Showing posts with label dac. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dac. Show all posts

7/01/2012

GLOW Voice One Loudspeaker (pair) Review

GLOW Voice One Loudspeaker (pair)
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Finally, a small speaker for my office that sounds really good.
I've been looking for a LONG time.
I'm in my office most of the day and have tried numerous small speakers in hopes of getting good sound where I actually do most of my listening. Tried various computer speakers (barf), and small speakers from Bose, Orb and others, but they always sound extremely compromised. Even slightly larger bookshelf speakers I've tried don't cut it; too big for the office space and not necessarily very good sound or imaging, especially bass and midrange.
I don't think there is another small speaker as good as the Glow speakers. Certainly not in this price range. Simple but brilliant design. They are only about 9" round with a tiny 3" speaker, but put up a gigantic sound stage. If you want a small speaker that gives you truly great hifi sound in an office, studio or bedroom, this is it. It sounds better than the better known Tekton and JB3 small speakers, which are both very good, by the way. And for you non-audiophiles, way better than the mass market Bose or Orb speakers you may be more familiar with.
Maybe it is because of the enclosure. The speakers sound very natural. They image better than speakers I've heard that cost in the thousands, probably because they are point source drivers, and the speaker doesn't have a large front surface, like most speakers in a box cabinet. The sound is not gimmicky. Very smooth, and very neutral. The speaker cones are made of hemp and bamboo, instead of metal or polypropylene, which may explain why they sound so natural.
These are great performers, and for a small to medium room at normal listening levels they are hard to beat. With a sub they sound nearly as good as my much larger and much more expensive B&W monitor speakers, which take up way too much room.
Even without the sub, the GLOW speakers make an impressive amount of bass, given the physical limits of the 3" driver. Again, I think the enclosure has something to do with it. I have a pair in my office with the GLOW subwoofer, which it matches perfectly. Some of my clients are musicians, and they freak out when they hear this stuff in my office, coming from my computer. I use another pair in a small room at home with no sub, and they crank out a surprising amount of bass. People ask me where's the sub? But if you place them right, they put out really good bass. Solid, just not deep.
As far as fit and finish, I have a pair in silver and also natural wood finish. They really look great, very artsy, never fail to receive admiring comments from visitors, even before they hear them. I've used them with transistor amps, T-amps and tube amps (the GLOW amp sounds unbelievable, by the way), and they do well with any type of amplifier. You don't need much power to drive them.
If you play them too loud you will soon reach the limits of the 3" driver. These are not for super high sound output levels, so don't get them for disco or hard rock. These are great for classical, jazz, and just about anything played at moderate levels.

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5/31/2012

HeadRoom Micro Amp Review

HeadRoom Micro Amp
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I've had the headroom dac and amp since about a year and love it. I run AKG-701s, Sennheiser 650s and Denon 5000s with it. I use it with the matching Micro DAC.
Just recently, I stuck both the amp and the dac directly into the wall socket (and later, into a Wiremold ($60) powerstrip that does not have any filtering, spike control etc.). It's like I have a totally different product. Unconditional 5 stars. Just don't starve the poor thing of electricity.


