USB DAC's. someone school me on this

[loninappleton]

I find it pretty hard to understand why a USB DAC costs $100
or more-- usually a lot more.
I have a Yamaha RP U100 receiver with USB hookup (though I don't know if I can provide all the chip info just from the users guide) that was $80 on closeout for the while device.

The goal is to get some music from streaming audio/video esp. HD radio provided as a stream is going to be the primary use plus some collected audio files.

My usual forum on here is for full range speakers so I'm ignorant about the ins and outs of connecting anything but something like a Sonic Impact on an 1/8 in. jack. .. or the Yamaha which is on another setup.

Also I am not envisioning any upgrade past AC'7 sound from my board.

So what is the right approach to this?

[Jambo]

I find it pretty hard to understand why a USB DAC costs $100 or more-- usually a lot more. I have a Yamaha RP U100 receiver with USB hookup (though I don't know if I can provide all the chip info just from the users guide) that was $80 on closeout for the while device.

If you are comparing commercial products to DIY kits, economy of scale is the main reason for the price difference.

[loninappleton]

Hi.

Not much traffic on this thread but I was more interested in just exactly how
the USB device works with the motherboard audio. From talk on here, the USB DAC is a commercial product-- but fairly high priced.

As an example: If I have the onboard sound and was using a Sonic Impact T Amp where is the place of the USB DAC in the chain of devices? Does it belong there at all?

And since it is a digital to analog converter, is volume normalization in
hardware possible? Volume normalization is sometimes called "night mode."

[alleycat]

The USB DAC is used to bypass your onboard audio to get better quality. If you are happy with your onboard audio, then you don't need a USB DAC - just hook up the line out from your onboard audio directly to your amp.

[loninappleton]

Originally posted by alleycat
The USB DAC is used to bypass your onboard audio to get better quality. If you are happy with your onboard audio, then you don't need a USB DAC - just hook up the line out from your onboard audio directly to your amp.

Cool that answers my query as to it's necessity. I'm in the process of trying to figure a good minimal solution to a 'shop system' where I'd have
access via streaming audio to some tunes and as a backup system.

Does anyone in this forum know of a very inexpensive receiver that has
an aux jack?

BTW, I went over to the resale store which has older gear but it is priced for
collectors and people with a high level of nostalgia.

No, what I had in mind was a $40 cheapie which also had an aux jack.

Looking around the only close thing I saw was at Best Buy from Sony.
It looked nice but cost $100.

To give an idea of the current shop setup, I have no audio from the
computer board but I hacked an old Sharp boom box which puts out 3 watts of audio into some designs available here in the Full range forum.

These large cabinets with inexpensive drivers (closeouts from Pioneer
or Panasonic which were given away at the end for 50 cents each)
give adequate volume and reasonable soundstage at about 1/4 volume.

Since I have had good luck hacking the boombox, I figured some small
under $50 combo receiver and cd player with an aux jack would suffice.