DAC or External Sound Card

pforeman · 4th December 2011, 01:50 PM

When converting a laptop into a music server, for stereo listening only,
is a sound card now basically a DAC?
Which is the best sound: comprabably cost DAC or sound card
Or am I confused?
Thanks,
Paul

pcb121055 · 5th December 2011, 05:31 PM

Confused is normal, I'm not too much farther along than you are but... I do know that soundcards have integral DACs. There are likely instances where that integral DAC is pretty good. I am hooked up right now directly from my onboard sound to my stereo preamp and it sounds pretty good (to my ears). The opportunity (and where I am headed) is to use an external DAC 1) to bring the critical processes out of the computer's enclosure to a friendlier environment and 2) to allow the use of a better DAC than is included on your soundcard. I have found choosing a DAC tough because there are lots of them. Good luck.

budgophile · 11th December 2011, 05:16 AM

Hi, I have a similar question, I think... Newb to this site, but not to Analog. I'm looking to possibly kill two birds with one stone, but I was wondering if it's possible and/or worth it to get a quality pci or pci-express card (with DAC capabilities on 5ch, if possible) and put it in an external enclosure. Is that possible? I searched a bit, but all I got was pci cards with usb outputs.

What I'm running now is a male to male plug out of my laptop into a Nakamichi Compact Receiver1, then running the preamp output of that into a Rotel RX-1050, which is powering a pair of Ariston Image speakers. What I would like to do is perhaps incorporate some sort of 5.1 card with 24/96 capability in the mix, running that out to a Carver AV-405 5ch amp.
I had also looked at the Creative X/fi external sound card, which would probably be the cheapest way out, but I like to over-complicate anything if I can.

Thanks for any help in advance, and my sincerest apologies if this is in the wrong forum or committing any forum faux pas.

Long time Lurker, 1st time poster, Jon

4th December 2011, 01:50 PM	#1
pforeman diyAudio Member Join Date: Aug 2008	DAC or External Sound Card When converting a laptop into a music server, for stereo listening only, is a sound card now basically a DAC? Which is the best sound: comprabably cost DAC or sound card Or am I confused? Thanks, Paul

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5th December 2011, 05:31 PM	#2
pcb121055 diyAudio Member Join Date: Sep 2008	Confused is normal, I'm not too much farther along than you are but... I do know that soundcards have integral DACs. There are likely instances where that integral DAC is pretty good. I am hooked up right now directly from my onboard sound to my stereo preamp and it sounds pretty good (to my ears). The opportunity (and where I am headed) is to use an external DAC 1) to bring the critical processes out of the computer's enclosure to a friendlier environment and 2) to allow the use of a better DAC than is included on your soundcard. I have found choosing a DAC tough because there are lots of them. Good luck.

11th December 2011, 05:16 AM	#3
budgophile diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2009	Hi, I have a similar question, I think... Newb to this site, but not to Analog. I'm looking to possibly kill two birds with one stone, but I was wondering if it's possible and/or worth it to get a quality pci or pci-express card (with DAC capabilities on 5ch, if possible) and put it in an external enclosure. Is that possible? I searched a bit, but all I got was pci cards with usb outputs. What I'm running now is a male to male plug out of my laptop into a Nakamichi Compact Receiver1, then running the preamp output of that into a Rotel RX-1050, which is powering a pair of Ariston Image speakers. What I would like to do is perhaps incorporate some sort of 5.1 card with 24/96 capability in the mix, running that out to a Carver AV-405 5ch amp. I had also looked at the Creative X/fi external sound card, which would probably be the cheapest way out, but I like to over-complicate anything if I can. Thanks for any help in advance, and my sincerest apologies if this is in the wrong forum or committing any forum faux pas. Long time Lurker, 1st time poster, Jon

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