dac for mac mini noob

[Sossity]

I recently bought some good headphones to use for listening to FLAC and mp3 files on mac mini. I have been looking at the post your headphones thread, and some were mentioning facts and how they improve sound.

I am not an audiophile yet, but want decent sound without having to pump up my volume.

would a DAC help? is it worth it? so far I have just plugged my headphones right into the phone jack on my Mac mini.

If I get one, any suggestions? I would like to keep it under $70.00

 

[Sossity]

Nobody has any idea what or about using a DAC?

 

[HFoletto]

Hi, how are you?

Well, at the 70 USD price tag, I'm not sure an external DAC will make a noticeable difference. I mean, inside your Mac Mini there's a DAC, but you want a better one, and you'll need also a headphone amp, so possibly the difference won't be really noticeable.
However, if you want one anyway, I have had good experiences with FiiO E10. It's a portable USB DAC and headphone amp. I also heard good things about the E09K.

If you would like to spend more, let me know, so I can help you

 

[Outrigger]

I recently bought some good headphones to use for listening to FLAC and mp3 files on mac mini. I have been looking at the post your headphones thread, and some were mentioning facts and how they improve sound.

I am not an audiophile yet, but want decent sound without having to pump up my volume.

would a DAC help? is it worth it? so far I have just plugged my headphones right into the phone jack on my Mac mini.

If I get one, any suggestions? I would like to keep it under $70.00

For something under $70, you won't really notice a difference.

 

[Sossity]

well, I did see a couple of unforced dac2s on ebay for under $70.00, would they be worth it? I looked on amazon and they got mostly positive reviews

If my Mac mini has a built in dac, is there something in system settings where I can have the mini use my better dac instead of its built in dac? because it seems kind of odd to have both of DACs running, wouldn't that muddle the sound as it would be being filtered by both.

 

[Agent47]

This will give you a clean line out signal:

http://www.amazon.com/Turtle-Beach-Advantage-Digital-Adapter/dp/B0036VO4X4

It's cheap ($26) and works reasonably well. It does produce cleaner audio than the built-in DACs. My Air and Mini have great DACs but also lots of system noise, and this little device eliminates that.

Note that this is NOT a headphone amp-if you have some Beyerdynamic or Grados that need higher drive current this isn't what you want. This will provide a clean line-out, which I assume you are amplifying somehow. Check out products from Fiio for good amplifiers, or this combo DAC/headphone amp for $90:

http://www.amazon.com/Fiio-E07K-Por...s&ie=UTF8&qid=1402525402&sr=1-5&keywords=fiio

 

[Sossity]

thanks for the reply, I tried one of those sub micro line outs, and I found it to be terrible, the sound was bad, it was not the exact model linked here, but one like it that I got cheap off ebay.

How would I get my Mac mini to use just the folio DAC, or is it ok to have both the built in Macs DAC and the folio working?

 

[a.coward]

I would tend to agree with the previous poster: it'll be hard to get
anything decent for under $70 and "know what you're getting", so
to say.

However, go up to the $100 to $150 range and options will open
up dramatically. Mind you, you say you got a "good pair of
headphones" but never mention what you got. "Good" is a very
subjective word (and hopefully, your idea of "good" is not Beats :-})
You also need to realize that you need to match your DAC/Amp
to your headphones not just in term of acoustic pairing but also
in technical terms such as impedance.

Honestly, search computeraudiophile.com or head-fi.org as I'm sure
this topic has been brought up many times before.