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Help If Dac is Needed.

voyton570
By voyton570
in Audio
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Hello, I am new to high end audio, as of now I am running Sennheiser pc363d with a cheap Amazon vacuum tube amp.  I was looking to upgrade to some HD650's or HD6XX and bought a Little dot mk2. My questions is should i use onboard sound (rampage v mobo),should I get an external dac, or is one needed. I heard you do not want any preamp when using vacuum tube amp and was trying to find a usb dac to rca, but I'm not sure if looking in the right direction. 

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Bah, just try it with your mobo DAC first and see if you like it, no need to get an external DAC unless your mobo DAC cannot handle the format you want.....like DSD. Just connect your onboard audio with a stereo 3.5mm jack to L/R RCA jacks (usually on in red, the other in white) which connects to your LD Mk2 and you should be good to go.

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11 minutes ago, voyton570 said:

Hello, I am new to high end audio, as of now I am running Sennheiser pc363d with a cheap Amazon vacuum tube amp.  I was looking to upgrade to some HD650's or HD6XX and bought a Little dot mk2. My questions is should i use onboard sound (rampage v mobo),should I get an external dac, or is one needed. I heard you do not want any preamp when using vacuum tube amp and was trying to find a usb dac to rca, but I'm not sure if looking in the right direction. 

from my experience (i.e. low sample size), my mobo sound is actually better quality and has less buzz than the two cheap external dac's that ive tried. 

my favorite headphones at the moment are AudioTechinca ATH M50X's and my Asus mobo pushes them just fine. although not the most demanding headphones, a comfortable listening volume is around a volume of 10 out of 100. i would check out your mobo's sound before spending money on a dac.

also i do not claim to be an expert audiophile or anything 

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