Do exist audiophile PCIe DAC cards?

[matthias]

Hi guys,

 

I made a Google search and found no one audiophile PCIe DAC card.

 

Really?

 

Matt

[botrytis]

Sure there is....

 

EVGA - Products - EVGA NU Audio Card, 712-P1-AN01-KR, Lifelike Audio, PCIe, RGB LED, Designed with Audio Note (UK) - 712-P1-AN01-KR

 

That was the first hit for me from Google. There is a thread on this card, on this forum somewhere.

[matthias]

20 minutes ago, botrytis said:

Sure there is....

 

EVGA - Products - EVGA NU Audio Card, 712-P1-AN01-KR, Lifelike Audio, PCIe, RGB LED, Designed with Audio Note (UK) - 712-P1-AN01-KR

 

That was the first hit for me from Google. There is a thread on this card, on this forum somewhere.

 

In the same price range there is another one:

 

https://en.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-ae-9

 

But I would both not regard as audiophile, the target seems to be gaming.

 

I thought a real audiophile one maybe in the price range of 1k+.......

 

Matt

[botrytis]

2 minutes ago, matthias said:

 

In the same price range there is another one:

 

https://en.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-ae-9

 

But I would both not regard as audiophile, the target seem to be gaming.

 

I thought a real audiophile one maybe in the price range of 1k+.......

 

Matt

 

I think you might be surprised. I have a SB Z in my PC and is is great for the price and sounds good as wall. Don't let the gaming bit throw you off. The SB cards can do exclusive mode in JRiver, that I have loaded on my PC. But, I also have a TEAC UD-501 DAC, so that is my primary for music.

[matthias]

18 minutes ago, botrytis said:

 

I think you might be surprised. I have a SB Z in my PC and is is great for the price and sounds good as wall. Don't let the gaming bit throw you off. The SB cards can do exclusive mode in JRiver, that I have loaded on my PC. But, I also have a TEAC UD-501 DAC, so that is my primary for music.

 

I agree, they might be good performers in their price range, but does something exist as competition to an external USB-DAC, a serious device as DAC only without ADC?

Thanks

 

Matt

[Miska]

The EVGA NU Audio card is really good performer.

 

[Gregory]

From the RME you can check https://rme-audio.com/internal-cards.html
but probably overkill for just audio playback

[Miska]

1 hour ago, Gregory said:

From the RME you can check https://rme-audio.com/internal-cards.html
but probably overkill for just audio playback

 

I have couple of RME HDSPe AIO cards, but I have those primarily for the digital input reasons. They work OK as ADC and DAC too, but the DAC side is capable of only 192/24 PCM and not as fancy as the EVGA which can do up to 384/32 PCM and DSD256.

 

[phusis]

It's a shame the EVGA doesn't sport other S/PDIF outputs like coax or balanced AES/EBU, other than Toslink. My RME9632 does, but it doesn't fit into the PCI slot of my new Gigabyte Z390D mobo. The Lynx AES16e fits the bill, but it's not cheap..

[Miska]

6 minutes ago, phusis said:

It's a shame the EVGA doesn't sport other S/PDIF outputs like coax or balanced AES/EBU, other than Toslink. My RME9632 does, but it doesn't fit into the PCI slot of my new Gigabyte Z390D mobo. The Lynx AES16e fits the bill, but it's not cheap..

 

I have couple of RME HDSPe AIO cards for that purpose...

 

[phusis]

8 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

I have couple of RME HDSPe AIO cards for that purpose...

 

Cool unit, thanks for pointing that out. Quite comparable to the Lynx, it appears - maybe even more so. I'd intend using it with AES/EBU output via my dedicated Mundorf-wired digital XLR cable. The RME9632 AES/EBU output compared quite well with my Audiophilleo2, so the HDSPe AIO Pro should be very interesting..

[yamamoto2002]

Marian Seraph AD2

Lynx E22

[yamamoto2002]

Digigram LoLa280