All Rights Reserved. I got mine from Span.com as I'm in the UK.

Add an SPDIF digital audio output and standard 3.5mm audio/microphone connections to your system through USB.

The likes of Zorloos Ztellaset high standards for below the 100 mark, while the Cyrus soundKey remains hard to beat. My desktop computer has been without sound for years due to Windows 10 updates. Im currently running the Denafrips Ares II and it sounds astonishing. While theres plenty of refinement and a total lack of unwanted hardness, there remains a healthy dose of dynamic punch when required. We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London, Reading and Bath, where our team of experienced, in-house reviewers test the majority of hi-fi and AV kit that passes through our door including DACs.

And it does the job brilliantly. The USB DAC (which resembles a UBS stick/key and plugs straight into a laptop or PC's USB-A socket) boasts a more advanced DAC chip, and a new microprocessor draws less current and bumps up the DAC's processing speed. Like having my LPs on demand :). What Hi-Fi? Use your 3.5 mm headphones to listen to music on your USB-C device. Save up to 5% on product purchases when you open an account. The if it aint broke saying isnt lost on us. When discussingDACsto improve the sound quality of your music, Bluetooth puts the cat among the pigeons owing to the inescapable truth that its delivery has yet to catch up with both wi-fi and wired listening for a truly high fidelity sound. Best sub-$100 home theater/stereo investment ever. For some DACs, that could be playing it safe, but the Hugo 2 still manages to keep things interesting, creating a holistic sound: it arranges the pieces into a convincing whole where the bass is balanced against treble in the most unforced and crystal-clear manner. Adding the AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable between these headphones and our source devices (which provide power to the DAC) makes the world of difference. Can't Switch from E-Arc input to Optical input on my Soundbar. To learn more about how and for what purposes Amazon uses personal information (such as Amazon Store order history), please visit our Privacy Notice. When a product leans quite heavily on a gimmick i.e. We're smitten and we think you will be too. A great way to improve the sound of your phone or laptop, we cant think of a better alternative for portable use. AVForums.com is owned and operated by M2N Limited, This Nagra (with its matching power supply) is one of the best DACs we've ever heard. Offering a significant upgrade over computer sound quality in an era where people need it most, the Zen DAC V2 is another feather in the cap for iFis budget Zen series. Would be good to see some reviews of R2R ladder DACs.

By Sorry, there was a problem saving your cookie preferences. I got a Halide Bridge on eBay which does exactly this.

JavaScript is disabled. You are using an out of date browser. Without a DAC, your digital music collection is nothing but a sizeable collection of 0s and 1s that makes sense only within the digital domain. Pound for pound the best DAC on the market right now. Becky Roberts

A built-in DAC outputs high-resolution audio and features a Class G amplifier (24-bit/192 kHz). Astell & Kern AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable, The 12 best Prime Day deals on five-star tech still available: wireless headphones, 4K OLED TV, Bluetooth speakers and more, JBL Tune Flex are wireless earbuds that let you fine-tune the audio quality, Netflix will trial new charges for password sharing from next month, The best home entertainment buying advice, Issues delivered straight to your door or device. The aluminium case feels rock solid and is accented by a nicely-damped metal volume control. Protocol pass-through to control your music on the go. While from a performance point of view the Mojo 2 can just as confidently raise a hi-fi systems game too, some of those looking for a system boost might reasonably prefer a dedicated system alternative with more suitable connections, such as theCambridge Audio DacMagic 200M (below). Sign up below to get the latest from What Hi-Fi?, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox! At one end is a USB Type B input, plus RCA line and 4.4mm Pentaconn balanced outputs. Built-in digital-to-analog converter (DAC) outputs Hi-Fi quality music that is compatible with premium streaming services such as Tidal and Spotify Premium. That know-how has been put to good use in offering USB-C device owners an affordable, practical way to soup up their smartphone or desktop sound through wired headphones.

