DAC to connect my laptop / streamer laptop to the Amplifier

[rwnano]

Whats a good way to connect my laptop via USB to the audio analog input of the Amplifier?

Some device possibly a DAC ? Is there a model with includes the ability to take inputs from bluetooth, so that I may enable blutooth connectivity to my amp, via the same DAC device?

Availability of the same in India or the US?

thanks a tonne.

 

[Sugar]

Whats a good way to connect my laptop via USB to the audio analog input of the Amplifier?

Some device possibly a DAC ? Is there a model with includes the ability to take inputs from bluetooth, so that I may enable blutooth connectivity to my amp, via the same DAC device?

Availability of the same in India or the US?

thanks a tonne.

Hi,
You have the following options:
Worst SQ - connect the earphone output of the laptop into the analog input of the amp
Not so good SQ - connect your laptop via Bluetooth to the amp - assuming your amp is Bluetooth capable
Good / Great SQ - connect the laptop via USB to a good quality DAC (assuming your amp does not have an onboard DAC) and then the analog output of the DAC into the analog input of the amp
Great / Super Great SQ - Do the above after downloading a software like Audirvana on your laptop

Also the quality of the music being streamed matters. Free Spotify will be terrible and something like Tidal will be amazing.

Best of Luck!

 

[Subbu68]

Hi,
You have the following options:
Worst SQ - connect the earphone output of the laptop into the analog input of the amp
Not so good SQ - connect your laptop via Bluetooth to the amp - assuming your amp is Bluetooth capable
Good / Great SQ - connect the laptop via USB to a good quality DAC (assuming your amp does not have an onboard DAC) and then the analog output of the DAC into the analog input of the amp
Great / Super Great SQ - Do the above after downloading a software like Audirvana on your laptop

Also the quality of the music being streamed matters. Free Spotify will be terrible and something like Tidal will be amazing.

Best of Luck!

+ 1

I use a iFi Nano iDSD from 2016 or so for this duty

 

[abhinavsri01]

Hi

You can use a DAC, which takes USB input to connect your Laptop to the Amplifier.

You can go for desktop DACs such as iFi Zen Air DAC or Topping E30/E50, or You can also look for portable DAC like Shanling UA1 Pro.

For Bluetooth, you can use a simple Bluetooth adapter. I used a Logitech (not sure if it's still available)

Hope this helps.

 

[rwnano]

Hi,
You have the following options:
Worst SQ - connect the earphone output of the laptop into the analog input of the amp
Not so good SQ - connect your laptop via Bluetooth to the amp - assuming your amp is Bluetooth capable
Good / Great SQ - connect the laptop via USB to a good quality DAC (assuming your amp does not have an onboard DAC) and then the analog output of the DAC into the analog input of the amp
Great / Super Great SQ - Do the above after downloading a software like Audirvana on your laptop

Also the quality of the music being streamed matters. Free Spotify will be terrible and something like Tidal will be amazing.

Best of Luck!

Yes, so I have been using the Worst of the Worst SQ -- audio output of the laptop to the Amplifier along with Spotify / Youtube . I have some FLAC files as well.

DAC chahiye mujhe, preferably one that also enables blutooth input into the Chain.....

 

[rwnano]

Hi,
You have the following options:
Worst SQ - connect the earphone output of the laptop into the analog input of the amp
Not so good SQ - connect your laptop via Bluetooth to the amp - assuming your amp is Bluetooth capable
Good / Great SQ - connect the laptop via USB to a good quality DAC (assuming your amp does not have an onboard DAC) and then the analog output of the DAC into the analog input of the amp
Great / Super Great SQ - Do the above after downloading a software like Audirvana on your laptop

Also the quality of the music being streamed matters. Free Spotify will be terrible and something like Tidal will be amazing.

Best of Luck!

Amp is this Harman Kardon AVR 240 from circa 2005. It likely has a DAC onboard. However....i find that my smartphone plays better quality music than my laptop output 3.5 analog. thus the question

 

[ssf]

I use the iFi Zen Dac but this does not have wifi.

https://www.headphonezone.in/collections/desktop-amps-dacs

 

[Sugar]

Amp is this Harman Kardon AVR 240 from circa 2005. It likely has a DAC onboard. However....i find that my smartphone plays better quality music than my laptop output 3.5 analog. thus the question

Hi - I would still suggest investing in a good DAC and going the USB route. The DAC can continue to be used even when you upgrade your AVR / Laptop or invest in a streamer.
Also as a thumb rule (though there are many exceptions), a good DAC will always give superior SQ as compared to an onboard DAC. There are many technical and cost reasons for this.
Cheers

 

[rwnano]

I use the iFi Zen Dac but this does not have wifi.

https://www.headphonezone.in/collections/desktop-amps-dacs

Bluetooth in put into the DAC would also be a great feature to have..

