USB DAC With Powered Speakers

[Chet Manley]

I'm considering getting a set of powered 2.1 speakers that I believe must have an internal DAC along with the amplifier stored in the sub box. All of the speakers I'm looking at have a standard red/white stereo input. Am I right to think using a good quality USB DAC between my computer and the speakers would be a bad idea?

 

[ssddx]

are you asking if you need/want an external usb dac or if there is one inside the speakers you are looking at?

if the speakers are only rca input, it doesnt have a dac as its receiving an analog signal. in this case then a dac may be a good idea if you're using a pc and have poor quality onboard.

if the speakers connected with optical, coax or usb then they would have a dac inside as it would be receiving a digital signal not an analog one so would need to convert it.

 

[Chet Manley]

Thank you, considering the digital source (computer) playing digital files I wasn't sure where the conversion was taking place. I'll look into finding a DAC to go with my speakers then. My fear was the speakers would downgrade the higher quality signal back to the same level they'd have output without it. The concern should have been adding amplification to an already amplified speaker.

 

[ssddx]

you may want to list what speakers you were thinking of and what budget you have for a dac.

products like the schiit modi are great little 2.0 dacs for headphones and powered speakers.

good powered speakers on the cheap would be things like mackie cr3/cr4, maudio av30/av40, etc

 

[Chet Manley]

HiVi M10 or something else around that $100 mark. I would like to avoid the typical overly loud and bass filled sound most computer speakers err towards. The choice to go with more portable powered speakers also lets me easily disconnect them from the desktop and watch internet feeds through a laptop on my big screen tv. Gaming/deth metal/action movies do not figure into my usage.

DAC tech is a little more fluid than speakers which tend to stay on the market for a long time. My concern was less which DAC than if using one at all with powered speakers was indeed useful.

 

[ssddx]

the swan hivi m10 is pretty decent. yes, those are powered with analog rca inputs.

you could even use a soundcard like a xonar dx if you wanted. that would provide decent quality sound as well. or external dac if stereo only is fine with you.

using a dac or soundcard is always going to give better audio quality in this situation but how much depends on how detailed and responsive the speakers are. an example would be that a $50 pair of headphones may not be able to tell the difference between low quality streaming audio and high quality easily but on a $150 pair its impossible to listen to the low quality stream because you can hear every single minute detail which of course makes high quality streams sound even better.