new here looking for my first dac

[Deicide]

i'm looking for a dac for my headphones, and i know that amp will be overkill for them. so i decided to buy a cheap DAC that will improve the sound and my enjoyment of my music. so far i've found these dac's but dident find any review about the sound and built quality. Hifimediy Sabre USB DAC, asus xonar dgx, SMSL SD-1955, SMSL SD-793II. if there is a better option can you tell me about it? also my headphones are srh840.

[Cornelis Spronk]

Go for the Hifimediy DAC. It is a major breakthrough for an inexpensive DAC.

For its price, no one has reported a better option. If a better option comes along, it will not be noticeably better.

Anyway, you will have enough change in you pocket to go for the better option if one comes along.

Its small size for me is a big plus when it comes to using it with my laptop.

I have opened it up. Its built quality as good as anything else.

[Deicide]

thanks for your replay, but i already bought xonar dgx.

[qusp]

just for your information, you always need a headphone amp, you should not drive your headphones directly from a dac output, some may make sound like this, but you will be overloading the dac. some IV (part of some dacs) stages will also drive headphones fairly well, but they are rarely buffered and will sometimes have higher impedance output than is desirable for driving low impedance headphones.

if your headphones are very low impedance and you think this makes them easy to drive....think again....

[Deicide]

i'm kind of a newb, how dose DAC\AMP really work?, and how they make the sound quality higher\better?

[qusp]

sorry I dont have the time for such a wide ranging question and at the level I would have to explain it at, that sort of info is replicated all over the internet and would be found with a google search.

in basic terms

DAC = Digital to Analogue Convertor does just that, takes the digital stream and turns it into an analogue waveform like our ears can hear

an amp amplifies the voltage and current put out by the dac and hopefully provides a low noise floor and low output impedance to allow good headphone drive for most headphones

the DAC by itself will have fairly low output voltage and fairly low output current, but the sonar has an integrated amp of sorts

search this forum if you want more info than that.

I wouldnt add an amp to that sonar though, it uses an integrated DSP/Dac/Amp all on the one chip...

it also seems to champion the smiley-face EQ for gaming, so that pretty much rules out accurate sound for audio, although funnily they seem to claim it enhances it...

no wonder our music sounds like it does today

sure there are different objectives with gaming, but wow what a load of ... stuff... on the webpage for the product, they seem to claim 5.1 sound from stereo headphones... tricky...

[ODougbo]

qusp, thanks for the overview.

I'd like to dive in, if I could find something that doesn't cost a King's Ransom.

Dac Preamplifier - Integrated Amplifiers

[Deicide]

Originally Posted by qusp

sorry I dont have the time for such a wide ranging question and at the level I would have to explain it at, that sort of info is replicated all over the internet and would be found with a google search.

in basic terms

DAC = Digital to Analogue Convertor does just that, takes the digital stream and turns it into an analogue waveform like our ears can hear

an amp amplifies the voltage and current put out by the dac and hopefully provides a low noise floor and low output impedance to allow good headphone drive for most headphones

the DAC by itself will have fairly low output voltage and fairly low output current, but the sonar has an integrated amp of sorts

search this forum if you want more info than that.

I wouldnt add an amp to that sonar though, it uses an integrated DSP/Dac/Amp all on the one chip...

it also seems to champion the smiley-face EQ for gaming, so that pretty much rules out accurate sound for audio, although funnily they seem to claim it enhances it...

no wonder our music sounds like it does today

sure there are different objectives with gaming, but wow what a load of ... stuff... on the webpage for the product, they seem to claim 5.1 sound from stereo headphones... tricky...

well for 40$ sound card i dont really care, also ty for ur post.

[ODougbo]

Anything here? A buy and find out? {can always send back}

Topping D20 Multi-Function DAC 310-332

[qusp]

Originally Posted by Deicide

well for 40$ sound card i dont really care, also ty for ur post.

$40 or not the webpage is full of hype and outright bullsh1t/lies
25000 x $40 is....?