 

[rwnano]

Hi - I would still suggest investing in a good DAC and going the USB route. The DAC can continue to be used even when you upgrade your AVR / Laptop or invest in a streamer.
Also as a thumb rule (though there are many exceptions), a good DAC will always give superior SQ as compared to an onboard DAC. There are many technical and cost reasons for this.
Cheers

What do you think about the 900 INR Apple DAC? It's the USB to 3.5 mm jack convertor.

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/wpx134

 

[Sugar]

Not sure what you mean by Apple DAC but the USB output is still in digital format and so needs to go into a DAC. Whereas the earphone jack produces an analog signal processed by the onboard DAC in the computer which is generally poor quality and suffers from a lot of noise and optimisation that happens in the computer.
Get an external DAC for purity of processing.

 

[[email protected]]

Whats a good way to connect my laptop via USB to the audio analog input of the Amplifier?

Some device possibly a DAC ? Is there a model with includes the ability to take inputs from bluetooth, so that I may enable blutooth connectivity to my amp, via the same DAC device?

Availability of the same in India or the US?

thanks a tonne.

If you get into the technical glitches then it would be clearer to take the decision. Like what's the quality of your input and how best you want. Also every laptop / phone has built in DAC and Amps. But purpose of audiophile might be to avoid those low grade chips. Therefore with that as an objective you may plan your connections. some of the answers I was reading was confusing. I felt you are trying to focus how the binary digital data will be converted into analogue data. If the data passes through two unsynchronized DAC then the output might not be what ears were looking for. Therefore, its important to avoid the motherboard. USB C of laptop i think will be closest to that. It can support (based upon data transfer capabilities) 24bitx96kHz. These are applicable for your HDD. But for streaming I dont have much idea about how it will be managed. Bluetooth hasnt matured so far.

 

[rwnano]

Not sure what you mean by Apple DAC but the USB output is still in digital format and so needs to go into a DAC. Whereas the earphone jack produces an analog signal processed by the onboard DAC in the computer which is generally poor quality and suffers from a lot of noise and optimisation that happens in the computer.
Get an external DAC for purity of processing.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.apple.com/in/shop/product/MU7E2ZM/A/usb-c-to-35mm-headphone-jack-adapter&ved=2ahUKEwi3lfC1w__5AhU0UnwKHeAoCZsQFnoECBMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2zF92O4WDViwqguuaQm-WU

 

[rwnano]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.apple.com/in/shop/product/MU7E2ZM/A/usb-c-to-35mm-headphone-jack-adapter&ved=2ahUKEwi3lfC1w__5AhU0UnwKHeAoCZsQFnoECBMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2zF92O4WDViwqguuaQm-WU

This is the Apple DAC

 

[[email protected]]

What do you think about the 900 INR Apple DAC? It's the USB to 3.5 mm jack convertor.

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/wpx134

Apple DAC (900/- connector) isnt of any use other than as an adaptor. but if you are using it then better not to connect a DAP again in the network. someone need to be careful about Apple music. Because, my opinion, those are too bright once its played.

 

[rwnano]

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/5gvl14

What about the LG V 20 smartphone Quad DAC? It's reviewed as being better than the desktop schiit

 

[Sugar]

This is the Apple DAC

This is not a DAC. This is just an adaptor allowing you to use a earphone plug in the USB C port of your Mac. You will still be getting an analog signal processed by the onboard DAC of the Mac which will not be of the best quality.

 

[ssf]

Bluetooth in put into the DAC would also be a great feature to have..

There are quite a few DAC's with bluetooth in headphonezone.in I don't miss bluetooth as both Spotify and Tidal can be controlled via the apps on phone. I have Tidal via Roon on my PC and the Roon client software on the phone lets me do all the things that I can do while sitting on the computer.

 

[JrM1]

Whats a good way to connect my laptop via USB to the audio analog input of the Amplifier?

Some device possibly a DAC ? Is there a model with includes the ability to take inputs from bluetooth, so that I may enable blutooth connectivity to my amp, via the same DAC device?

Availability of the same in India or the US?

thanks a tonne.

Just a thought, why don't you go for FiiO BTR5 or any similar compact Headphone DAC+AMP? You can connect both via USB or Bluetooth. And take a 3.5 mm from it to your Amp. The downside, you need to recharge it every 5-6 hours if run through Bluetooth. Also, it's not very powerful but then again if you are going to use an AMP you really don't care about that.

Another better option I think will be to go for an RPI4 streamer for 5k or so if you have a DAC inbuilt into your AMP or else Allo BOSS2 for 11k if you need a DAC. Connect it to your AMP and control the playback from your Laptop through WIFI. And I think this will give you a better sound quality.

 

[MaSh]

Whats a good way to connect my laptop via USB to the audio analog input of the Amplifier?

Some device possibly a DAC ? Is there a model with includes the ability to take inputs from bluetooth, so that I may enable blutooth connectivity to my amp, via the same DAC device?

Availability of the same in India or the US?

thanks a tonne.

Yes you'll need a dac to connect to the usb port on your computer. Analog out from dac to your amplifier.

Fiio btr5 should be your first stop. It's very good over bluetooth and even better via USB.

MaSh