Especially if you choose the right one. The DAVEs sound is superbly refined, but it never uses that as an excuse to smooth things off and remove the sparkle from recordings. The M-DAC nano is a tiny unit, barely bigger than a custard cream biscuit. Thank you for signing up to What Hi-Fi?. Any device that delivers digital sound be it a laptop, Blu-ray player, digital TV box, games console, portable music player or phone requires a DAC to convert its digital audio to an analogue signal before it is output to speakers, headphones or another analogue device. The DAC delivers a crisp, clean and concise sound, with Chord's now familiar neutral tonal balance. Last night I set up Dolby Atmos for headphones free trial plugin, enabled 7.1 virtual surround and hooked my velodyne cans to this device. I was blown away with the AC3-encoded Valerian and the city of 1000 planets swarming around the headphones.

At the other end is another Pentaconn balanced output, which sits alongside the more conventional 6.3mm socket. Actually, it was the only reasonably priced new DAC with digital output I could find.

Best DACs Buying Guide 2022: Welcome to What Hi-Fi?

No apparent Safari (Plex, etc.) This website uses the TMDb API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDb. In performance and feature terms its possible to make a strong case for the Hugo TT2 to be considered the best value DAC the company makes. It's not the last word in attack and drive but if you can handle that, there's not much else to quibble with here. Click Customise Cookies to decline these cookies, make more detailed choices, or learn more. Powered by Xenforo, Hosted by Nimbus Hosting, Original design Critical Media Ltd. Heres why you can trust us.

Listen to music on your USB-C device using regular 3.5 mm headphones. and, since her recent move to Melbourne, Australia, also the editor of Australian Hi-Fi magazine. In short, DACs play an instrumental part in making digital music worthwhile. 's round-up of the best DACs you can buy in 2022. If you need great sound for your PC or laptop and you're on a budget (and even if you're not on a budget), this is the one for you. In short, the iFi hip-dac is a superb buy but it's up against a strong field. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. After all, it has been in the portable digital audio game with portable music players for years and enjoyed much success. That should keep you busy. 1 Home Entertainment Tech Community & Resource.

I run a tri-amp system that predominantly plays all channel stereo from my .flac library. The DragonFly Red is another excellent portable DAC. The majority of DACs and headphone amplifiers fitted to smartphones or laptops are cheap and not very good. Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury,

BA1 1UA. Chord's DAC dominance only continues as you go up the price spectrum. Like a great single malt, iFis hip-dac is even more delicious second time around, A great way to cheaply improve the sound of your phone or laptop. So, a DAC and headphone amp disguised as a USB stick sounds like a great idea and the DragonFly Red, like the DragonFly Cobalt above, pulls it off superbly. So, Chords seemly unstoppable digital bandwagon rolls on with yet another class leader. Mobile Joy is in even more lavish supply in this reengineered sequel to Chords game-changing portable DAC, Cambridges generously featured DAC is the best you can buy at this level, One of the very best ways to upgrade your desktop headphone system on a budget, Clearer and more insightful than predecessor. Digital Audio to Stereo Audio Converter (DAC) - 192kHz.

Highly recommended. As a result when trying to record my old LP records I would get prominent tick, tick, tick sounds with the music quietly underneath it.

We check over 250 million products every day for the best prices, The MARCH USB DAC is only 260, and made the Naim DAC sound pale! So to say it's a versatile piece of kit would be an understatement. Theres now also plenty of clear air between the performance of the TT2 and the Hugo 2, enough to make the price difference easily justifiable in a suitably talented set-up. is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. here. What Hi-Fi? This is a very small (it surprised me, I thought it would be a lot bigger) external USB sound card with lets you have great sound for both headphones and for normal cheap microphones (more so than if you connect them to your microphone in on your motherboard sound card (or any internal sound cards I've ever tried).

