# Need a budget DAC for my workstation



## jallenlabs (Feb 10, 2019)

I am moving away from built in sound cards and moving the dac to outside the pc.  I am looking for a budget dac around $100.  So far I am comparing the Shiit Modi 3 and the Topping D10 Mini.  Leaning towards the Shiit because of reviews but then again its 40 bucks more and 20 outside my budget.  I just picked up Presonus 4.5 studio monitors.  Anybody have experience with external DACs wanna give some advice?  Thanks in advance.


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## stinger608 (Feb 10, 2019)

Here is a thread that an awesome member @ShRoOmAlIsTiC has posted in the for sale thread:

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/massdrop-objective2-amp-fiio-k3-dac-amp.251916/

He's a great guy to work with and all his sale items are in near perfect condition.


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## Crap Daddy (Feb 10, 2019)

I'm assuming those Presonus are active speakers, if you have optical out or coaxial from your mobo you can pick up a FiiO D03K Taishan DAC, it's cheap and good, line out to your speakers.


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## jallenlabs (Feb 10, 2019)

Thanks for your replies.  Yeah, they are active.  They have rca and xlr inputs.  That FiiO is not exactly what Im looking for.  Looks like the Shiit is only 99 US at their store.  Thats more inline with what Im thinking.  I like the Topping though as it has replaceable OP chip and its 10 bucks cheaper.  I remember replacing op amps on a Gigabyte motherboard back in the day.  That board had the best headphone sound and I like to tinker with stuff.  Anyway, anybody using USB DACs wanna let me know your experiences?


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## FordGT90Concept (Feb 10, 2019)

I like my Micca Origen+ more than the Schiit Modi 2 it replaced.  The Modi died after 18 months of use and Schiit tech support/customer service was nonexistent.

You would have to use a 3.5mm to RCA breakout cable with Micca Origen+.  Nice thing is it has front and rear outputs on the device so no cable mess and still has pre-amp volume control.  Can even pop headphones in the front to mute the speakers (I think).

I have the Origen+ which uses a Via chip (G2 version uses a C-Media chip).  With the Via chip, I recommend using Microsoft's USB Audio Class 2.0 driver which is included with the latest version of Windows 10.  It's actually better with that generic driver than with Via's driver.  On Mac OS X/Linux, just use their USB Audio Class 2.0 drivers (plug and play).

I use mine at 192 kHz/24-bit digital.  The only problem I've had with it is that the volume knob is definitely digital, not analog.  It gets L/R imbalance at low volumes.  I believe it already outlived the Modi 2 with daily use.


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## Aquinus (Feb 10, 2019)

jallenlabs said:


> Anyway, anybody using USB DACs wanna let me know your experiences?


I have a FiiO Alpen e17k head phone amp and dac that I use via USB and I've been pretty happy with it. Only issue I had was using it on a USB 3.0 port in Linux. I didn't try to fix it, I just used a 2.0 port on the hub on my keyboard when I'm at home. I also had no issue connecting it to my iPhone via USB adapter (caveat is that you have to turn off charging on the DAC or it won't work right when connected to the phone,) and to a Macbook Pro via a 3.0 port and 2.0 hub. All in all, I've been very happy with it. I can't speak to other USB audio devices, but this one was pretty good.


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## R-T-B (Feb 11, 2019)

FordGT90Concept said:


> The Modi died after 18 months of use and Schiit tech support/customer service was nonexistent.



Ironically, my experience has been the opposite:  They'll pop you an RMA number for just about anything.

My Modi Multibit aparently had some updated firmware at one point.  Despite having all the tools to program it myself, and simply asking for the dump of the firmware, Schiit insisted I send it in.


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## jallenlabs (Feb 14, 2019)

So I think Ive made a decision after reading reviews, watching videos, etc.  I am going to go with the Shiit Modi and USB decrapifier.  They've got em in B-stock for less than retail with full warranty.  I'm also looking at a line conditioner for my pc and audio equipment which should clean things up a bit too.


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