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DAC & headphone amp for PC

tar

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Aloha,

since weeks I am looking for a decent solution to connect active speakers and headphones to my PC.

(Parenthesis: Actually, I am temporarily using a Marantz SR-4001 with 2x Nubert Nubox 310 and a Denon AH-D2000 in my home office on the PC. The Marantz and the Nuberts should go back to the living room and be replaced by active speakers (I think the Dynaudio BM5 MKIII could fit) and it is time for the Denon to be replaced or refurbished (unsure, yet).)

I want to use a balanced connection to the active speakers and I want to be able to switch easily between speakers and headphones, i.e. without switching on/off particular devices or plugging the headphones in/out and I also do not want to change the volume each time when I switch (IMHO the best solution for this would be to switch the sound device from Windows by nircmd directly which only works if you chose a separate output way for speakers and headphones, of course).

The first recommendation I got was a Questyle CMA400i which I kept in mind but as it is a bit expensive and I am unsure about possibly damaging the speakers (when switching back from headphones to speakers on high volume) I began looking for reasonable alternatives. By the way, the RME ADI-2 DAC is not a reasonable option as I do not need its equalizer function on the PC, at all - the app Equalizer APO can fulfill this part.

Therefore, I was pointed to the Behringer UMC204HD which is rather ugly, likely needs an additional headphones amp and only has faked balanced outputs.

Looking further, I stumbled across the Khadas Tone Board and the JDS Labs Atom Amp as very good solution for the output to my headphones. A good replacement for the Khadas Tone Board would be the Topping D10 as it comes completely build with a case and a display. Furthermore, a reasonable replacement for the combination of KTB/D10+Atom would be the Topping DX3 Pro which has slightly less power than the Atom. The Topping DX3 Pro would not be a reasonable replacement as it has less amp power than the Atom and it's DAC is not as good as the D10.

But there still was no solution for the balanced connection to the active speakers. So, I found the SMSL SU-8. As it costs more than twice than the D10 the SU-8 only makes sense if you can get rid of the second DAC for the headphones which is possible if you use it as DAC for both (speakers and headphones). Then I would prefer to use the SMSL SH-8 as headphone amp (which would also look better on the desktop). But it seems there is no easy way of switching between speakers and headphones which would result in needing an additional DAC (and amp, as appropriate) for the headphones.

Now, reaching a price region of around 400 to 500 EUR the Topping DX7s becomes interesting where you can switch the output per remote control - but I am still concerned about the mentioned problem of possibly damaging my speakers (as with the CMA400i).

Perhaps someone here has another suggestion?

Thanks in advance and esp. @amirm for his exceptional effort helping newbies to understand what is worth buying :)
 
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Crane

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Get the SU-8 with the atom and just use the remote (hide the SU-8) If you dont need a balanced headphone amp, probably the best choice.

You could try to find a splitter/switch box for XLR one going to the active speaker other to SH-8
 
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gvl

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I doubt you will damage active speakers even if you accidentally switch to full volume unless the DAC produces abnormally high voltage and even then. Active speakers should be designed to handle the typical full scale balanced input voltage and also should have overload cuttoff. If there a volume control on the speakers you can turn it down to ensure they don't get too loud should an accident happen. Using passive speakers with a separate power amp is a different story.
 
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tar

tar

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You could try to find a splitter/switch box for XLR one going to the active speaker other to SH-8
I found those three choices of which the MC3 seems to be the best for my use case:
- Coleman Audio LS3
- IMG Stageline LSP-102
- Nobsound Little Bear MC3

It would be a bit ugly next to SU-8 and SH-8 but I think I could live with it in a nice little rack as then I just could switch with one knob on the MC3.

Active speakers should be designed to handle the typical full scale balanced input voltage and also should have overload cuttoff. If there a volume control on the speakers you can turn it down to ensure they don't get too loud should an accident happen.
Thanks, but this does not help me much :)
 
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tar

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JFYI: after reading about issues with SMSL and Topping, I finally decided to try the Questyle CMA400i with the stand and transparent cover. It looks amazing on the desktop.

I tested the optical and USB connection (no cables included). Unfortunately, somehow I instantly broke a pin on the toslink holder (dust cap) but managed to fix the cable by fumbleing the lose cap before inserting the cable and it holds. Meanwhile, I switched to USB and the USB drivers work straight away in Windows 10.

Now, I could theoretically use up to 32 bit 384 KHz and DOP128 or DSD256 but my music sources are almost all 44.1 KHz. So, I cannot hear any difference between optical and USB and between the native sample rate and 192 KHz+ or DOP/DSD. Furthermore, the playback is not smooth with 384 KHz (slight dropouts), DOP128 & DSD128 (considerable dropouts) and DSD256 (of course). I am still figuring out if there is any benefit of upsampling, at all.

Anyway, the CMA400i has more than enough power for my Denon AH-D2000, even on low gain (but they only have 32 Ohm - so they are easy to drive). The volume knob even stays below 9 o'clock to drive my KS Digital C88-Reference.
 

CRKebschull

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tar

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Thanks but now I have an all-in-one device.

I use the Behringer Monitor2USB at my computer. I have no idea if it passes muster performance-wise but it checks all of the boxes for me and my listening at the computer is not what I’d consider critical listening. 2 headphone outs, usb out on computer to DAC, balanced ins & outs, continuously variable crossfeed for headphones, gets the digital signal out of the computer unharmed, big old volume knob, etc.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MONITOR2USB--behringer-monitor2usb
Please check if your Behringer interface has real or faked balanced outputs. Furthermore, Behringer is known for driver issues. If everything works for you: be happy :)

Meanwhile, I was able to solve the dropouts with DSD/DoP by increasing the buffer.
 
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