Hello,
I need a small portable DAC to connect headphones to my Windows laptop.
I want an ASIO-compliant device with a classic USB-A port.
Anything to recommend?
Thank you.
I need a small portable DAC to connect headphones to my Windows laptop.
I want an ASIO-compliant device with a classic USB-A port.
Anything to recommend?
Thank you.
It isn't usually that dacs are ASIO compliant. Its more a question of whether a dac comes with ASIO drivers for Windows. A significant part of what ASIO does is to bypass Window Sound Engine processing. That is to say, ASIO can maybe avoid some unwanted real-time resampling of the audio stream.
The above having been said, if a dac is USB bus powered, then its already got a lot going against it. Power quality is going to be rather noisy for a quality dac. If power quality is poor enough then it may not matter if Windows Sound Engine is bypassed or not. Likely won't be able to hear the difference.
OTOH, if the purpose of ASIO is to allow support for native DSD, then that might be another matter. Could be some very simple USB DAC/ADC modules for recording will come with WASAPI Exclusive Mode, and or ASIO drivers.
The above having been said, if a dac is USB bus powered, then its already got a lot going against it. Power quality is going to be rather noisy for a quality dac. If power quality is poor enough then it may not matter if Windows Sound Engine is bypassed or not. Likely won't be able to hear the difference.
OTOH, if the purpose of ASIO is to allow support for native DSD, then that might be another matter. Could be some very simple USB DAC/ADC modules for recording will come with WASAPI Exclusive Mode, and or ASIO drivers.