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Never realized how much an improvement an external DAC can be over a built in Headphone Jack

aphex

aphex

Moderator<br>All Things Apple
Moderator
I think over time I had just gotten used to the usual blips, clicks and hums of the output jacks on my laptops. Finally snagged a firewire DAC, the Miglia HarmonyAudio HA02. Its not a normal DAC, its actually a Firewire Audio Interface meant for getting dual line-in jacks into the Macbook, but it serves well as a Dac straight to my amp as well. Originally came out a few years ago at $300, its not $35 at Amazon, figured I might as well try it out.

The sound floor is SILENT now, beautifully blissfully silent. Sounds damn good if you ask me. Going straight out of the line out into my Mini^3 amp w/ ATH-ESW9 headphones.

Only downside is that all the outputs (4 of them) are all 1/8" mini, but for the savings over other DAC's I figured it was worth it.
 
Is it basically an external soundcard? My dell laptop has the annoying noises/blurps, etc. and I was looking at the EMU 0202 for 99$ which is basically an external soundcard/dac/amp

My laptop also has firewire I think, it is a small connection similar in size to the small USB connections. I've never used firewire before though...

Wow, just looked at the link, and the unit is pretty huge!
 
Originally posted by: Tiamat
Is it basically an external soundcard? My dell laptop has the annoying noises/blurps, etc. and I was looking at the EMU 0202 for 99$ which is basically an external soundcard/dac/amp

My laptop also has firewire I think, it is a small connection similar in size to the small USB connections. I've never used firewire before though...

Wow, just looked at the link, and the unit is pretty huge!
Click to expand...

Its a decent size, about 7-8" long, 4" deep. It worked natively with Core Audio in OSX and I've heard they have Windows Drivers available, but one review mentioned they were kinda shoddy, though it was just a single review so I dunno how much weight to put in that.

I have heard good things about the EMU 0202, as well as the 0404, but I haven't heard them personally so I can't really comment.
 
Originally posted by: aphex
Originally posted by: Tiamat
Is it basically an external soundcard? My dell laptop has the annoying noises/blurps, etc. and I was looking at the EMU 0202 for 99$ which is basically an external soundcard/dac/amp

My laptop also has firewire I think, it is a small connection similar in size to the small USB connections. I've never used firewire before though...

Wow, just looked at the link, and the unit is pretty huge!
Click to expand...

Its a decent size, about 7-8" long, 4" deep. It worked natively with Core Audio in OSX and I've heard they have Windows Drivers available, but one review mentioned they were kinda shoddy, though it was just a single review so I dunno how much weight to put in that.

I have heard good things about the EMU 0202, as well as the 0404, but I haven't heard them personally so I can't really comment.
Click to expand...

yeah, i'm a little leary of the windows drivers, esp. with my lack of experience with firewire. However, at 35$ what a friggen bargain!
 
Nice to hear about your experiences. I'm actually also seriously considering getting a DAC to hook up to my ATH-AD700s. I don't get any clicking noises on my laptop, but there's always a fairly noticeable amount of background static coloring everything that comes out of the headphone output. I'm looking at the Zero DAC, which goes for around $160-$180 with the USB adapter. But $35 for the one you ended up getting, that's a pretty sweet deal.
 
That's a sound recording interface not a DAC but glad you noticed the improvement. Onboard audio on most lappies is horrendously noisy but since most are using the speakers they never realize the noise floor.
 
Originally posted by: Loreena
That's a sound recording interface not a DAC but glad you noticed the improvement. Onboard audio on most lappies is horrendously noisy but since most are using the speakers they never realize the noise floor.
Click to expand...

Actually, I can hear the noise through my laptop speakers 🙁

I'm hoping the Emu 0202 comes down in price for cybermonday maybe 🙂
 
The 0202 is a fantastic buy, even if you just use it for headphones / 2ch output to speakers. It also has great mic inputs.

Seriously. Buy one.

