DAC suggestions please.

[harshs23]

Hey, I plan on connecting my newly purchased audio engine A5+ speakers to my HP laptop. Could someone please suggest a suitable DAC or do I need any additional hardware? Thanks

 

[wishihadtubes]

What's the model of the HP laptop? The sound from the headphone output of a HP ProBook is pretty decent. You can do without a DAC initially. The sound is obviously better with a DAC.
As for suggestions for a DAC, that depends on your budget. Prices of DACs range from as little as $50 to more than $1,000.

 

[techboy]

Get a asus xonar usb dac, should cost a couple of thousand rupees.

 

[harshs23]

The laptop is a HP 6530b with audio Codec AD1981HD, will this be sufficient for good sound or is a DAC required? If yes could you please suggest something sub $150 available in India. Thanks

edit

link to codec specs - http://www.datasheet.in/datasheet-html/A/D/1/AD1981HD_AnalogDevices.pdf.html

 

[wishihadtubes]

For a start, you could install Foobar (which is free) or jriver (which costs $50) for music playback and use the headphone output to connect to your music system. To get the best out of this laptop, you will need a USB DAC. There should be some sub-$150 DACs available in India though you will have more options if you opt to buy online from a foreign vendor. I'd also consider adding at least 2GB RAM to the existing 2GB on your laptop for better audio playback.

 

[harshs23]

RAM has already been upgraded sometime back, are there any models you could suggest. Most I see online are for headphones, do those work with speakers too

 

[techboy]

Asus Xonar U7 Pocket sized Incredible Sound 7.1 USB Sound Card Xonar U7 | eBay

I have no idea how good or bad the seller is, I am just recommending the product. Haven't tried it personally but based on experience I feel you won't be able to better this in 7k

Thank You

Aakshey

 

[harshs23]

This again mentions for headphones, are all the DACs available advertised for headphones able to run speakers optimally? Thank you guys

 

[wishihadtubes]

The Asus Xonar U7 has both headphone and RCA outputs. Good reviews here and here.
Another DAC-cum-headphone amp (which again has headphone and RCA outputs) that you can consider is the Audinst HUD MX2 available on ebay.in.
The Audinst has got fairly good reviews on several sites and forums but it maxes out at 24/96 on the USB input, which means it won't play 24/176.4 or 24/192 files bit-perfect (that is if you have such files). Try googling about it.
For the record, I haven't heard either but both should get you off and running in the world of computer audio. And both can feed your Audioengines, as they're powered speakers.

 

[harshs23]

Thanks again for your time and suggestions, will this suffice -

Audinst HUD-Mini Headphone amplifier & HiFi USB Audio DAC

Will be playing mostly mp3's max at 320 or flacs.

 

[wishihadtubes]

HUD-Mini has only USB input, okay if you plan to use only with your comp and have no intention of hooking up other sources like a CD player/cable set-top box.
Again, the HUD-Mini has got several good reviews on the web. Google for reviews.

 

[harshs23]

Thank you, will read up some more before the plunge.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

That Audinst looks well worth a try. It's quite likely that it's included headphone amp is better than that of the laptop too.

A USB-only DAC is, of course, limited. I had no qualms in buying one (ODAC) for my computer: the computer is in one place, the hifi in another, I do a lot of PC-listening, do not realy need a DAC at all over at the hifi ...etc, etc. Think it through before buying a USB-only, but if you come to conclusions anything like mine, it is not a deal breaker.

 

[ajitelsy]

Hi,
If you like to you can use the Audioengine D1 Premium 24-bit DAC it will connect to your audioengine A5+ speakers also its quite good as I am using it myself with my Sony laptop the website is below.
Audioengine D1 Premium 24-bit DAC

 

[ranjeetrain]

Hey, I plan on connecting my newly purchased audio engine A5+ speakers to my HP laptop. Could someone please suggest a suitable DAC or do I need any additional hardware? Thanks

The laptop is a HP 6530b with audio Codec AD1981HD, will this be sufficient for good sound or is a DAC required? If yes could you please suggest something sub $150 available in India. Thanks

edit

link to codec specs - AD1981HD datasheet pdf, HD Audio SoundMAX Codec, Analog Devices

I have used several laptops from the HP ProBook series (my favorite laptop series for serious work). I still have a ProBook 6530b (superb screen for stress-free viewing over long hours). While these computers are superb work-horses, the sound from the headphone out of these laptops is not as serious. They are pretty decent, but don't really sound 'pristine'.

Good-bad are relative terms. In some ways the sound from these laptops is not bad, rather it is on the good side. But this is all relative. There is no way to quantify it. If I try to put it in perspective, most of the popular sub USD 100 DACs will beat the sound from headphone out of HP 6530b.

The only computer I have found to have a seriously good headphone out is HP Mini VT (a limited edition product with premium components all the way). The sound from the headphone out of this netbook is so clean, so pristine you can hear everything. It just loses out on the dynamics driving hard to drive headphones such as Sennheiser 6xx, Beyedynamics DT 7xx/8xx. I use this with an AKG 701 headphone and the sound from the combo is more resolving and pleasing than an HP 6530b + a DAC / amp + HD 650. The headphone out of this phone is way better than even all Apple computers / phones / iPods devices I have ever owned. That's significant considering Apple devices are supposed to have great headphone out sections.

IMO, if you want to stay with this laptop for long and use it for music, you should invest some 100 USD on a DAC.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

All computers contain a DAC that costs just a few cents, and I don't suppose their headphone amp (or is it all on one chip?) costs any more. This "built-in sound card" is the starting point that makes even a basic addityional card/interface worthwhile. That advantage has been eaten away over the years as the "built-in" has gone from completely awful to quite listenable.

I've never really used the headphones on my 10-yr-old Compaq laptop, but one of the reasons I bought it is that the speakers, for laptop speakers, are pretty good. Listenable comes with many levels. A small portable radio is listenable if it is all you have. Still, my laptop wouldn't stand a chance of beating external speakers.

 

[wishihadtubes]

I'm no tech head but I do know about GIGO - garbage in, garbage out. The headphone output on my HP ProBook drives all my on-ear headphones very well when playing back FLAC files via Foobar or jRiver with WASAPI. The sound from the in-built audio codec isn't d so great.
In fact, when I want to listen over headphones I prefer the sound from my laptop headphone output over that of my Denon amp (which admittedly is a little long in the tooth).
Just my two bits.

 

[shibashis]

Harsh,
Have you decided on the DAC yet? The JDS Labs ODAC and Hifimediy Sabre are really good choices for you and are available without sacrificing an arm and a leg too. I am not sure whether you can buy either of them in India at the moment. I have heard good things said about the Asus Xonar u3 and creative X-Fi Go, these offer pretty good upgrade over on-board laptop audio, both available locally if you wish to just go and pick one up.

 

[harshs23]

Hey, have checked out the U3 and U7 online, haven't decided yet, speakers are here and are banging. Thank you all once again.

 

[humblebee]

+1 to U7. U3 is under spec for Audioengine A5. Its like minimum.