I said Fiio E1 I Meant - Q1 : http://www.head-fi.org/t/780726/fiios-new-q1-portable-dac-amp-lets-drink-to-happy-listening
On 24 May 2016 at 18:22, Joel Wirāmu Pauling <j...@aenertia.net> wrote: > Rather than going with a Consumer card. Head to a Audio/Music store. What > you are looking for is a USB - Audio interface; they generally have much > better Signal to Noise ration, hardware mixers and Ballanced XLR outputs > and Inputs. Something like the focusrite scarlet. > > Alternatively if you are just after a simple DAC/AMP without Inputs - then > I throughly recommend The Cheap FIio E1 - Which can be had for around 50$ > and have 96hkz/24bit DAC decoding I have several and they can be used as > just a headphone amp as well as with android. > > Basically is it doesn't have an external power source or a built in > battery - then avoid it - especially if you plan on attaching it to > unbalanced speaker/desk amps. The only Consumer manufacturer dac I would > consider in this class is the Creative E5 - but it's several hundred more > than the above mentioned Fiio E1 and you only really would need it if you > want bluetooth and input options. > > > > On 24 May 2016 at 11:27, Martin McCormick <marti...@suddenlink.net> wrote: > >> I went to a local electronics emporium and asked for a >> USB sound card that might possibly work under Linux. I have been >> messing with Linux and USB long enough to know that a number of >> USB sound cards mostly work well enough for one to play and >> record stereo but some special features may not work without >> proprietary drivers available to Windows or Mac users. These >> features are usually not show stoppers so there is no real >> problem. >> >> The only USB sound card they had was a SoundBlaster XG5 >> designed for the gaming market but, I thought, this is probably >> pretty good and, if most everything on it works, how can you go >> wrong? >> >> Well, here's how. Firstly, I am not bashing Creative Labs >> or the product itself but this is what happens when things become >> overly specialized. >> >> What I was looking for was a sound card which would >> record stereo. They usually will play, also but recording two >> line-level channels is a must. >> >> This is a really neat little device in that it has >> optical line input and output ports and a stereo headphone output >> but there is only a microphone input--(game over.) >> >> I did power it up and ran amixer on it to see if maybe >> there is more to that Mic input than originally meets the eye but there >> is actually less. There are several PCM inputs and maybe one is >> the microphone but it isn't clear what each PCM channel does. >> Again, if there are not two discrete analog line-level audio >> inputs, it can not be used as a normal sound card. >> >> I rarely need to return products to a store, but I am >> glad this one has a reasonable return policy because the device >> is so highly specialized that there is no way to use it for >> anything but playback only or as, in a game, good sound with a >> Mic for one to talk over. >> >> Basically, are there any good new USB sound cards these >> days that record and play stereo under Linux? >> >> Thanks for any suggestions. >> >> Martin McCormick >> >> >
