USB to analog stereo audio output - Was: No Sound on Laptop

[Ralf Mardorf]

[semi-off topic]

On Sun, 17 Oct 2021 16:39:54 +0100, David Fletcher wrote:
>Also I have a USB DAC that my son got me a couple of years ago for
>using my laptop with my Marantz amplifier. Sounds perfect and might be
>better sound quality for your presentations.

Hi,

for a portable POSIX device (nice word for an iPad, that probably even
isn't POSIX) without a headphone output, I tried to find a solution.

Actually I own a decent 19" USB audio interface for my recording studio,
that can be used with the POSIX device. While the headphone outputs of
this audio interface are quite all right, it's to bulky and needs to be
powered by the mains, so it's not really portable.

I own a headphone that can be used by cable or Bluetooth. When using
it by Bluetooth the sound quality is disgusting, when using it by cable
the sound quality is superb, IOW Bluetooth isn't an option.

I decided to order a small USB DAC with headphone output that is bus
powered. The sound quality is not much better, if at all better than
Bluetooth, it just doesn't suffer that much from latency as Bluetooth
does, but for many use cases latency doesn't matter at all.

In my experiences only a prosumer or professional audio interface does
sound better than integrated audio interfaces. I've got experiences
with several other cabled prosumer, professional and el cheapo setups.
I'm inexperienced related to Bluetooth. AFAIK different Bluetooth
audio codecs are available and the most common are probably the worst
sounding codecs.

However, in my experiences the averaged USB DAC is money down the
drain. An audio interface that does fit the sound quality of a decent
amplifier, usually does cost as much as a decent amplifier. I'm open to
suggestions of USB DACs ;).

Regards,
Ralf