High-resolution audio files up to a 96 kHz sample rate and 24-bit depth (some support 192 kHz/24-bit). (My guideline: Don’t spend more on a DAC than you did on the partnering headphones or speakers.) Each is small, uses USB for power and digital-audio input, includes a headphone output with analog volume adjustment (controlled via hardware or software), and supports I gathered six such products, ranging in price from $149 to $300. ![]() However, a number of similarly sized and priced models compete with the rPAC, meeting or beating its price, size, features, and/or sound quality. Previously reviewed Arcam’s $249 rPAC (4.5 of 5 rating), which impressed me with its build and sound quality. Large, AC-powered, audiophile-grade desktop DACs and headphone amplifiers, the best values for computer-focused DACs can be found in compact packages-the size of a deck of cards or smaller-that receive audio and power from your computer’s USB port. Taken together, these changes bring you closer to your music. These upgraded headphone jacks give you tighter and stronger bass, increased clarity and detail, better separation of instruments and notes, and other subtle improvements that add up to an increased sense of pace and musical drama. Upgraded your speakers, you can use an external DAC to help those components reach their full potential many external DACs also include significantly better headphone amplification-you use the DAC’s own headphone jack instead of the one on your computer. Plus, these components are all sensitive to the sorts of electronic noise that pervade the inside of a modern computer. Headphone amplifier, which is part of the headphone jack’s circuitry and provides the juice that drives your headphones, was picked for similar reasons-and has similar drawbacks. ![]() The DAC built into your computer was likely chosen to fit space, power, and cost constraints, rather than for optimal audio performance. ![]() That built-in headphone jack isn’t doing your audio gear any favors.īut by its nature, this digital-to-analog-conversion process isn’t exact, so some DACs produce a higher-quality facsimile of the original recorded signal than others.
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