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Thread: Driverless USB DACs

  1. #1
    Join Date: Oct 2008

    Location: Southampton, UK and Nicosia, Cyprus

    Posts: 1,139

    Default Driverless USB DACs

    I don't see how these can be up to much without drivers that prevent Windows resampling.


    Surely XP needs ASIO drivers and Vista WASAPI?

    OS X should be fine.

    What am I missing
    Brian

    In Southampton: Raspberry Pi 4 running PiCorePlayer, Beresford Caiman SEG, Quad 77 Int Amp and CD Player, AVI Neutron 4, Sennheiser HD25 headphones.
    In Nicosia: Small Format HTPC, Beresford 7520 ,Quad 405-2, Quart 980s German Tower Loudspeakers.

  2. #2
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Norfolk, UK

    Posts: 6,209
    I'm BigBobJoylove.

    Default

    I guess it depends on what the standard audio USB output is configured to. I've never used MS for audio output so I'm not sure what the interface is like, but given that Windows appears to need drivers for everything to operate to its full potential, I'd imagine a "driverless" USB DAC wouldn't be much cop. With OSX it's different (as you've hinted at) due to Apple core audio, but I wouldn't like to guess at the level of quality on a Windows platform.

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  3. #3
    Join Date: Feb 2008

    Location: Edinburgh

    Posts: 311

    Default

    What about Media Monkey or such?

  4. #4
    Join Date: Nov 2008

    Location: NE Scotland

    Posts: 496
    I'm Jim.

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    I'm looking for a portable USB headphone DAC/amp. This is just to take with me when I'm away to improve the quality of listening from an XP laptop (no SPDIF out) through a pair of Westone UM-2's.

    I have been looking at the Trends Audio UD 10.1 and the Carat HD1V.

    Anyone any thoughts as to it would be a worthwhile shot in improving the sound?
    Naim ND5 XS, nDAC, XP5 XS, 202, HC, NAPSC, 250.2, B&W 804s.
    AVR350, B&W HTM4, Gallo.
    Samsung, Oppo.

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