Portable or desktop??require build in audio DAC or not??

Hi every one,

Need some advise for a sound card here, actually my ass a bit itchy    and want to make some improvement for my old Edifier C3 2.1 speakers.

i Currently using Mobo : Gigabyte EP45-UD3R, Realtek onboard sound card :

Desktop PC : Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit

Realtek ALC889A codec
High Definition Audio
2/4/5.1/7.1-channel
Support for S/PDIF In/Out
Support for CD In
65% for Movie, especially for the action movie which contain a lot of boom scene. 
25% for Music, MP3 320kbps song, mostly K-Pop song.
10% Game, Dota 2 and some other game like Resident Evil 5/6.
1) Asus Xonar DX
2) CREATIVE SOUND BLASTER X-FI XTREME AUDIO PCI SOUND CARD (SB0790)
2) Creative Audigy2 ZS
Don't know which one to choose  But the way, is the difference will be large with these sound cards for my Edifier C3 or just slightly improve?

Actually is digital to analog.....since your PC is digital,so u need to convert to analog for u to listen....

I think forumer mrsu do carry them....

Me only carry DIY O2.....

hi FunnyNinja, actually i have a blog that stated the differences after I got a RM150 DAC for my Edifier C3. I even included recordings for reference. Those are just poor recordings using my phone and u will hear more differences close up. here is the link http://casualnfunentertainment.blogspot.co...e-more-fun.html

and bout the improvement part, u will first need to understand what is DAC, amplifier and speaker. In these 3, DAC is at the first of the chain, then amplifier then speaker. So changes u make at the last of the chain seem to be more significant than at the first of the chain. That's why more people tend to be picky and upgrading speaker more than amplifier or DAC. But that does not mean DAC is totally not important at all. The purpose of DAC is to convert ur digital signal back to analog signal as accurate as it's been recorded. The staging effect, the actual sound of bass and treble, the dynamic expression of the singer and separation of all these sound. All these are what DAC mean to do. So upgrading from onboard to RM10k or 100k DAC is to improve these aspects.

well, if u still gt ur setup wrong, sometimes those spend less than u may seem to be better. mix and match is very important XD

nope, u get it wrong

DAC/cd player => convert digital signal back to analog as accurate as possible, seem not very important but it's actually very important, when u hear the different prices of DAC then u will notice it
amplifier => to amplify the sound, though seem to be easy to say but it involve a whole lot of process by how to introduce as less noise as possible when amplifying the sound, to retain as original as possible to signal without lost of details and so on
headphone/speaker => to reproduce the signal in high, mid, low as accurate as possible

actually DAC chip is available in a lot of electronic stuffs like DVD, CD player, sound card and so on. tat's why expensive cd/dvd player can give better sound quality is also due to the differences in the DAC chip and the designed circuit layout. i always thought that the external DAC should not be called DAC only as it seem to be confusing XD

so if ur source (DAC) signal is already not so good, no matter how expensive are the amplifier or speaker, it still only work with the degraded signal that the DAC produced and unable to produce the sound as it should. my ideal ratio might be 30% DAC, 30% amp, 30% speaker, 10% accessories.

Decide whether you are going for portable or desktop, AD900x don't require powerful amplifier, well most of AT's doesn't require a powerful amp.
A single E17 can accomplish the job in my opinion.
If around RM500, budgeted wise i will still recommend Fiio E17
I always have a fond on Asus series, don't ask me why =)

Not really, if you have higher end/sensitive headphone, crappy source will be revealed so much at those headphones you are using.
So you need to balance amplifier and headphone for higher end game, sometimes DAC/AMP might cost even more expensive than the headphone, if you are going for full potential sound quality.

JDS Labs is always a good brand, why not you try out Centrance, currently hottest in US market for their high quality packet USB DAC/AMP combo.

wow u totally got it wrong there, as i said DAC chips is in many electronic gadget. and ur pc motherboard onboard audio have the worst type of DAC chip u can imagine. how can ur PC digital signal send to amp if it don't have a DAC chip at all @@

think of the DAC/amp like the drivetrain of your car.  you can have the most powerful engine (source) and the stickiest tyres (speakers / headphones) on track but without a proper drivetrain to transfer the power from the engine to the tyres, you will not be going any where fast 

by the way, there are plenty of reasonably good DAC/amp combo at reasonable price, do checkout the multiple award winner Audinst HUD-MX1 as well 

the money of a dac is actually go into the component used and also the design. that is why most people will ask you to try it for yourself to see if the difference is big enough for you to pay that kind of price or not and also if you listen to a 10k dac with a lower end headphone it will not sound any difference with the 1k dac because your headphone will be a bottle neck

DAC and Amps are not money suckers lol. But if your skeptic than fine

if you said pc signal = 100% clean whats the use? its only digital data nothing more, if you convert digital data into analog you think there's not going to be any loss if you use cheap components?

When comparing Fiio E10 blind tested with 10 of my friends each of them could distinguish between PC on board and the fiio e10. Sure better headphone is good, but some people don't want change their headphone and want to get a little extra from their headphone. That's what DAC's and AMP's are for. Comparing my ODAC and Fiio E10 obvious difference in clarity.

if you dont want spend money on it fine...one man's junk is another man's treasure what may seem like money sucker to you is same value to them as your treasured stuff that people may call waste of money also.

the are lots of dac/amp combo you can buy with 1k and so far i see that i can spend 1k on is on the schiit modi and magni search about them trust me is worth a look

ODAC definitely beats E10 in DAC section. So much clearer. But if you want an all in one solution E10 is really great. I prefer if over a lot of DAC/AMP in its price range and higher.

you cant bypass speaker amp unless you mess with the circuitry inside. so you'd usually only use DAC for speakers which im doing now.

PC>ODAC>Splitter> A.Little Dot Amp >AD900x
                              B.Swans M50w

The Audinst HUD-MX1 is a combo with separate RCA (line out) for powered speakers 

The Audinst HUD-MX1 is a combo with separate RCA (line out) for powered speakers 



If you are considering the Schiit M&M stack, then you should consider the iFi iUSB/iDAC/iCAN trilogy 

looking for something fun and not neutral

imo power conditioning is to reduce noise and also prevent dirty power causing inteference

fun and not neutral,maybe u can try some japanese DAC XD my friend seem to have a thing for japanese DAC XD he bought the fostex hp-a3 and hp-a8. but i still don't have the chance to try them out yet XD

luckily my DAC don't need usb power conditioning stuffs as it run off LiFePO4 battery power ^^ battery is the best and most stable power source XD although it may not as good as the high end model from Red Wine Audio that also run off battery, but its sufficient for its price tag ^^
actually higher end DAC will be more easy to pick up computer noise. the only way to solve this is to do kernel streaming

the first one did not receive lots of good review

the second one is very expensive i would go for higher end schiit dac with that price of that combo beside the looks......hmmmm

thank you noobandroid

not enough power, but it will never work, you will still need a proper power amp to drive a normal passive speakers.

yup you are correct