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12/16/2011

Music Hall DAC 25.3 USB Digital Audio Converter Review

Music Hall DAC 25.3 USB Digital Audio Converter
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There is a lot of controversy about what a DAC needs to be and how much it should cost. Some would say you are insane for spending 600 bucks on a DAC and some would say you need to spend an order of magnitude more. In my research I found that I might get a DAC that sounds as good as the MH for less money, but this unit has functionality the others don't. My review:
Sound- It sounds great. A good DAC should faithfully reproduce music and eliminate jitter and other artifacts you hear from digital sources. It's a simple task. This does just that, but with an added bonus. The tube output stage tends to warm up the sound just a little bit, and gives a little more life to compressed audio files. This is subject to taste however. Some people prefer a more clinical sound. Me: I prefer the warmth.
Features:
- It has a built in headphone amp. Nice feature. It sounds good, but I'm no expert on headphone amps.
- It will up-convert your stream to 192kbps or down-convert to 96kbps. I tend to leave it in auto mode. I don't think it adds anything to up-convert.
- The unit will switch itself into standby mode when it loses a signal.
Inputs: It has a lot more inputs that similarly priced DACs. USB, optical, coaxial, and XLR. I use the optical and USB inputs, and the unit intelligently switches between the two when one signal is lost and another is present. This is a nice feature, and necessary because there is NO REMOTE.
Build: It is built very well. A quality piece of gear. Buttons and dials operate smoothly with just the right amount of resistance. I have a complaint about the form, however. It is a little long and skinny. Not longer than many 19" deep components, but longer than the other music hall gear it is designed to go with. This makes placement a little challenging. I do love the simple aesthetics of the unit. One note: the picture on just about every site that sells this thing is silver, but I don't think a silver unit was ever made. I can't find one anywhere. They are all black.
How I use it: I have a music hall a15.2 integrated amp, an HSU VTF-1 sub, and Def Tec studio monitor 350 speakers. My source is either a laptop, connected via USB, or an apple TV connected via optical acting as a digital transport. It's a great 2.1 channel system for a small room. I listen to a lot of MP3s :( , but am in the process of re-ripping all my music from CD in a lossless format. The lossless files sound amazing!
Bottom line, if you want an audiophile grade DAC and like a little tube sound, input versatility, and might use the headphone amp, this is the DAC for you. And it won't break the bank. If you're considering buying a CD player, DON'T! Rip all your CDs using apple lossless, FLAC, etc. and hook up a PC to this DAC and you have a set up that will out perform most high end CD players and will be much, much more convenient.
PS- Pandora (with the upgraded audio) really sounds great when run through this DAC via USB from a PC!
PSS- Yes, this will sound better than the DAC in your computer, PS3, apple TV, etc.
PPPS- I don't always give an item 5 stars, but I could think of very few things to improve on this product!

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11/11/2011

Cambridge Audio DacMagic Digital-to-Analog Converter with USB, Silver Review

Cambridge Audio DacMagic Digital-to-Analog Converter with USB, Silver
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I recently purchased a Logitech Squeezebox to stream my music collection to my HIFI and have been pretty happy with it. The sound quality from the Squeezebox's DAC did however not impress me, compared to my old rather cheepish Denon CD player, it was dull, lacked attack and was generally uninspiring. So when I discovered that Cambridge Audio had made this little (and cheap) gem I immediately bought it.
So how good is it ? - In my opinion its the cheapest thing I have ever bought that made so clear a difference; the music is now warm, organic, detailed and full of attack. It is sturdy build and has a very cool and professional look. The device itself has a ton of nice features (such as being able to remember different settings based on input channels) yet is still very easy to use. It comes with three different high quality filters: "linear", "minimum" and "steep" which can alter the audio experience to your personal taste. Of these I have found the "minimum" filter to provide the best audiophile experience.
To sum up, if you have a Squeezebox or a similar device, but feel that its analog output is somewhat lacking, then get this brilliant little device.

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11/09/2011

NuForce Icon HD Black (High Performance Headphone Amp and USB DAC) Review

NuForce Icon HD Black (High Performance Headphone Amp and USB DAC)
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NuForce Icon HD greatly improves the sound of my computer and AKG 701 headphones combination.
If you are listening to a music service like Spotify Premium you do not need to by CDs anymore, since it is very difficult to notice that CD sound is only a little bit better than the Spotify Ogg Vorbis 320 kbps sound. If your favorite music is available only in your own CD, it takes only two minutes to copy it to your computer.
The only negative issue with this DAC/Headphone amplifier is that in some PC configurations it may not work because the Windows USB driver may not support NuForce. However, most likely this may not be a problem at all.

