Entry level DAC/AMP combo suggestion

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories DACs
1

Hi,

Before I begin I have to point out that English is not my native language and I am very new to the whole audiophile thing. So please forgive me if I said anything stupid.

Things I currently use for PC:

SHP9500 headset
Asus xonar D2 sound card
a small no brand type-c usb dac from a local DIY seller. It uses ALC 5686 chip.

The D2 is old but the headphone output still quite ok. The sound is clean and better than mainboard sound chip. That type-c usb dac was originally for my cellphone. It’s just about 20 USD or less. I tested it with PC and found it’s quite good with SHP9500. The sound is louder and more vivid or exciting than D2.(sorry, don’t know how to use the right word to describe).

The problem is it’s not very stable. Although there’s no background noise if I didn’t play anything. But sometimes there’s some hiss or delay when I change the song or doing something else with other program. It’s not always, but noticeable when it happens. On the other hand, the xonar D2 doesn’t have this issue.

So I am thinking maybe I should get a DAC/AMP combo and just use D2 as S/PDIF output source. Right now I am thinking some possible choices.

FX-Audio DAC X6 or the new MKII model
SMSL M3

I know any of the above will sound better than the onboard chip. But will it be better than xonar D2’s analog output?

According to asus, D2 uses Burr-Brown PCM1796 *4 as D-A converter. DAC-X6 uses CS4398. The DAC-X6 MKII uses ES9018K2M. the SMSL M3 also uses CS4398.

I know it’s not fair to just use these spec to compare. But can I get a general idea about how much improvement I will get if I add an entry level DAC to my system? Should I worry about hiss or background noise in DAC of this price range?

And if it’s not much improvement, what DAC/AMP combo should I get? You can tell my budget is kind small by the choices I list above. So maybe under 100 USD? What else should I consider?

Thank you for reading my question. Any suggestion will be appreciated.

2

thanks for the information. what is your budget? the maximum you’re willing to spend?

3

I hope it’s under 100 USD.

4

well…if you can boost it a wee bit, it wouuld be worth the extra time to save for the iFi Zen DAC that’s about $130.

3 Likes
5

thank you for your suggestion.
the ZEN DAC looks like a very nice equipment. but it doesn’t seems to have fiber optic input. as i mentioned in my post, the usb input is unstable in my system sometimes. maybe it’s my PC or the little type-c usb dac’s problem, i am not sure.

so i want to use xonar d2 -->s/pdif–>DAC/AMP–>headset
try to reduce the interference( not sure if i use the right word here)

please correct me if i think it wrong.

6

You are correct the Zen does NOT have a spdif inputs. The DAC-X6 mk ii is probably a strong option. The issue with the mk i was a high output impedance that would make low impedance headphones (like your shp9500) extra boomy and bloated in the bass. If the mkii corrected this I would say grab it. It’s a good fit for your situation. Unfortunately I cannot get a straight answer as to it it got corrected.

7

Thank you for your suggestion.
Yes, I also found the problem you mentioned with DAC-X6 headphone amp in some reviews. According to the spec i found on web, the MKII use TPA6120 OPA275 just like the MKI model. I guess it’s the same output, right? I also found that some user report that MKII model has bigger background noise and volume control problem. So this just make me hesitate…