Need advise on DAC (Dragonfly/Fiio E17) with Alienware desktop.
All,
Firstly, thanks for reading my query and for all the informative posts here on this forum.
I have the following setup:
Desktop: Alienware Aurora ALX with Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Platinum
AV Receiver - Yamaha RX-V773
Speakers - Boston Acoustics Soundware XS 5.1 SE
Earphones: Shure SE 535 and Westone UM2
Desktop is connected to AV Receiver via Optical cable (Qed QE3010 1m Performance TOS-TOS Optical Lead) for audio and HDMI (Audioquest Pearl HDMI) for video.
Media types: HD movies/Bluray/DVDs/MP3 (mostly 320kbps)/FLAC
Budget: Upto GBP300
Question: Would it make a significant difference in the sound quality if I invest in a DAC like Dragonfly or FiiO E17 to add to my current setup?
Thanking in anticipation.
Cheers.
Your biggest advantage for these two DACs would be for headphones (although the Dragonfly is labelled as a pre-amp, rather than headphone amp specifically so is a bit different). Is the the sound quality for music to headphones what you are most concerned with? Do you know that these DACs are only for music (stereo)? A stereo amplifier in general is better for stereo music than a surround sound sound amp costing up to 10 times as much. This is also true of the DAC quality so you get a double wammy there, but only for stereo.
For your budget my faves so far (of the ones I've heard) are the Arcam rPAC (£150) & Yulong U100 (£165), but most of the DAC/amps I've tested are under £200. My Yulong D100 mkII is just over £300 but that is pretty damn sweet also!
@cheeseboy Thanks for your reply. I haven't installed the Creative drivers separately as I let Win 7 (64-bit) install it automatically to keeps driver installs to a minimum. However, I will now try your suggestion.
@quadpatch Thanks for your suggestions. For me the important this is getting the best sound quality from my desktop as I watch movies and listen to music through it. If I can use something with my earphones then it is an added bonus. And the most likely scenario would be listening to music from my Galaxy Nexus (Android Jelly Bean). However, I know that FiiO E17 is not compatible with it yet. The reason I looked at Dragonfly was because of the reviews I read on this site and others. For your question regarding the DACs for music only, the answer is that I don't know as I am just beginning to learn about DACs and the need to use them - I would like some advise and guidance here 
. But my preference is something that enhances the MKV/AVI files (generally with DTS/AC3 or other surround sound encoding) for movies and MP3 (stereo)/FLAC/WAV (surround) for music - basically media that I play through my desktop.
the dac won't help you with surround as it's just 2 channel iirc. Hence you need some kind of surround reciever.
Like I say, don't bother with the creative drivers, try the asio4all drivers, then make sure that they are selected, not directsound, in your output stage of your music playing software.
A lot of the standard windows drivers are very basic, and you should always make sure you are running the latest drivers from the manufacturer for all things such as motherboard, graphics and sound in order to get the best performance.
Just out of interest, have you tried removing the optical cable and going analogue from the soundcard to the reciever. The soundblaster x-fi's dac were none too shabby if I remember correctly. Make sure you use the asio 4 all drivers with it as well to make sure you are bypassing the windows mixer.
Worth a try before you splash the cash...