A high quality external DAC will improve the sound quite a bit. There are two ways to do this. Some PCs have digital SPDIF out. In this case you can just buy any audiophile DAC--something like the benchmark would probably be a good choice. It's pretty inexpensive and works very well. If there is not a digital out, then a USB soundcard would work well. The Creative ones work well, but they are really designed for gaming and surround mostly these days. You would probably be happier with something that just does 2 channel and does it well, such as the M-Audio cards. There's a fasttrack pro and an audiophile. Either of these would probably be good choices.
Bypassing a PC Sound card
True or false? If you put an external DAC between the dedicated PC and your music system's pre/pro or amps you are effectively bypassing the PC's internal sound card? I need a new sound card but am thinking that a basic, lower-end card will do since it would only be used for monitoring downloads or rips. An external DAC would take Digital to Analog responsibility off of the internal sound card thus eliminating the need for something more upscale like a Creative Soundblaster Xtreme Gamer, etc.
I'm concerned that a PC sound card could never pass audiophile quality sound into my system.
The system has a Krell HTS 7.1 pre/pro, Krell fpb 350's in front, KSA 100 for center/sub and fpb 250's for the rears. All speakers are Maggies - 20.1's in front. smaller ones for center and rears.
Thanks for any simple, non-techno, answers!
I'm concerned that a PC sound card could never pass audiophile quality sound into my system.
The system has a Krell HTS 7.1 pre/pro, Krell fpb 350's in front, KSA 100 for center/sub and fpb 250's for the rears. All speakers are Maggies - 20.1's in front. smaller ones for center and rears.
Thanks for any simple, non-techno, answers!
3 responses Add your response