2005 - 2022 Futureshop.co.uk. Before Astell & Kern announced its AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable, it wouldnt have been a stretch to imagine the company making such a product. Once attached to your laptop or indeed phone via a dongle and selected as means of audio output, the DACs LED will shine one of six colours to indicate the sampling rate: red for standby, green for 44.1kHz, blue for 48kHz, yellow for 88.2 kHz, light blue for 96kHz or purple when decoding MQA. And on the audio side, you won't be disappointed. We've no hesitation in saying Nagras HD DAC is one of the best DACs on the planet. This too was delivered. I ended up going for the Topping D10 DAC $90. All I had to do was plug in the USB port, attach my speakers to the new external sound card, and finally, I have sound. Hurry up and make an android app/plugin so I can enjoy my .flacs on my LG g5 with neutron! is all about comparative testing, so we listen to every DAC we review against the current leader in its field to gauge how it compares to the best-in-class competition. But it does have a higher voltage output (2.1v), which makes it better suited to driving more demanding headphones. So, what sort of DAC will best suit your needs? Award winner. To do so where iFi is concerned would be wrong, because really, this DAC is anything but a joke. However, when portability is paramount and convenience is key, you cannot currently better the iFi Go Blu. No Schiit, Denafrips, RME.in general in WHF, not just this list. Whether enjoying aggressive or subtle selections, the Nagra is capable of staggering levels of detail presented in an effortlessly musical style. But at the same time we realise that in a competitive industry such as hi-fi, making the best even better off your own back isnt necessarily a bad idea.

Either the list is wildly out of date or whathifi is getting a kick back from chord. Please refresh the page and try again.

There isnt another DAC around at anywhere near this sort of price able to communicate so well and so effortlessly. The most compact option in iFi's range, it's essentially the guts of the British brand's excellent desktop-based Zen DAC (below) squeezed into a smaller, battery-powered package. Simply plugged it in and ran the software - Wa La I was listening to great music once again. Date published: 2019-05-15T00:00:00-04:00, Date published: 2017-05-27T00:00:00-04:00, Date published: 2018-11-02T00:00:00-04:00, Date published: 2016-01-18T00:00:00-05:00, Date published: 2016-11-15T00:00:00-05:00, Date published: 2017-11-06T00:00:00-05:00, Date published: 2016-09-05T00:00:00-04:00, Date published: 2018-03-21T00:00:00-04:00, Date published: 2019-06-08T00:00:00-04:00, Date published: 2021-01-13T15:58:58-05:00, StarTech.com USB Stereo Audio Adapter External Sound Card w/ SPDIF Digital. is supported by its audience. Have an account? I'll bet there are a lot of folks in the same situation. We use cookies and similar tools that are necessary to enable you to make purchases, to enhance your shopping experiences and to provide our services, as detailed in our Cookie Notice. 1996-2022, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. There's support for 32-bit/384kHz and DSD256 hi-res music, plus a host of new connections to keep you entertained.

Chord has produced another class-leading DAC. It may not display this or other websites correctly. There are also more serious DACs that are designed to slot into your home hi-fi system to improve the quality of a digital source, some of which are geared towards headphone listening while others are headphone socket-less and thus strictly designed to sit between a source and amplifier. 3.5mm and 6.3mm headphone outputs also feature, plus a pair of stereo RCAs to connect an amplifier. You guys rock! Make sure to buy from a retailer that will facilitate easy returns. You can read more about how we test and review products on What Hi-Fi?

We'll use them in their best use case with different partnering source kit and headphones, as well as play plenty of different types of music through them.

It can sit in the tiny watch pocket of your jeans, doing its good work nowhere near your actual phone, and if youre working in a cafe, it will both look and sound exceptionally good next to your flat white. Great job StarTech. Products purchased on moshi.com are automatically enrolled in our 10-year Global Warranty program. Guys, your objectivity has always been questionable, but when you persistently ignore one of the best products out there for years, it makes me think you might have other things on your mind apart from product quality. All review verdicts are agreed upon by the team as a whole rather than an individual reviewer to eliminate any personal preference and to make sure we're being as thorough as possible. Copyright 2007 - 2022 CDW.

If you're looking to boost your mobile sound on the go, a tiny USB dongle (with an adapter, if your phone requires it) will do the trick nicely and discreetly as the middleman between your phone and headphones. Then there are desktop and USB-stick DACs both easy-to-use and typically affordable solutions to maximise your laptop or PC's sound.

