Looking to buy my first DAC for digital media playback. My budget is ~$400, would prefer less to more as I also need to buy a new phono cartridge soon. I've been looking at the HRT Music Streamer II, Musical Fidelity V-DAC II, and Cambridge Audio Dacmagic (used is in my price range). The only real prerequisite is good low end response, as I listen to a lot of techno/electronica, most of which has significant information down in the 20-30hz range, some even lower. Can anybody give me solid comparisons between these, or recommend something else?
Also, I have a coulpe questions about DACs in general.
1. Is it safe to assume that pretty much any external DAC will improve SQ from digital files on my computer?
2. My PC has both USB and a digital coaxial output, which one would be better to use?
3. Will a DAC affect just music playback? Or all sound playback? For example, will the sound quality of a youtube video improve at all? Or the sound in a video game?
Thanks in advance!
Looking to buy my first DAC for digital media playback. My budget is ~$400, would prefer less to more as I also need to buy a new phono cartridge soon. I've been looking at the HRT Music Streamer II, Musical Fidelity V-DAC II, and Cambridge Audio Dacmagic (used is in my price range). The only real prerequisite is good low end response, as I listen to a lot of techno/electronica, most of which has significant information down in the 20-30hz range, some even lower. Can anybody give me solid comparisons between these, or recommend something else?
Also, I have a coulpe questions about DACs in general.
1. Is it safe to assume that pretty much any external DAC will improve SQ from digital files on my computer?
2. My PC has both USB and a digital coaxial output, which one would be better to use?
3. Will a DAC affect just music playback? Or all sound playback? For example, will the sound quality of a youtube video improve at all? Or the sound in a video game?
Thanks in advance!