DAC: Laptop>DAC>Desktop Speakers/Headphones

[Miskatonic]

http://www.amazon.com/NuForce-uDAC-2...pd_sim_sbs_e_7

Has anyone used a product like this or similar to it? I'm not interested in hooking up my Laptop to my home theater receiver, just to desktop speakers or my headphones.

[RE2]

Your laptop should have an headphone out jack... plug the speakers or headphone directly into the jack.

[Miskatonic]

Doing that won't improve the quality of the sound source, given it is using the sound card that came with the laptop and is lousy like most laptop sound cards are. This is supposed to bypass the sound card and convert the signal, improving the quality of the audio, which you plug your headphones/desktop speakers into.

[RE2]

Hmm haven't tried it specs look vague and nothing special. I think there may be better units out there. After shopping around a bit I'd spend the extra 20 or so dollars and get this;
http://reviews.cnet.com/external-aud...7-8751383.html

[Tin]

The NuForce is a very nice piece...great sound quality and sufficient power to drive a set of cans up to 300 ohms or so. Note that the uDAC2 is for headphone use only. To drive speakers, you will need a standalone amp. I really like the t-amps, theyre great for nearfield speakers with decent efficiency. I use a Muse EX2 that I picked up for $50, but Parts Express has some nice offerings as well. Ive been using outboard DACs for the better part of a decade. In a nutshell, for 2 channel audio, you wont find anything better. Even todays snazzy internal sound cards are easily bested by a budget external DAC. Ive run everything from the sub-$100 Entech Number Cruncher, now to a $1000 Benchmark DAC1, and Ive never heard an internal sound card do anything better when it comes to 2 channel listening.