Advice on a 'clean sounding' DAC

I am in the process of listing my future audio set-up, and in light of the fact that my laptop contains a rather shoddy on-board sound card, I am looking for a USB DAC that will take the sound feed straight to an Amplifier, without firstly amplifying the signal.

The main requirement is that it sounds crisp - clarity is the most important thing to me. I do not mind a weakened bass if it means that I can hear every single nuance in the music. The DAC also needs to be able to output at 24bit. The paragraphs below explain the other less important requirements.

For instance, the Turtle Beach Audio Advantage II is almost what I am looking for, but it cannot handle 24bit, and it also amplifies, which is not what I'm looking for.

The Fiio E10 again almost fits my needs, but I have read about a 0.7 second 'blinding' whereby every new digital signal will lose the first 0.7 seconds - not a massive issue, but I'm buying a DAC because I want to be able to hear everything - not Everything minus 0.7 seconds.

I don't want any '3D surround sound' processing rubbish, like Creative's X-Fi systems - I have a major dislike of any sound processing of that type - the system I am looking at is NOT a surround system, and I do not wish to emulate it.

The type of thing that I am looking for is this:

Computer Audiophile - Halide Design DAC HD Review

A simple design, with no audio processing besides the conversion. If I wanted something to add effects to my music, I'd use my internal soundcard. Unfortunately, I cannot afford the Halide. My budget will stretch to around £140, so roughly $220.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Pretty sure everything I've seen you can still adjust the volume with windows.. Which is how the turtle beach is.

If you want something that sounds good and is professional then I suggest the Scarlett 2i2. I personally use an Echo AudioFire2 but it is firewire, the Scarlett is one of the most comparable USB DAC's.

 

Thanks for the suggestion! I will have a look!

Unfortunately, I was thinking of a different product when I wrote about the volume changing! Will edit that now. I will be keeping the volume on Windows at 100%. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

There's a lot of misunderstanding there - which is probably why you fell into the audiophile BS trap in the first place.

Every signal you're handling in the digital domain is amplified when it reaches an analog output. It's just a matter of how it's amplified - for a line-level output, or a low-impedance output.

Unless you're playing back 24-bit original data (not upsampled) from HDtracks et al, you don't need 24-bit playback. Upsampling is baloney for the most part.

 

The ODAC is something that I don't own (yet), but I have been following with interest. It's available in the UK from here.

I also understand that the problem with the E10 has been fixed with the E17.

The Dragonfly DAC has also been getting some recent buzz (again, I have no experience with this, but am also researching a DAC for use with my laptop).