Another Recommendation Thread - DAC?

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories DACs
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Current Desk System: PC (usb)> Behringer UMC22 (aux)> Koss PortaPro w/ Yaxi Pads | Nobsound NS-01g (speaker wire)> JBL Control Ones
I also have a XLR microphone running to the UMC22

Usages: Gaming and Listening to music
Issues: Distortion of low-end when above noon on volume knob
Location: United Kingdom

Wanting a more serious, low budget (£60-£100) DAC/AMP, Not sure what to do about the microphone. Not against an upgrade path such as buying a seperate headphone amp now, using the DAC fuctionality of the UMC22 to hopefully avoid the distortion and buying a better DAC later.

Thanks in advance.

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Leave the mic plugged into the UMC22. There are options to have an XLR mic and headphone DAC/amp in one unit (Yamaha AG03 for example), would not give you much of an upgrade on the Amp though.

You could go for a DAC/Amp combo unit (Fiio K5 Pro gets recommended on here a lot), not sure how price is looking in the UK.

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Fiio Amplifiers are pretty expensive and rare in the uk, specifically the K5 Pro is missing from almost all shops. The only official distributor apart from amazon listings: http://www.ea-audio.co.uk/fiio_headphone_amps.html And they have a very small variety, will look at some similar DAC/AMP combos.

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Options available in the uk
SMSL SD793-II - £57 / $72
FX Audio DAC-X6 - £60 / $75
SMSL M3 - £75 / $95
FiiO K3 - £85 / $115

Hard to pick one.

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Have you considered the ifi Zen DAC ? Is that unavailable in the UK or out of your price range?

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Sorry for the late reply, the ifi Zen DAC is available but at a hefty price, £129.00 / $164

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Ah yikes. That would have been my recommendation but not at that price. Hope you find what you’re looking for!

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Alright, I went with none of the mentioned options, The Fiio E10K. Mainly due to availability. neither JDS labs or Schiiit had any in stock and a lot of other options seemed much more expensive in the UK than what they should of been or had month long delivery times.

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Quite happy so far, definately feels more alive even without bass boost which more than likely means that my old dac was extremely sterile or bright, not sure if it’s £50 worth of improvement but I don’t think i’ll be returning it.