The headphone amp isn't crazy powerful, but at near max volume it powers my Senn 580s just fine. My uber efficient and bassy Sony MDR-7506s are plenty loud at 50%. If only they were more comfortable and had cooler midrange 🙁

~MiSfit
 
Originally posted by: Tiamat
Originally posted by: Loreena
That's a sound recording interface not a DAC but glad you noticed the improvement. Onboard audio on most lappies is horrendously noisy but since most are using the speakers they never realize the noise floor.
Click to expand...

Actually, I can hear the noise through my laptop speakers 🙁

I'm hoping the Emu 0202 comes down in price for cybermonday maybe 🙂
Click to expand...

Yeah I hear it if turned up all the way. The noise is really bad if I copy something over the wireless network.
 
I'm actually using the headphone out on my laptop's dock, but if I connect to the laptop itself, it's even worse (bleeps and bloops and other noises).
 
Originally posted by: AmberClad
I'm actually using the headphone out on my laptop's dock, but if I connect to the laptop itself, it's even worse (bleeps and bloops and other noises).
Click to expand...

interesting, i didn't know the laptop dock would make much of a difference. Does the laptop dock go through USB?
 
Well, the laptops that use docks seem to have the connectors at the bottom of the housing -- I assume it's proprietary and varies from model to model and manufacturer to manufacturer. I'm guessing the important part is that the headphone-out on the dock is further away from the internal components of the laptop itself -- the ones that generate the most EMI. Course, the dock itself does have it's own electronics inside, so there's still some noise.
 
I may have spoken too soon regarding my praise for the Miglia. Its been getting a kernel panic once a day since I started using it. Seems like a common issue with FW Audio Interfaces in OSX 🙁
 
Originally posted by: aphex
I may have spoken too soon regarding my praise for the Miglia. Its been getting a kernel panic once a day since I started using it. Seems like a common issue with FW Audio Interfaces in OSX 🙁
Click to expand...

what is a kernel panic?
 
Originally posted by: Tiamat
Originally posted by: aphex
I may have spoken too soon regarding my praise for the Miglia. Its been getting a kernel panic once a day since I started using it. Seems like a common issue with FW Audio Interfaces in OSX 🙁
Click to expand...

what is a kernel panic?
Click to expand...

It's the 'nix equivalent of a stop in windows.

And no it's not a common issue with all firewire interfaces. MOTU is rock solid in OSX.
 
Originally posted by: Loreena
Originally posted by: Tiamat
Originally posted by: aphex
I may have spoken too soon regarding my praise for the Miglia. Its been getting a kernel panic once a day since I started using it. Seems like a common issue with FW Audio Interfaces in OSX 🙁
Click to expand...

what is a kernel panic?
Click to expand...

It's the 'nix equivalent of a stop in windows.

And no it's not a common issue with all firewire interfaces. MOTU is rock solid in OSX.
Click to expand...

ah, that doesn tsound good!
 
Just to chime in, yes...quality DACs are extremely important. This is one of the reasons to purchase a quality CD player - you're paying for the analog output.
 
Originally posted by: Loreena
Originally posted by: Tiamat
Originally posted by: aphex
I may have spoken too soon regarding my praise for the Miglia. Its been getting a kernel panic once a day since I started using it. Seems like a common issue with FW Audio Interfaces in OSX 🙁
Click to expand...

what is a kernel panic?
Click to expand...

It's the 'nix equivalent of a stop in windows.

And no it's not a common issue with all firewire interfaces. MOTU is rock solid in OSX.
Click to expand...

I found this - http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=459532
 
Originally posted by: aphex
I may have spoken too soon regarding my praise for the Miglia. Its been getting a kernel panic once a day since I started using it. Seems like a common issue with FW Audio Interfaces in OSX 🙁
Click to expand...

That's never happened with my Apogee Ensemble. 😉
 
Well, maybe i'm an idiot. Its been disconnected for a day now and I just had another KP. Hrmph, gonna uninstall Parallels 4 and see if that helps.
 
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