Hi guys. I'm looking for a DAC/amp combo that to be an external sound card and drive both my Shure SRH 1540s and my computer speakers (Creative Gigaworks). The former are the imporant ones from an audio perspective. I've been researching this frantically for a while, and gotten down to effectively two selections, but I can't quite decide and could do with some input from those in the know. Please help so I can decide in time for Christmas and tell my wife I know what I want!
The Audinst
Very versatile and convenient, has RCA outputs in the back and an output selector switch on the front to switch between the phones and speakers.
The Epiphany
Supposedly provides a bit less bass than the Audinst, which suits me as the Shures have more than enough. Generally celebrated for its sound quality, though I don't know how much difference there truly is - not actually much according to one thread I've read on here.
To drive the speakers I'd presumably have to switch the cable between a 3.5 to 3.5 cable to feed the speakers and the headphone cable whenever I wanted to swap. Keeping the amp volume at max when listening to the speakers and using the speaker volume control, if that's right? Sounds like it could work, but I'm not sure.
Would a viable alternative to that be to get the Epiphany DAC and amp separately, and output from the E-Dac's RCA sockets to the speakers and its 3.5 line out to the EHP-O2 amp's line in? Is it worthwhile doing that over the more convenient form factor of the O2D?
The only alternative I'd considered recently is the iFi iDac, but reports of hiss from the amp put me off as I'm rather sensitive to that. Not sure about the RCAs being on the front, either. Though I suppose it could still be a consideration.
Please help me come to a decision guys.
