Good DAC for DJing?

[Consultant]

Another thread on External Sound Card - but for DJ:
Looking for a good external sound card for DJing. Mine is approaching 5 years old and needs replacement.

Target price $200 or less, but can go up if it'll increase quality dramatically. For Mac of course. So requirements are:

- High quality
- Line level output preferred
- Bus powered
- RCA or balanced outputs (don't want 3.5mm!)
- Can be either USB or Firewire
- Prefer not to have minimum number of inputs (say close to zero) to keep it small

Would appreciate it if you can suggest some external sound cards, prices, and reviews. Thanks!

(Yes I read http://guides.macrumors.com/DJing_on_the_Mac#External_sound_cards
However, those all have inputs that I don't really need)

Yes I see a thread "Best Sound Output" but the original post was made over 2 years ago. (Holy thread resurrection! Batman!)

 

[Consultant]

So looking for something more of a dedicated DAC. (but dedicated DAC seems to be expensive, and I don't know where to find them. any suggestions on those?).

Have a list of some sound cards that I am interested in looking into more. Any of these you avoid or recommend? For OS X of course. Mobile.

Tapco by Mackie Link, $150
http://www.amazon.com/Tapco-Mackie-...ref=pd_ts_MI_80?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments

Behringer FCA202, $69 + shipping (ugh, price has since been increased by $10)
http://www.amazon.com/Behringer-FCA...ref=pd_ts_MI_45?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments

M-Audio Firewire Solo US35030, $166
http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-Firew.../ref=pd_ts_MI_3?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments

Yamaha GO46, $200
http://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-GO46-M...ref=pd_ts_MI_39?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments

Edirol FA-66 $289
http://www.amazon.com/Edirol-FA-66-...&s=musical-instruments&qid=1209865665&sr=8-23

Echo Audiofire 2 $200
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ECHAUDIOFIRE2

 

[Wolfgang]

Out of curiosity, what software are you using? (not that this is that relevant to which sound card you get, just curious as most DJ software companies make pretty much what you're looking for)

Wolfgang

 

[Consultant]

Good portion of my music are uncompressed / loseless thus looking for a good output.

The app I use don't really matter as the genre I DJ don't need any mixing or manipulation of music. People in this genre mostly use iTunes.

 

[EwanP]

Would be interested to know what genre that is - surely any genre could benefit from the tools, FX etc that specific software can provide?

Anyway I use an echo audiofire 4, and can thoroughly recommend echo products.

 

[Consultant]

The genre is ArgentineTango, which is sort of similar to ballroom (without the gaaayness).

Mostly like classical and latin music. There is mix of instrumentals, vocals.

Good amount of material are old, from 1930s to 1950s (many original masters are lost in a fire, so many recordings are transfers from LPs) and don't have much bass. I typially need to enhance bass with hardware (I try to use hardware when possible).

There are also recordings made within the past 10-20 years and those are better recorded.