those of you who are using a laptop for streaming music music

[wasabii]

Is it always difficult to find detailed specs for a laptop internal DAC?

I am not complaining about SQ, its quite good even considering I'm currently not even going out a USB to an outboard DAC. It blows away the same setup with the previous laptop I switched out, night and day difference. It has me thinking its packing something decent inside while utilizing the 3.5 headphone output.

Choice option 1 usually goes - USB to an outboard DAC to pre (or power amp if your DAC has a built in preamp).

 

[Matt888]

If you're streaming lossy music then your choice of DAC is the least of your worries. Even FLAC falls down against uncompressed WAV.

If you're streaming WAV then it would be time to look at your DAC.