Best DAC under 150 with two outputs?

[Mailen]

Hey,
I'm currently planning to buy relatively good speakers for my PC. With those I want to buy a DAC to connect the speakers to my PC via a (USB-) DAC. My question now is, which DAC is the best for this usecase? As a student I don't have a lot of money so my budget ends at around 100-150$/€ and it would be nice to have the possibility to add a headphone amp later so the dac should be able to handle two different outputs.
Thanks
Max

 

[AnalogSteph]

What kind of speakers are you looking at (budget, size, configuration etc.)? What sort of PC do you have?

It sounds like you should be trying to make use of onboard audio or get a relatively inexpensive internal soundcard at best. Unless something is screwed up, either should sound fine, while freeing up budget to be spent where it makes the most difference by far, the speakers. If the front headphone output proves to be riddled with ground loop issues and you don't feel like getting into PCB surgery to fix this, you can always use a splitter cable if need be (occasionally this gives problems if one device is turned off but usually it works out fine).

 

[ctakim]

Hey,
I'm currently planning to buy relatively good speakers for my PC. With those I want to buy a DAC to connect the speakers to my PC via a (USB-) DAC. My question now is, which DAC is the best for this usecase? As a student I don't have a lot of money so my budget ends at around 100-150$/€ and it would be nice to have the possibility to add a headphone amp later so the dac should be able to handle two different outputs.
Thanks
Max

If you are using passive speakers, you will need an amplifier as well as a DAC. If you have active speakers you may be happy with just a DAC. I have passive desktop speakers (for now) and I use a Loxjie A30 DAC/Amp to run them. They are being fed via USB from my computer.

 

[sterkoff]

Assuming active PC speakers, there are many options. One of these would be the Topping E30 that has many features such as remote and volume control. If you were to add a headphone amp down the road, you could get the matching Topping L30 which includes RCA outputs that could be connected to you PC speakers. There are many other options even less expensive you could substitute for the Topping scenario above, but the main point to think about is maybe solving the future two output requirement via the headphone Amp with pre-outs or pass-thrus and not the DAC. Would give you more options.

 

[HoweSound]

Here's a new dac with built-in head phone amp with volume control and multiple inputs and outputs. 145 Euros or $202 cdn delivered. Full disclosure, I ordered one based on this review and waiting to receive it. It would work with active speakers, otherwise you will need an amp as well.

LEAF Dac Dual 9038Q2M VS Gustard X16 ! Pictures inside ) | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum

 

[brbsnacks]

If you cant find one like you could always get something like a dac and switcher but it would be 2 boxes. When I was looking I was deciding between a JDS DAC with the JDS Ol Switcher (2 in 2 out) or the Schiit modi 3+ with sys (1 in 2 out). They both are right at 150. I'm sure Topping and others have similar great setups. Theres a lot of good DACs around the 100 dollar mark. What I liked about this setup is that you had a volume control. Just something else to consider.

 

[Mailen]

What kind of speakers are you looking at (budget, size, configuration etc.)? What sort of PC do you have?

It sounds like you should be trying to make use of onboard audio or get a relatively inexpensive internal soundcard at best. Unless something is screwed up, either should sound fine, while freeing up budget to be spent where it makes the most difference by far, the speakers. If the front headphone output proves to be riddled with ground loop issues and you don't feel like getting into PCB surgery to fix this, you can always use a splitter cable if need be (occasionally this gives problems if one device is turned off but usually it works out fine).

So the speakers are a pair of Nubert NuBox A-125 acitve speakers and I'm using a desktop-PC but in mini-ITX formfactor. This means I don't have room for a soundcard in my PC. But thanks a lot.

 

[Mailen]

Thank you all for your advice, it helped me a lot. I will poste what I buy at the end in this thread.