Lightstar385
New Head-Fier
Hey there lovely people of Head-Fi,
Like the title says, I am wondering if I should get myself a USB DAC for my laptop for general music listening. My budget is max $150.00 AUD (Australian Dollars).
Interestingly enough, I decided to use RMAA (Rightmark Audio Analyzer) to test my current onboard laptop sound, and these are the results:
[size=12pt]
To me, those results seem rather decent for the IDT onboard audio. Also, I realize that RMAA and tests aren't everything, and ultimately it's your ears/brain interacting together which should have the final say. The only down side to that is that I can't readily audition DACs where I live, so unfortunately I have to heavily rely on published test results like RMAA.
For instance, here is a link to the ASUS Xonar Essence STX (I used to have a desktop with the ST and a Fiio E9, but I moved to Australia and have to sell those -- but when I had them I really enjoyed music with the HD650. Seriously, I would listen to "Stairway to Heaven" by Zeppelin just to hear when the Rhodes started with the strumming; it was euphoric, seriously.), so using that as a frame of reference: http://rmaa.hege.li/Xonar_STX.htm
Here is the ODAC as well, but it goes into the Essence STX line-in, so I don't know if that constitutes as a good, valid test. Anyway here are the results from the same person as before: http://rmaa.hege.li/ODAC.htm
I'm only interested in 16/44.1K by the way.
Here is my current ITB (In the board) hardware:
HP DV6-6B02AX laptop with "Beats" IDT Audio (Using the default Windows 7 x64 drivers).
This laptop has 2 headphone outputs and 1 mic input, but I'm not sure if either of the two outs doubles as a line-out or anything. I have tried using either the first headphone output or the second one, and there isn't an audible difference for me. I listen to FLAC files (when I can) from Foobar2000 using the WASAPI output. I have the windows settings to 16/44.1K CD Quality audio, and I see no reason to go to anything above that honestly. For instance, a lot of USB DACs advertise that they are 24/96 or 24/192, etc. and I don't really need that level of quality since I am not recording music (yet, that may be in the future though). However, I am also not looking for an AD/DA or an Audio Interface (as it's known in the music production world).
My head gear is primarily a swap between two headphones which are the Senn HD595 ( 50 ohm version with the "bass" mod) and the Senn HD650 (umodified). My amp is an AWA (Amalgamated Wireless Australasia) SA-03 1970's solid state stereo amplifier, from which I use the headphone out. I use the aux in on the amp from one of the laptop's stereo outputs. I'm find with how my setup sounds now, in fact I would probably only gain from maybe upgrading my amp, or maybe investing in an SACD player with SACD's, but those are two things that are out of my budget.
So here's where my question is:
There is a very, very, very slight noise sound if I run my HD595 directly into the headphone out from the laptop, but that's the only noise I can hear. It's not there when running the HD650 from the laptop's output.
Finally, my questions are:
Would it be a benefit to my ears by getting a USB DAC strictly from an audio sound quality perspective? If so, what are some good options for up to $150.00? There are other features in a USB DAC that I'd look for besides just SQ, however, such as the ASUS Xonar U3 for watching movies with Dolby Headphone or HRTF surround. I am not a gamer, and I strongly despise Creative products from my past experiences with them haha.
Thanks,
Michael
Edit: I updated with new RMAA data for my IDT onboard laptop audio using a loopback cable with the playback/recording test.
Like the title says, I am wondering if I should get myself a USB DAC for my laptop for general music listening. My budget is max $150.00 AUD (Australian Dollars).