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The headline is that this portable DAC/headphone amp offers aBluetooth 5.1connection to your source device (although not to your headphones, those still need to be wired into the unit) thus eliminating one wire from the potentially bulky, tangled equation of phone, to DAC, to headphones. JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. All Rights Reserved. Must be something to do with not upsetting established relationships with manufacturers, but would make WHF much more interesting if they covered the full range of the industry, not just the same old roster of incumbents. That doesn't make much sense to convert Digital to Digital, it make more sense to convert USB to Analog and go directly into the AUX port of the speaker.

Coaxial x2, optical x2, XLR, RCA, AES/EBU, USB (Type-B), USB, 32-bit/384kHz PCM, DSD256, MQA, 384kHz DXD, 10. Use it instead of the headphone output on your computer and you'll notice improved weight and texture to your tunes, combined with a natural and subtle sound. It's the product that lesser rivals look up to at this price point.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. It's a hugely desirable piece of kit that boasts immaculate build quality and immense attention to detail. But I decide to try the Startech External Sound Card first and it worked flawlessly. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Adding a dedicated DAC, no matter how small, can make all the difference. It works really well. It levels up your phones sound with very little effort or added weight in your pocket or strain on your wallet. As with all decent hi-fi gear, it'll take a bit of running in time before the Qutest really starts to sing. Explore the very best of desktop & portable audio. Copyright 2000-2022 M2N Limited E. & O.E. There's no input from PR companies or our sales team when it comes to the verdict, withWhat Hi-Fi? The output of the Zen DAC can be switched between fixed and variable, meaning the iFi can operate as a digital preamp if you so wish. Youll need a usb to spdif converter. Youre seeing this ad based on the products relevance to your search query. Read the full review: AudioQuest DragonFly Red. There's also a quartet of BNC connectors that Chord calls DX inputs, for as-yet unannounced Chord source products. It's well-equipped enough to slot effortlessly into any hi-fi or desktop system. This includes using first- and third-party cookies, which store or access standard device information such as a unique identifier. We keepWhat Hi-Fi? Supports high-resolution audio: 24-bit/192 kHz. But these are a cut above, painting a vivid picture brimming with attack and a sense of coherence few can match, let alone better. You don't just get a bigger box, you get much better specs too. There's a wide, believable soundstage, impressive detail levels, and good timing. The rme costs less than the qutest, offers mind blowing options to dial in the sound, superior reproduction across the frequency range, balanced and unbalanced output, much quieter output (the qutest hiss is a thing folks), qutest might edge out the rme in regards to wider soundstage - it remains hotly contested which is the better DAC, but missing the rme entirely is unforgivable.

You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie Preferences, as described in the Cookie Notice. Again no RME? I eventually found and ordered a StarTech Stereo Audio USB External Sound Card with SPDIF Digital Audio. Obviously, I was looking to get high quality output. Thor: Love & Thunder and Netflixs Sea Beast Reviews and the latest 4K + Movie/TV News. But now, what kind of buss to I have, what type of memory - I no longer have the knowledge to confidently upgrade or change out components. All rights reserved. Just like the iFi Go Blu above.

And it makes a real difference. You get plenty of source options too: theres the usual trio of digital inputs (one USB type B, four co-ax and two optical) to go alongside the much rarer AES/EBU balanced digital input. Given there's no Bluetooth connectivity or headphone amp onboard, the Qutests sole purpose is to be the digital-to-analogue bridge between your digital source and amplifier. I had bought two new laptops running Windows 10 both, however, only had a single audio socket for a headset and not proper stereo line inputs. Top notch product, startech. The fittingly named Mojo 2 is the long-anticipated, re-engineered replacement to the 2015-released original, which burst onto the scene as a real benchmark-setting game-changer in the then-fledgling world of portable DACs/headphone amps. Software for customizing more would be nice, but for the quality it produces is not really needed. Sign In. If you're in the market for a serious high-end DAC, then you need to hear this. Award winners in our stockrooms so we can always pit new products against ones we know and love, and we do our best to review as many new models in as many markets as possible to ensure our contextual knowledge is the best it can be. Youve got to have a mighty transparent system (not to mention a mighty fat wallet) to justify the use of anything more expensive than this. Thanks everyone for the suggestions and advice. It has become a hassle to replace any type of card inside my computers.

