Do I really need a DAC and Amp?

[Krazen]

Krazen here.

So do you really need a DAC and Amp in order to obtain the best sound quality outta your PC? Or the on-board sound card should be fine?

[Guest]

It can always get better, but the question is do you need it to?

What headphone are you trying to drive?

[DrMacintosh]

If you're just playing games, no. If you're doing music production, yes. 

[MrDesdinova]

For most people, it isn't really necessary. I'd say you wouldn't be able to notice any difference unless you had a 200 bucks headset or a 5.1 speaker installation. EIther you're an audiophile, in which case you'll be listening to a ton of hq audio content, in which case you're going to love a DAC+amp setup, or you're a semiregular pc user and won't tell much of a difference.

[rice guru]

48 minutes ago, Krazen said:

Krazen here.

So do you really need a DAC and Amp in order to obtain the best sound quality outta your PC? Or the on-board sound card should be fine?

what headphones do you have? only get a dac amp if

1. you have good headphones that would scale well. 

2. your headphones are not loud enough 

3.you are hearing noise from your motherboard

most people dont need it. on board audio has improved a lot over the years to the point where it's good enough.  if your running a headset or a low impedance headphone your really dont need one. but if you want to get into the audio game and really want to start driving headphones that are like 150 ohms and up then you can really start considering grabbing a dac and amp. 

[GoldenSound]

In general, onboard sound is pretty bad compared to a half-decent external DAC.

BUT:

-You'll get better sound spending £200-300 on good headphones than you would £150 on headphones and £150 on a DAC, so get good headphones first. Or save up for some high end headphones and a dac/amp setup at the same time.

 

-You won't benefit from an Amp unless your headphones are hard to drive. The majority of consumer headphones are made to be sensitive and easy to drive so that they can be used with phones and PC outputs etc. So an amp wouldn't help

[OnionFromOrion]

DAC + amp are things you really shouldn't bother considering unless there is something wrong with your onboard. For example with my old laptop I get a hiss when plugged in, so I would use my old FiiO E17, but for most setups the improvements are marginal, if not negligible. 

 

On most days I honestly don't feel any need to hook up my E17 for my AKG Q701, let alone the far easier to drive stuff I got. 

 

Now if you have one of those Sennheiser HD6xx variants or whatever, an O2+ODAC might do something for you (I believe Linus has this setup), but don't go out and get DAC+amps if you are running Apple earpods. 

[rice guru]

3 hours ago, OnionFromOrion said:

DAC + amp are things you really shouldn't bother considering unless there is something wrong with your onboard. For example with my old laptop I get a hiss when plugged in, so I would use my old FiiO E17, but for most setups the improvements are marginal, if not negligible. 

 

On most days I honestly don't feel any need to hook up my E17 for my AKG Q701, let alone the far easier to drive stuff I got. 

 

Now if you have one of those Sennheiser HD6xx variants or whatever, an O2+ODAC might do something for you (I believe Linus has this setup), but don't go out and get DAC+amps if you are running Apple earpods. 

O2 odac unfortunately is now outdated. But yeah basically everyone on this thread answered the same way.

[LeSheen]

Only reason I use a dac is my onboard dac software isn't that great and would refuse to connect my speakers and gaming headset at the same time.

 

It's also to have my speakers and headphones connected to the dac and my gaming heaset to the motherboard dac. Have easy access to a volume knob and have a shorter headphone cable. Makes it easier in windows to switch between output. Just select the interface (with a shortcut).

 

I bought the fairly inexpensive nuforce 3 from (Mass)drop

[Krazen]

On 6/23/2019 at 6:16 PM, rice guru said:

what headphones do you have? only get a dac amp if

1. you have good headphones that would scale well. 

2. your headphones are not loud enough 

3.you are hearing noise from your motherboard

most people dont need it. on board audio has improved a lot over the years to the point where it's good enough.  if your running a headset or a low impedance headphone your really dont need one. but if you want to get into the audio game and really want to start driving headphones that are like 150 ohms and up then you can really start considering grabbing a dac and amp. 

My Headphones is a Sony Hi-Fi audio Model from China, Cost about $150-200. I have been hearing noises from my motherboard, but only if I plug it into the front headphone jack on my case or the headphone jack on my motherboard. When I plug it into by BenQ XL2411P Monitor the noise disappears but the sound was barely hearable. Should I buy a DAC and Amp If it is like this?

[rice guru]

19 minutes ago, Krazen said:

My Headphones is a Sony Hi-Fi audio Model from China, Cost about $150-200. I have been hearing noises from my motherboard, but only if I plug it into the front headphone jack on my case or the headphone jack on my motherboard. When I plug it into by BenQ XL2411P Monitor the noise disappears but the sound was barely hearable. Should I buy a DAC and Amp If it is like this?

sounds like it. what is the model? hifi and the price tells me next to nothing