Budget DAC/Audio Interface with two balanced outputs?

[propaganda1]

Hello everyone,

First of all I want to clarify I am an audio noob so please bear with me. I am looking for a DAC to pair with my SMSL H400 headphone amp, and I am also planning to get a pair of studio monitors in the future and would like to use the same DAC for those as well. Is there anything under £200 that fits the bill? Some sort of volume control for the monitors in the DAC would be a huge bonus but is not mandatory (if something like that even exists?).

My headphones are Moondrop Cosmo's, and the studio monitors are JBL 308p MKII's.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[staticV3]

The SMSL H400 has Pre outs which you can plug into your studio monitors, so there's no need for a DAC with more than one stereo output.

Since you can use the H400 as volume control as well, you wouldn't even strictly need a DAC with volume control built in.

So it'd be DAC->XLR->H400->Headphones and speakers.

H400 controls the volume of both headphones and speakers. To switch between them, press the FN button on the H400 remote.

For the DAC, consider the Topping D10 Balanced or SMSL D6s.

 

[propaganda1]

The SMSL H400 has Pre outs which you can plug into your studio monitors, so there's no need for a DAC with more than one stereo output.

Since you can use the H400 as volume control as well, you wouldn't even strictly need a DAC with volume control built in.

So it'd be DAC->XLR->H400->Headphones and speakers.

H400 controls the volume of both headphones and speakers. To switch between them, press the FN button on the H400 remote.

For the DAC, consider the Topping D10 Balanced or SMSL D6s.

Thank you very much! I have a lot to learn lol

 

[propaganda1]

I have a semi-related question if you don't mind. Do the DAC output VRMs matter? Both the Topping D10 Balanced and the SMSL D6s output approx. 4vrms, but I have seen some balanced DAC's output 5vrms, would a higher output be an advantage, or are 4vrms and 5vrms the same in my instance.

I appreciate your help!

 

[DVDdoug]

You should have plenty of signal voltage. The JBL has switchable sensitivity for pro & consumer Line Level.

I didn't check the specs for the headphone amp but 4V is more than enough to drive most headphones so the amplifier will likely be attenuating the voltage while boosting the current & power as required to drive a headphone. (You need the headphone amp to drive the lower impedance even if the line output has enough voltage when driving a normal line-input input.)

As a rule, line outputs have enough extra signal and line inputs have enough extra gain so that everything works. You can sometimes have trouble mixing consumer line level sources with pro power amps.

 

[AnalogSteph]

For the DAC, consider the Topping D10 Balanced or SMSL D6s.

Or one of the gazillion decent audio interfaces available at the price point, which would provide a microphone input or two for a measurement mic (pretty much a must have for the speaker department IMO). In fact, you could squeeze in both if you don't mind going for a "classic" CS4272 based job if need be (like the £120 Tascam US-2x2HR - note that it has some excess gain and can reach its maximum output of about +20 dBu or ~8 Vrms at the 3 o'clock master volume position already).

I have a semi-related question if you don't mind. Do the DAC output VRMs matter? Both the Topping D10 Balanced and the SMSL D6s output approx. 4vrms, but I have seen some balanced DAC's output 5vrms, would a higher output be an advantage, or are 4vrms and 5vrms the same in my instance.

The Moondrop Cosmo is rated 100 dB / 1 Vrms, that's roughly K701/DT880-250/HD6x0 terrain. Given the H400's max gain of 14.4 dB (unbalanced out) / 20.4 dB (balanced out), you should have plenty of output even if your source were to only provide 1 Vrms.

DACs with 5 Vrms output generally are models with particularly high dynamic range approaching or exceeding 130 dB(A). Since you already have an amp with a volume control, your requirements are only those for a line-level source, where you tend to need little more than 103 dB(A) at once - the roughly 106-110 dB(A) found in CS4272-based jobs would already be more than sufficient. Given the roughly 20 dB SPL hearing threshold for white noise in headphones (which probably even is a bit higher in IEMs), your possible peak levels would be in hearing damage territory before you hear anything.

The story for JBL 308 MkIIs is similar. They have two sensitivity settings, maxing out at 2 Vrms (+8.3 dBu) and +20.3 dBu for consumer/pro level respectively, and their ADC is capable of a dynamic range of 104 dB(A) or thereabouts. Again, even a relatively modest interface will not be a bottleneck assuming it's not one of those models with 5 V single supply analog stages and fairly wimpy output (e.g. Behringer UMCxxxHD, M-Audio 192|4).

 

[staticV3]

I have a semi-related question if you don't mind. Do the DAC output VRMs matter?

While up to a point, having higher DAC output voltage is not a bad thing, the main reason brands are pushing beyond 4V is to game the SINAD test and perhaps to win informal listening comparisons since a slightly louder DAC sounds better to the ears.


In other words, you should not buy a DAC just because it outputs 5V instead of 4, but if your chosen DAC happens to output more than 4V, then that's just fine.

Just be aware of the points above when comparing SINAD or perceived sound.

 

[propaganda1]

Thank you everybody for the detailed responses, greatly appreciated