacing the dac used in the Yamaha. It’s more than up to the job.

And the new speakers will be a genuinely happy upgrade anyway.

Rotels are proper stereo amps, they’ve had an enviable rep for decades at just getting on with the music. No faff, no magic, just rock solid stereo.

As you’re so happy with the 02, it might be wise to search for another or the similar 01 or 04.
 
It’s certainly not worth replacing the dac used in the Yamaha. It’s more than up to the job.

And the new speakers will be a genuinely happy upgrade anyway.

Rotels are proper stereo amps, they’ve had an enviable rep for decades at just getting on with the music. No faff, no magic, just rock solid stereo.

As you’re so happy with the 02, it might be wise to search for another or the similar 01 or 04.

Yeah, I don't really want a full size amp for the kitchen. Was thinking something smaller. Hopefully significantly so. I mean, I could pop the amp on top of the cupboards, but seems a bit much for the kitchen, ha ha.

But we will see. I am very happy with the Rotel. But might be a bit much for the kitchen anyway.
 

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