New
#1
Viability of a USB DAC?
Hey guys, any audiophiles in here that can help me out? Anyway, for as long as I can remember i've been dissatisfied with the audio that comes out of my computer(s). (PC and laptop) This doesn't change. I've plugged in anything from cheap apple earbuds to C$400 Bose QuietComfort noise cancelling ones, and everything just sounds muffled and crap. I've invested in this speaker system for my battlestation http://www.razerzone.com/ca-en/store...azer-leviathan , and so with it I want to "solve" this issue of crappy audio. I mainly notice it when listening to music, tracks with throaty bass coming from google music or soundcloud on an iPhone 6s+ sound great, but when I use my PC the bass is almost nonexistent with the same speakers/headphones. After doing a little research, it seems its just because onboard sound cards are simply not that good. One of the solutions I came across was a USB DAC (Digital to analogue converter). The DAC is what is built into your soundcard and converts the digital signal into an analogue signal for your headphones/speakers/whatever. Apparently the built in ones suck, and one of the solutions is an USB one. A cheaper one recommended was this: AudioQuest - Dragonfly V1.2 USB DAC + AudioQuest DragonTail USB 2.0 Extender: Amazon.ca: Electronics which is still pretty expensive so I obviously want to make sure its worth it before buying.
For the audiophiles - when listening to music/gaming through either
a) The speaker system linked above
or
b) A pair of reasonably nice headphones/earbuds
will I notice a substantial difference between the USB DAC and my onboard sound? Is it worth it? What other solutions are out there that I might consider? For reference, current specs are
Desktop:
Gigabyte Z97M-DS3H Mobo
i5-4690k
8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 @ 1600MHz (soon to be upgraded to 24GB)
Samsung 850 EVO 120gb ssd +1x WD BLACK 500gb and 1x WD BLUE 1TB 7200rpm drives
Nvidia GTX 970 GPU
Laptop
Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series (Early 2015)
i7-5500u
16GB DDR3L
250GB 850 evo SSD
Radeon R7-M270 graphics.
Any help is appreciated :)