I'm trying to find whether I need a dac or not, since I want to dive in to HiFi audio

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories DACs
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I recently bought the M570’s and it sounded really good IMO, but I want to also get an amp to go even further beyond. I was thinking of the JDS labs atom for the amp, but I can’t find whether I need a DAC or not.

My motherboard is the z390 Aorus Master for the onboard sound and I’ve disabled the onboard sound and have been using my internal sound card SoundBlasterX AE-5. With this, I’m not sure if I can just plug it in and it will work. If not what DAC should I get that’s under or at 150? And should I even be getting the JDS labs atom? Is there another amp/DAC combo that you recommend? Preferably I just want the amp.

Not sure if the genre that I listen to matters, but if it does I listen to mainly K-pop Like “How’s this?” from HyunA and K/DA POP/STARS

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So if you are tight on cash, I think you can run the atom from your motherboard audio out and be fine, but if you do want a quality improvement imo, you can get something like a topping d10

The atom is great imo, I would definitely recommend it for sure. A good amp will definitely enhance your experience, and a good dac will further that as well

An alternative to the transparency and more analytical atom is the monolith liquid spark amp, which is a bit warmer tilted with a bit smoother sound which I personally enjoy with the sendy driver types

If you want an all in one, the fiio k5 pro has great bang for the buck too

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So the dac is not needed? But should be included is what you’re saying?

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Yo another brother, or sister. I’m a fellow kpop connesour. Chungha, su mi etc lol

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I don’t think it’s needed, but I do think it would improve the sound if you got one. I would prioritize having an amp though.

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What about my sound card? Cause it sounds way better than my onboard sound, should I just be connecting the amp to that? or should I just sell it and connect it to my motherboard?

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If you have a nice soundcard you can use that then, just make sure you have a line out on it. The soundcard you have now seems pretty nice

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It says it has a line/mic and an optical out, does that work?

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I think in your software for the soundcard you would be able to select headphones or line out mode

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the short answer is no, but the long answer is yes.

A DAC will benefit your audio quality…as will an amp, but it’s more important to buy as best a headphone you can and follow up with a DAC and amp later. a better headphones has better returns.

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They seem to already have a decent dac in their soundcard, so I think getting a solid amp at this point would be beneficial imo

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I can’t seem to find a way to enable a line out port, is the optical the same thing just a different cable or am I doomed to to sell this sound card?

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Hmm no that wouldn’t work. You have a front left and right out port on the soundcard correct?

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It has the following ports: Line in / Mic in, Headphone, Front (L/R), Rear (L/R), Center / Subwoofer, Optical out

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Hey keaxihr, I was the one that recommended the m570. I’m glad to hear you liked it. I had a sound blaster card also. And sometimes I would switch back to that because it had such a nice sound, even though I had dacs external. The the thing about the m570 is that some people feel it has a lot of treble. So if that treble bothers you you might want to follow mon’s advice and get the Monoprice amp. It will help to negate the treble, and its a great amp. You can also EQ the treble down. a good player that has EQ this is foobar2000

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You can use the front l/r then with an amp

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I actually quite like the treble. I think since i have no issues with it, but I’m trying to find an amp but i wasn’t sure how they worked so back to the forums I go

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Oh thank god cause I didn’t want to get rid of my Sound Card. So do I even need a DAC if this sound card has a decent DAC?

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I don’t think so unless you drastically upgrade your setup in the future the soundcard would be more than fine :+1:

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Around what price point on the amps and headphones should I start to worry about getting a DAC?