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Which new DAC: Super Pro, Edirol or Fubar II ?

Hello all and Season's Greetings.

My current nearfield system: PC - XP > Soundblaster Live! 5.1 card (bypassed; no digital outs)> WAVE > JRiver Jukebox > USB > Behringer U-Control(headphone amp/DAC[16/48])> RCA phonos > Parasound 2100 preamp (all analog ins)> NAD amp > Polk M50 towers/Sony sub.

Use system only for audio playback of on-line radio and MP3 downloads while I'm working w/ the PC. No ripping, burning or headphones.

Note: have downloaded ASIO4ALL, but can't get the control panel to run. So, using Seve's advice to use unmapping (not quite sure what I unmapped!)

System sounds good, but want to upgrade the Behringer USB DAC. Would prefer a used Brick or Bel Canto (regardless of sampling rate or lack of USB in), but those are outside my $150 budget.

Have narrowed choices to:
> CryoParts Super Pro ($100): 24/192; no USB in (would use Behringer to convert USB to optical); no headphone out (good); wall wart power supply incl. No seller/mnfc. support (very bad).

> Edirol UA-1EX ($80): 24/96; USB in; headphone (bad);power via USB.

> Firestone Audio Fubar II USB DAC ($137 @ Audiophile Products): Burr Brown 16/44.1 & 48; no headphone stuff; only I/Os are USB in and RCAs out (great); wall wart incl.

I'm leaning heavily towards the Fubar because of the Burr Brown DAC and it doesn't have all the extra stuff I don't need (Occam's Razor).

Any advice would be appreciated.
Mike19
mmarvin19
2 responses Add your response
mmarvin19 OP
157 posts
 
Thank you Synthfreak.
You have confirmed my suspicion that I would need to get into the $300 - $500 range to get significant improvement over the $30 Behringer. Note: At least on my system, bypassing the internal sound card and moving the d/a conversion outside the PC, even w/ the $30 Behringer, made a significant improvemnt over the 3.5mm/RCAs route out of the back of the soundcard.

Now I'm looking at: (1) Cambridge DacMagic ($450 @ Audio Advisor), (2) Musical Fidelity V-DAC ($300 @ AA), (3)Scott Nixon jf/NOS ($295 used on Gon), (4) Zhoulu D2.5 w/ Oritek mod ($275 @ Audio Circle),(5) Audio Magus Mods 707 ($235 direct), (6) A M Mods MagiDAC 1.0 ($250 used on Gon)and an old 18 bit Theta Digital Chroma 396 ($295 used on Gon).

Its tough to decide when I have no ability to audition.
Mike19
synthfreek's avatar
synthfreek
627 posts
 
I love my Fubar II. I've been using it every day for a little over a year now with absolutely no snags. My cd player is an AMC CD8b and it DOES sound a little better than the Fubar but for $140 it got me in the door of the world of music servers on the cheap. When I a/b a cd being played directly with the Fubar playing an Apple Lossless file I get more extension in both the highs and lows with the AMC. I will be looking to upgrade this year to something in the $500 range. I think you may need to spend a bit more to get a noticeable difference from the underrated Behringer.
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