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10/30/2011

Dared SL-2000A Review

Dared SL-2000A
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The Dared SL2000A has gotten plenty of positive reviews, and I can see why.
It is solidly well-built, physically attractive, and -- most importantly -- it sounds really good.
The latest version has two inputs and two outputs, as well as a wooden remote volume control.
This compact, versatile unit is a great way to add some tube warmth and liquidity to your system at a reasonable price. It is often available on the used market for about $300, which is what I paid for mine.
My only minor quibble with the unit is a minor aesthetic one: there's a large unsightly engraving of the Dared logo, model number and -- bizarrely -- a toy-like line drawing of tube etched into one side of the chrome body. IMHO, it is an unfortunate aesthetic blunder on an otherwise classy chassis.
That tiny gripe aside, this little preamp has quickly become one of my favorite pieces of audio gear. I find myself listening to the budget system in which I have it more frequently than some of my more pricey systems.
In short, this little Dared is highly recommended -- especially with some nice NOS tube substitutions!
PS - When I first wrote this review, the retail price was in the low to mid 400's. Now I see it has gone up again to 519. At that price, I'm not sure that it is such a bargain. My advice would be to keep an eye out for a used one in good condition.

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9/29/2011

DACport USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier Review

DACport USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier
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Stupendously wonderful product. Do your ears a favour and buy this now. Running this from a 13" MacBook Pro, via Fidelia player, all settings maxed out with best quality flac into B&W P5s and the space, aeriness and separation just blow your socks off. If like me you constantly strive for " the best sound ", buy this little beauty! Love your work Centrance!

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9/24/2011

Audiophile Products Fubar IV Plus - Silver USB DAC / Headphone Amplifier Review

Audiophile Products Fubar IV Plus - Silver USB DAC / Headphone Amplifier
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The good:
The Fubar IV Plus's DAC is spectacular. I love the sound out of the RCA jacks. All my favorite songs sound like they have new parts for me to enjoy, and that's the highest praise that I can give to any audio product. This makes my computer audio sound wonderful.
The bad:
The isolation between the headphone amplifier and the internal digital processing circuitry is laughably bad. This manifests in a high frequency hiss that I find to be particularly distracting when listening to solo piano or other uncluttered music.
The headphone jack on this product is fairly low noise until you attach it to a digital source (you know, the obscure "using the device" thing), but then the hiss kicks in. This noise is present at all volume levels, but it seems to get substantially louder once you get past about half-volume. Even stranger, this isn't a new problem with the Fubar IV Plus; I've seen reviews of the prior three generations of this product that describe this same issue.
In response to another comment here: this doesn't appear to be an issue of noise intrusion through the power system, so it seems unlikely that the dedicated super-spiffy power box add-on will do anything to help the noise.
This noise is not present through the RCA output jacks, or at least the noise is reduced to the point where I don't notice it anymore. One proviso in this case: keep the volume knob set low... It seems that some noise still comes through if you set the volume control high (this volume knob does not adjust the level through the RCA jacks, so there's no reason to have the level anywhere but all the way down).
I've taken the audio from the stereo RCA outputs and fed it into a separate headphone amp. This isn't nearly as convenient as using the built-in headphone amp, but it sounds much better.
Again, to restate: I love the DAC in this device, it sounds wonderful. The headphone amp, not so much.

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9/11/2011

Peachtree Audio iDecco Gloss Black Stereo Integrated Amplifier With Built-In DAC and iPod Dock Review

