2. digital
  3. 1397093236

I need DAC help

I'm older and not up to date on all the latest technology. I simply want to be able to play various internet radio stations through my hifi. Maybe more streaming stuff after I figure out what I'm doing. My laptop has USB ports. My question is this.

Can I just get a dac with usb input and connect that via dac rca output to aux rca input on my preamp? Select a internet station on my laptop and sit back and enjoy the tunes or do I need software for my laptop or anything special to get this going. Please, if there are responses to assist me make it laymans terms.

Thanks
rides2work
williewonka
3,125 posts
 
You pretty much have it - Computer into a DAC into the amp - just make
sure the DAC you use has the USB driver for the operating system you are
using - its needed so you can select the dac as a device in place of
speakers

That will get you basic internet radio of reasonable quality.

You could even skip the dac and just take the headphone jack into the pre-
amp - even simpler - not quite the same quality though :-)

It's when you want to improve the quality with hi-res downloads that you
might want to get more a more sophisticated setup to improve playback
quality.

If you think you might want to explore hi-res then you should look at a DAC
with an asynchronous USB port and decide what the maximum sample rate
you will download - higher sample rate means more disk space required

Happy listening :-)
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,325 posts
 
My 2 cents though I don't think I'm much further along the learning curve than you. I got started on "computer audio" for exactly the same reason. Wanted to listen to Pandora on my system - not just via headphones or crappy computer speakers. Got a V-DAC and later a V-Link to go with it. 1) USB cable from computer USB port to the V-Link. 2) Digital coax from V-Link to V-DAC. 3) Regular RCA interconnects to an available input on the amp or pre-amp. Nowadays you can find many DACs that incorporate asynchronous USB so you no longer really need 2 boxes. Asynch USB is definitely worth looking for in my mind. The V-Link made a good bit of difference in the sound from the V-DAC. Tech has progressed from those days but the basics can still be pretty simple. Consider talking to the folk at Audio Advisor. They can hook you up. [No affiliation or business interest with them]. Good luck and have fun.
rides2work OP
6 posts
 
thanks guys, I think I've got it. I'll just have to find out which dac will work with windows 8. After I get everything hooked up and operational I'll play around, get familiar with use and then on to the next step. If you have suggestions for a unit $1,000 and under I would be thrilled to have your input.
More to discover