Ok, somebody please talk me out of buying an external USB DAC for my second system...

I have a media server that I built (Linux, MythTV, etc.) that is connected to an Outlaw 990 via USB and it sounds great! That is my main system.

My second system only has a CD player as input but CDs are quickly becoming dinosaurs around my house and I am going to connect another media server to this system.

Now for my dilemma...

With the B Stock 990s going so cheap, am I crazy if I buy an external USB DAC instead? I could just buy a 990 and use it as a waaaaay overkill DAC unit on my second system. Couldn't I?

I am sure there are planty of cheaper DACs available. The 990 would be one way to go but as you say it is a bit of overkill. Try googling usb DAC and see what is out there.

An external DAC is not necessarily a pre-amp nor surround processor. So if you need the 990 to be either or both of those things, the dedicated USB DAC is likely a waste of time/money.

Though a 990 will still cost you $400 and a USB DAC can be considerably less if you're not buying snake-oil. I see some come with a number of mounted controls so you can use them as a pre-amp too, but only for that single connection. If you need multiple inputs, keep with the 990.

Thanks for the responses. I might give the Emotiva XDA-1 a try since I have been hearing some good things about it and there is a sale on them at $199 with free shipping (although I will have to wait a few weeks).

In case anyone is interested, I received my Emotiva XDA-1 DAC and it works beautifully. I am using it in my second system which consists of a vintage Carver C-1 stereo preamp, a Carver AV-505 amplifier, and a pair of vintage Polk Audio RTA-12c speakers. I probably could have set the system up using the XDA-1 exclusively without the Carver preamp but the whole point was to make my vintage gear shine (I am the original owner of all this sh..stuff).

The source is probably overkill. I am using a Sun Ultra 27 workstation running 64-bit Ubuntu Linux - my second system is in my office/lab.

If Outlaw audio would have provided a similar piece of equipment, and as close as I came to buying a B-stock 990 processor to fit this function, I definitely would have bought an Outlaw product. So perhaps this is not a bad future product to consider.

Last month I attended the Capital Audiofest and there were two clear trends. It seems that every system had tube amplifiers, to the point that it became cliche. The second trend was that the vast majority of the sources were either vinyl or "file-based" digital music, split about 50-50. Vinyl is obviously a vintage/historical product. Therefore, the future (in my opinion) is in anything related to digital music management systems. A Qsonix Q205 music management system at around $8K is more expensive than my entire system (which includes an "overkill" $6K server), and provides me with arguably the same [audio] capability. Outlaw audio could come in, like they did with the amplifier and processor market, and become a game-changer in this field.

Interesting choice for the "media file server". I assume you have that installed some distance from your listening space as the robust build of the Sun HW can't compare to the "silence engineering" of some the more specialized HTPC gear -- http://www.silentpcreview.com/ http://forum.xbmc.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=112

I suspect the lack of finality in the potentially "landmark" Kaleidascape case will leave commercial media servering devices in limbo, which is probably what the content owners want... https://www.kaleidescape.com/news/pr/legal-update.php

Of course the legimate music file sources are still a blip compared to outlets like Amazon or iTunes. That said, the migration of former "high quality vinyl" labels to FLAC is somewhat encouraging --

https://www.hdtracks.com/index.php?file=staticpage&pagename=aboutus

http://www.deutschegrammophon.com/cat/re...amp;ADD_OTHER=1

http://www.linnrecords.com/catalogue.aspx?format=studio

Nice article on "getting up to speed" -- http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/speakers/definitive-guides/the-definitive-guide-to-24-bit-flac/

Hey, thanks for those links. I had been either "rolling my own" FLACs or buying them off HDTracks. I was not aware of those other places.

Regarding the Sun HW. When I have had to cold boot, which is rare, it sounds like a freight train for about 1 minute before the fans slow down. Other than that, it is remarkably quiet (almost noiseless), plus it sits inside a cabinet and it is kept cool enough that the fans don't kick in. I still would not recommend it as a media server. My other media server (a Dell running Linux) is inside an insulated wall in my home theater and that one is dead quiet.