Peachtree Audio iDecco Gloss Black Stereo Integrated Amplifier With Built-In DAC and iPod Dock
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Here's a brief journey to the Idecco:
I purchased a Wadia Itransport in December , I was waffling between buying a fairly high end DAC (Cambridge DacMagic ?) used with my current tube receiver Yamaha R-8 from the mid 80's (85 watts /channel) or an all-in-one Digital amplifier with a high quality built in DAC. I purchased the Onkyo A-5VL digital amp as it seemed like it fell from heaven and was everything I wished for....... WELL, be careful what you wish for ! Initially I thought everything was perfect , but after extended listening my ears actually hurt and developed fatigue and the sound was registering as very shrill and harsh. For short bursts you just think that it's 'bright' and the highs being hidden by the Ipods internal DAC have finally been found.
OK, so I'm mid 40's and have had my ears blasted by concerts, walkman headphone abuse and overall city life destruction, BUT I know what I NEED to hear to be happy and let me say that I found it , the Peachtree Idecco !!!! I was able to demo a model at a high end audio store in town when it first came out (mid Jan. 2010) and was amazed at how much clearer , warmer and musical it sounded. Younger guys may feel that the Onkyo is perfectly fine, but at a thousand bucks for an Idecco Vs. 800-900 for the Wadia/Onkyo set up (or similar solid state digital amp) , it's just a no brainer! An all in one unit that has USB , Optical, Digital Coax, Pre amp out and line out connections!!
The guys at my local audiophile shop in San Francisco said that the Itransport is already obsolete!! It basically became a 400 dollar pass through box for the digital signal, and now other companies are working with Apple to get those rights too, but most are trying to integrate that digital signal into a sound delivery package as well!.Geez, that was fast . From state-of-the-art to gone in 60 days. So, I was able to return the Wadia and Onkyo and upgrade to the Idecco.
"Busy Executive's" review hits all the high notes about specs and so forth. Don't let the 30wpc into 8 ohms fool you. This cranks my 15 x 30 living room and could certainly go more...... no power qualms at all! Just get (or own) efficient speakers.My Ipod actually has 2000 converted Vinyl LP's using a Tascam CD recorder and played through the Idecco the music sounds as close to spinning the records on my Thorens platter as I can possibly hope for.
Bliss, finally.......... the best music station I could hope for , MY OWN . hahaha
Hit shuffle on the Pod and let 20,000 songs play on.... ;-)
Keep rockin' dudes* another big plus of the Idecco , ONE remote that works the Ipod and controls the Amps main functions!!*

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9/07/2011

NuForce Icon-2 Integrated Desktop Amplifier with 24bit/96kHZ USB DAC and high performance headphone amplifier Review

NuForce Icon-2 Integrated Desktop Amplifier with 24bit/96kHZ USB DAC and high performance headphone amplifier
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I received the Icon-2 as a Christmas present and I couldn't be happier. It serves 3 different purposes very well. As a desktop amplifier, it powers most fairly efficient bookshelves to decent db levels with clarity and punch. I have it powering a pair of Triangle Comete bookshelf speakers and the little Icon makes them sing. It really is amazing how such a tiny little thing can create so much power! The DAC sounds incredible - from mp3's to high resolution flac files, everything just sounds clearer, punchier, and more dynamic. Also, the headphone amplifier does an impressive job with my Sennheiser hd600. If this device cost 500 bucks, I'd still be amazed at the performance. That it does all this for 350 is just downright mind boggling.

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9/01/2011

Musical Fidelity V-DAC Upsampling Digital to Analog Audio Converter Review

Musical Fidelity V-DAC Upsampling Digital to Analog Audio Converter
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I've had the Musical Fidelity V-DAC for just over a week now and put it through it's paces with a variety of rock, pop, jazz and classical music. The V-DAC definitely sounds quite a bit better than my Oppo DVD-980H's analog outputs or the Oppo connected via coaxial digital to my Onkyo TX-SR705. The difference is immediate: much deeper bass, wider and deeper "sound stage", instruments are clearly differentiated whereas before they sounded mixed up, much better tonal differences with voices, stringed instruments, even electronic music. I didn't find the Onkyo or Oppo thin sounding at all (quite the opposite), but the V-DAC sounds significantly richer and more "solid". For the money, I really couldn't be happier - it's a great little device. I also compared the V-DAC to the DAC built into my Marantz SR5300 A/V receiver and again, the V-DAC comes out on top.
** WARNING ** Don't try the following yourself unless you're comfortable experimenting with and modifying electronic components! **
One "tweak" I couldn't resist was to replace the wall mart power supply it comes with with a larger regulated power supply. The one I got came from Amazon at a very low price and I recommend it too: Pyramid PS3 3-Amp 13.8-Volt Power Supply. Changing the power supply does improve sound quality further - most noticeable as deeper and tighter bass, more "solid" images, and stronger dynamics. All of these attributes were already strong points even with the stock power supply. The V-DAC does run cooler too using the bigger power supply, so hopefully that will extend its life.
Even without the above "tweak", the V-DAC sounds just great, and should provide a noticeable improvement for folks who do not already own a high-end DAC or A/V receiver. I hope you have as much fun with the V-DAC.

