2. pc-audio
  3. 179831-177226

High resolution audio on a PC questions

I was thinking about getting into the high resolution audio fray using my PC. I was doing some research and found that it's recommended to buy some sort of USB DAC unit that supports high res audio. These range from less than 50 bucks to hundreds... I'm kind of not sure where to begin.

Can someone explain to me why I need a fancy external DAC, if most modern PCs are equipped with integrated audio chips adhering to the Intel High Definition Audio standard which supports sample rates of up to 192 kHz and 32 bit depth?

If I plug decent headphones into my PC's headphone jack (which is a current generation Mac Mini) and play 24/96 FLAC files using VLC, should I be able to hear an improvement over standard 16/44? If not, why not, and why is an external DAC better?

Also, I have an Onkyo TX-8255 audio receiver (it's completely analog). Would I hear an improvement if I ran the signal from my PC's headphone jack through the receiver? (it doesn't have a line out). Sorry if these are stupid questions.

ukhanjemb

Showing 1 response by lanx0003

lanx0003
663 posts
 

Also, I have an Onkyo TX-8255 audio receiver (it’s completely analog). Would I hear an improvement if I ran the signal from my PC’s headphone jack through the receiver? (it doesn’t have a line out). Sorry if these are stupid questions.

Probably not simply because the signal out of the headphone jack is analog processed by much less quality internal dac of PC. You need to use the USB to get the digital signal out connect to external dac as already mentioned then receiver/amp. The difference in SQ could be night and day.

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