Interestingly enough, I decided to use RMAA (Rightmark Audio Analyzer) to test my current onboard laptop sound, and these are the results:
[size=12pt]Summary[/size]
[size=10pt] Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB[/size] | [size=10pt] -0.01, -0.58 [/size] | [size=10pt] Good [/size] |
[size=10pt] Noise level, dB (A)[/size] | [size=10pt] -72.8 [/size] | [size=10pt] Average [/size] |
[size=10pt] Dynamic range, dB (A)[/size] | [size=10pt] 72.7 [/size] | [size=10pt] Average [/size] |
[size=10pt] THD, %[/size] | [size=10pt] 0.0064 [/size] | [size=10pt] Very good [/size] |
[size=10pt] THD + Noise, dB (A)[/size] | [size=10pt] -66.7 [/size] | [size=10pt] Average [/size] |
[size=10pt] IMD + Noise, %[/size] | [size=10pt] 0.065 [/size] | [size=10pt] Good [/size] |
[size=10pt] Stereo crosstalk, dB[/size] | [size=10pt] -60.6 [/size] | [size=10pt] Average [/size] |
[size=10pt] IMD at 10 kHz, %[/size] | [size=10pt] 0.062 [/size] | [size=10pt] Good [/size] |
[size=10pt] General performance[/size] | [size=10pt] [/size] | [size=10pt] Good [/size] |
To me, those results seem rather decent for the IDT onboard audio. Also, I realize that RMAA and tests aren't everything, and ultimately it's your ears/brain interacting together which should have the final say. The only down side to that is that I can't readily audition DACs where I live, so unfortunately I have to heavily rely on published test results like RMAA.
For instance, here is a link to the ASUS Xonar Essence STX (I used to have a desktop with the ST and a Fiio E9, but I moved to Australia and have to sell those -- but when I had them I really enjoyed music with the HD650. Seriously, I would listen to "Stairway to Heaven" by Zeppelin just to hear when the Rhodes started with the strumming; it was euphoric, seriously.), so using that as a frame of reference: http://rmaa.hege.li/Xonar_STX.htm
Here is the ODAC as well, but it goes into the Essence STX line-in, so I don't know if that constitutes as a good, valid test. Anyway here are the results from the same person as before: http://rmaa.hege.li/ODAC.htm
I'm only interested in 16/44.1K by the way.
Here is my current ITB (In the board) hardware:
HP DV6-6B02AX laptop with "Beats" IDT Audio (Using the default Windows 7 x64 drivers).
This laptop has 2 headphone outputs and 1 mic input, but I'm not sure if either of the two outs doubles as a line-out or anything. I have tried using either the first headphone output or the second one, and there isn't an audible difference for me. I listen to FLAC files (when I can) from Foobar2000 using the WASAPI output. I have the windows settings to 16/44.1K CD Quality audio, and I see no reason to go to anything above that honestly. For instance, a lot of USB DACs advertise that they are 24/96 or 24/192, etc. and I don't really need that level of quality since I am not recording music (yet, that may be in the future though). However, I am also not looking for an AD/DA or an Audio Interface (as it's known in the music production world).
My head gear is primarily a swap between two headphones which are the Senn HD595 ( 50 ohm version with the "bass" mod) and the Senn HD650 (umodified). My amp is an AWA (Amalgamated Wireless Australasia) SA-03 1970's solid state stereo amplifier, from which I use the headphone out. I use the aux in on the amp from one of the laptop's stereo outputs. I'm find with how my setup sounds now, in fact I would probably only gain from maybe upgrading my amp, or maybe investing in an SACD player with SACD's, but those are two things that are out of my budget.
So here's where my question is:
There is a very, very, very slight noise sound if I run my HD595 directly into the headphone out from the laptop, but that's the only noise I can hear. It's not there when running the HD650 from the laptop's output.
Finally, my questions are:
Would it be a benefit to my ears by getting a USB DAC strictly from an audio sound quality perspective? If so, what are some good options for up to $150.00? There are other features in a USB DAC that I'd look for besides just SQ, however, such as the ASUS Xonar U3 for watching movies with Dolby Headphone or HRTF surround. I am not a gamer, and I strongly despise Creative products from my past experiences with them haha.
Thanks,
Michael
Edit: I updated with new RMAA data for my IDT onboard laptop audio using a loopback cable with the playback/recording test.