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8/29/2011

NuForce Icon-2 Integrated Desktop Amplifier with 24bit/96kHZ USB DAC and high performance headphone amplifier Review

NuForce Icon-2 Integrated Desktop Amplifier with 24bit/96kHZ USB DAC and high performance headphone amplifier
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I received the Icon-2 as a Christmas present and I couldn't be happier. It serves 3 different purposes very well. As a desktop amplifier, it powers most fairly efficient bookshelves to decent db levels with clarity and punch. I have it powering a pair of Triangle Comete bookshelf speakers and the little Icon makes them sing. It really is amazing how such a tiny little thing can create so much power! The DAC sounds incredible - from mp3's to high resolution flac files, everything just sounds clearer, punchier, and more dynamic. Also, the headphone amplifier does an impressive job with my Sennheiser hd600. If this device cost 500 bucks, I'd still be amazed at the performance. That it does all this for 350 is just downright mind boggling.

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7/20/2011

NuForce Icon HDP - Headphone amplifier - silver Review

NuForce Icon HDP - Headphone amplifier - silver
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I am impressed with this little Nuforce HDP both as a DAC and as a headphone amplifier; which is high praise from someone who owns a $15,000 headphone rig with Stax SR-007, Sennheiser HE60 and HD800 headphones, a Woo WES amp, Eddie Current ZDT amp, and PS Audio Perfectwave DAC.
The HDP seems to offer a lot of performance in a small package, and easily outperforms my original Nuforce Icon amp that I bought May 2008 for my computer desktop. And the beauty is that it is small enough that I can use the HDP's superior DAC to feed the original Icon when I want to listen to speakers (both amps are the same size). The feature list is quite full, including 24/96 bit rate USB and 3.5 mm 24/96 optical inputs, 24/192 coax input, RCA or 3.5 mm analog input, 1/4" headphone output, and variable output level RCA preamp out. Not many DACs in this price range offer 24 bit/96 Khz sampling rates, and even my 2x more costly Apogee mini-DAC only does 24/48 via USB.
The HDP using 24/96 USB input from my Macbook beats all my other $100 - $500 USB DAC/amps in the house, and even beats the headphone output of my Apogee mini-DAC with USB. The HDP's RCA line-out seems almost equivalent to the Apogee's 1/8" line-out as well, where the Apogee seems to be a little more refined sounding at times (if using my upgraded Sigma 11 power supply). The HDP is very detailed and transparent, with good sense of air and space, and offers a deeper soundstage than the Apogee headphone out. The HDP bass has great extension and impact, with rich mids and sparkly crisp treble. And it's just a little to the warm side of neutral, so I can still enjoy it with brighter headphones like my HD800 or Head-direct HE-5. Likewise it is also a good match for my HD600 headphones and my re-cabled Denon D7000 which can sound darker on the wrong amps.
Some amplifiers that are good with full-size headphones may not be a good match with very sensitive in ear monitors (aka earphones or IEM), and they might have noise, or hiss that is not otherwise detectable with full-size phones. Well, that is not a problem here. I find the HDP to be an excellent match with all my very sensitive universal and custom molded in ear monitors, including Monster Turbine Pro Gold, Westone 2, Westone 3, Westone ES3X, Ultimate Ears 11Pro and JH Audio 13Pro. It does a very good job with all of them, despite their widely varying sound signatures. The UE11Pro can sometimes be bass heavy or have some recessed midrange with the wrong amp; but neither of these are a problem with the HDP, even though it is not a bass-lite or forward sounding amplifier.
How they managed to squeeze such good sound into a price this low is unclear to me, because you basically have to spend $700-$900 for a better DAC (Apogee or Stello) and $700-$1,000 for a better amp (upgraded Woo WA6 or ALO Amphora), and you'd have to buy both a DAC and Amp to get most of the features of the HDP. (Except for analog inputs for iPod or other players, where many DAC's don't include those).
I will conclude by mentioning a couple of issues that I have. The HDP sounds very good with a wide variety of headphones, but it might not be optimal with all of them. With my Head-direct HiFiMan HE-5 and Grado HF-2, if I try to play those headphones at very high volume levels (closer to max) then the sound can get a little strident and fatiguing in the highs. I've heard this same thing with the HE-5 and a $700 Grahm Slee Solo SRG II, and that's probably because the HE-5 are very difficult to drive low impedance headphone and require a lot of current. With the HE-5 headphones this happens at volume levels that are much higher than my Woo WA6 tube amp can hope to achieve, so if I never tried to play the HDP louder than my WA6 I would not have heard this. The Grado HF-2 can be a little boosted in the upper mids and lower treble, and they just seem to respond better to my tube amps to tone them down a notch when trying to play them at very loud levels (levels that would be damaging or harmful for more than a few minutes). At normal to moderately loud levels this is never an issue.
Another issue is that the volume pot can have some channel imbalance at the very low end of the volume control when using very sensitive in ear monitors which don't require turning up the volume knob very much. This is common with most lower price gear when using IEM, but can be alleviated by turning down the computer system volume if you are using the USB input. However, none of these issues would prevent me from highly recommending this product. It makes me eager to think about trying their high-end products at some point.

