Question about Monoprice Monolith USB DAC (and DAC/amp recommendation)

Equipment / Electronics / Gear / Accessories DACs
1

Hi all,

So I’m looking at this Monoprice DAC, because it’s on sale for $64. https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=304&cp_id=30405&cs_id=3040505&p_id=29512&seq=1&format=2

It seems really weird to me that this thing hasn’t gotten more coverage, and this reviewer claims it sounds pretty much identical to AudioQuest Cobalt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76hq8Wz0rFw I don’t know much about him but he does appear to have a lot of audio content.

I’m in the market for a $75ish DAC/amp, and I’m trying to figure why I shouldn’t get the Monoprice. It would be mostly for PC (already have a LG G8), so it doesn’t have to be portable. Are there any better options? The FX DAC-X6 looks very popular, but amirm on audiosciencereview.com doesn’t recommend it.

There are some other options like Topping D10, SMSL M100, etc. but they are pushing my budget (D10 unavailable on Amazon anyway). Regardless, wouldn’t a DF Cobalt clone/whatever be better?

Any help you guys can provide would be amazing. Most of the threads I’ve looked through for budget stuff is $150+, and that’s out of my current range.

Thanks for the help.

2

What headphones are you using at the moment?

3

I just scored a pair of AudioQuest NightOwl’s from an estate sale. I’m not in love with them so far but I thought a good DAC/amp might change things. The G8 can’t give them quite enough juice. I also have KPH30i’s. I’m looking to get more into (budget) headphones though so I want to have something to power them.

4

Hmmmm. So I would really suggest saving up here and looking into the fiio k5 pro or getting something like a liquid spark or magni heresy without a dac (run off of motherboard for the time being). To be honest, stuff in the range you are looking in is marginally better than your phone or pc unless you really need the power imo. The headphones you have would benefit from an amp but can be run off of a phone or pc just fine so I would wait and save up imo

5

ok thanks. Yeah the K5 pro looks nice. I appreciate the advice.