The very best DACs will make your hi-fi, desktop or audio system sing, but something sub-optimal or sticking to the ones used in regular do-it-all components like those mentioned above will prevent you from getting the most out of your set-up.

Agree w aaadavid, huge miss excluding rme adi-2. If you agree, well also use cookies to complement your shopping experience across the Amazon stores as described in our Cookie Notice. It's a great feature for at-a-glance checking and helps justify the extra outlay. The sound on my favorite old computer got so bad I almost got rid of it.

At this level, youre unlikely to find aportable DACas clear, zealous, fully featured, or as downright good-looking as the iFi hip-dac 2.

Massive analogue dynamic sound. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Bluetooth aptX is onboard for wireless playback from a phone or tablet, and while it sounds good, it's not a patch on one of the TT2's wired connections.

Grab one while you can! All items have our live stock levels for the stock we have in our St Helens warehouse, all ready for same day dispatch (Mon-Fri). Naturally, we give them plenty of listening time (and time to run in) too. Read the full Astell & Kern AK USB-C Dual DAC Cable review.

Read the full review: Audiolab M-DAC nano. Music can also be fed to a pair of wireless headphones via aptX Bluetooth. All told, it's a supremely compact and convenient device that can be taken anywhere for an immediate musical boost. Europe's busiest forums, with independent news and expert reviews, for TVs, Home Cinema, Hi-Fi, Movies, Gaming, Tech and more. Not only that, but it also adds volume while still managing to refine the sound. Try again. proud of having delivered honest, unbiased reviews for decades. Wish they would update for windows 10. Bath (Examples of both can be found below.). Still, if you're looking for a high-quality portable DAC, this talented box of tricks warrants an audition. The ICUSBAUDIO2D External USB Sound Card lets you add an S/PDIF digital audio output and standard 3.5mm analog audio/microphone connections to your system through USB - a convenient way to bypass or replace an internal sound card without having to open the computer case.

Works great with Tidal/Qobuz/Roon.

Like its newer variant, the hip-dac 2 (above), this portableDAC resembles a hip flask and delivers a shot of high-quality sound on the move. Connect and choose "USB Advanced Audio Device," then "Encoded Digital Audio" for AC3 output from iTunes. The single USB accepts PCM signals with sampling rates up to 768kHz - that's very capable indeed, though we're not sure how many people will actually be able to take advantage of such numbers. Want all the benefits of the DragonFly Red (2.1v headphone output, bit-perfect digital volume control and MQA renderer) with more detail, greater dynamics and an even better sense of timing? Becky is the Hi-Fi and Audio editor of What Hi-Fi? Ignore this talented all-rounder at your peril. Blustream DA11ADE Dante Audio Analogue Decoder, Blustream DAC13DB Digital Audio Converter with Dolby Down-mixing, Blustream HD12DB Down Mixing DAC 2-Way HDMI Splitter & Scaler 4K 60Hz 4:4:4, Blustream DA11AU 2 Channel Analogue Audio to Dante Converter, Blustream AD11AU Analogue Audio Delay Processor with Volume Control, Blustream DAC12AU Digital to Analogue Converter (DAC) - Simultaneous Analogue and Digital Output, Blustream ADC11AU Analogue to Digital Audio Converter (ADC), Blustream DIG11AU Digital Audio Converter, Blustream HD11AU HDMI Audio Embedder / De-Embedder, CYP AU-D2 Digital Audio Coaxial/Toslink Converter, CYP AU-D3-192. My internal sound card died, and I decided to give this a try. We also use these cookies to understand how customers use our services (for example, by measuring site visits) so we can make improvements. Such as? Its such an appealing option that we can almost forgive the unwieldy name. I picked it up for 1 Euro which I thought was a reasonable price. Also, the dac in the Meridian and its implemtation will be better than the one in the speakers, if they are up to showing it off.