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7/18/2011

Peachtree Audio Decco 2 High Gloss Black Integrated Amplifier with Built-in DAC Review

Peachtree Audio Decco 2 High Gloss Black Integrated Amplifier with Built-in DAC
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I'm not a audiophile, I just love to listen to music and I love the convenience of iTunes/Spotify, impossible for me to go back to physcial music support like CD's, I just need to be able to explore music from my studio.
However I was always dissatisfied with the sound of MP3's, there was always that obvious lack of dynamic, frequencies didn't separate properly, something always sounded mushy. As said I didn't want to get back to physical audio supports, so I looked into a solution to enhance the quality of internet audio and came across various DACs.
I finally opted for the Decco2 because it was designed for my profile, specifically it came with the promise to make ANY audio sound better including internet audio.
After 2 weeks of using the device I have to say I am very satisfied, the Decco definitely removes the 'dusty layer' from MP3's, the sound becomes clearer, more defined, instruments and details are more discernable. More so the music restitution is overall MORE PRECISE, even in regards to timing/pace, the music sounds more agile and lively. As the company says the device adresses jitter issues so it's likely that this 're-clocking' of the audio data is responsible for the impression of greater precision in timing/rhythm. Voices sound amazing and lifelike, you really get the emotion that the singer is trying to get over, a different bonding experience with music alltogether.
It's only after trying the Decco that you realize how bad your computer's sound card really is, MP3 compression for sure brings a trade-off in quality, but then your computer's mediocre standard soundcard definitely rushes to the the task to kill your audio completely, so the Decco or similar DACs already offer the possibility to bring your system back to more decent levels.
To conclude, is this (relatively pricey) device worth its money, even for a non-audiophile, just an overall 'music lover' pulling tunes from the net?
Yes, definitely, listening to music is just THAT MORE fun with the Decco and given it's extensive connectivity and functionality (you can use it as a high-quality preamp/amp/headphone amp for all your audio/video devices) I think it will procure me many years of listening enjoyment and the investment is more than worth that.

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