I thought that in order to have a coaxial/optical output (if the USB port wasn't used for audio) a decent sound card would be needed and this could be connected to a DAC for eg Beresford DACs maybe. I have only used my USB lead into the DAC and it seemed quite good for me....
If you already have an expensive DAC, then a digital output from your PC is all you are going to be concerned with. Your motherboard may provide one anyway. I do know that there is a big difference between onboard analogue sound (although it has improved enormously in past years) and a good audio interface. I don't know if the same thing applies to digital sound (it's digital, isn't it?).
I see no point in unplugging your USB connection and replacing it with a board/coax-or-optical. You are just taking a different route to do the same thing.
What is a DAC, anyway? it is
half a sound card. Why? because it only does output: a sound card will have a ADC too and handle input.
DAC manufacturers are winning a marketing war. It is becoming assumed to be a
necessary component on the hifi shelf. That is not to say that non-one should buy one: far from it, a good DAC may be exactly what many people need!
This is my take...
Once upon a time there was the sound card. It fitted inside your machine, in an expansion slot, and its output quality was not what anyone would call hifi*. Companies manufactured higher-end offerings, and the difference in quality was stunning. Then motherboard manufacturers started to include most of the basics (LAN, graphics, sound...) on the motherboard itself, and there was no need for those add-in boards. Still, for both audio and graphics, many preferred, and still do, to use add-in cards rather than the onboard facilities.
At some time in this history, other methods of connecting a "sound board" to a PC came into existence and then achieved reliability. Thus, sound boards became split into "internal" and "external". External "soundcards" were/are mostly USB, with some higher-end (or Mac?) equipment being Firewire.
As the technology moved on, so did the jargon, and I don't believe we should talk about
sound cards any longer: we should talk about
audio interfaces! There are very few instances in which I approve of replacing two syllables with seven, but this
is one. Very often they are not actually cards anyway, and it opens the way to include the very, very wide range of capability and connectivity (not to mention price) that is available.
Here: take a look at
some (over 200) audio interfaces, ranging in price from a few GBP to several thousand. I doubt if you'll find any DACs here, but only because studios usually need input before they need to consider output. A DAC is still an
audio interface.
The point --- (at this point, at least
) is: why would you need an
audio interface to connnect to your
audio interface? Stick with the USB, because that is how many "sound cards" are gong to be connected anyway. Either spend money on a good audio interface, or spend money on a good audio interface
.
Reasons for buying a DAC anyway:
--- you use it to convert digital output from several devices, because it is better than any of them. Just add the PC to the collection.
--- you like acquiring different bits of hifi/computer kit, connecting it up in different ways, making comparisons, perhaps finding different configurations that are best for specific tasks.
--- you mostly want the highest quality output you can afford from your PC, but occasionally need more-than-half-decent input too (this is an argument for buying the sound cards anyway
)
--- probably more
But remember, it is all
audio interface of one sort or another: only spend money that you don't
need to if you
want to!
By the way... my quest is for a high
ish-end DAC/
ADC. I want input too, but I don't need it sprouting either home-theatre multi-channels
or studio mic/instrument/multichannel i/o.
*in fact, it was so bad that the words "Sound Blaster" still make some of us cringe.
),but,depending on the price you are willing to spend there are more expensive routes .There are people who run a Mac (Mac mini) for music duties rather using a PC.
