What would you buy Sub $350 Firewire/USB DAC

Long list, wowee. Haven't heard anything like all of them. For my 2 cents you won't go wrong with the Apogee, but it costs more than some of the others. Good luck.

Congrats on your choice!

Two budget cables and a step up from budget.

Budget: Apogee Wyde Eye, Canare L-5CFB
Step Up: VH Audio cryo Pulsar

No matter which cable you choose, get a 1.5-meter length of it. This will ensure that signal reflections between the two cable ends interfere as little as possible with the DAC's clock timing.

BTW others may recommend other cables; I'm only recommending things I've personally tried.

From your description of the kind of sound you like, and judging by your preference for the MF B1 and the KEFs, I'm sure you would like the Apogee very much. However you would either have to luck onto a used one already equipped with a USB card (Apogee have discontinued the card) or get a FireWire card for your PC, and then a Mini-DAC with FireWire. That would be well over your budget.

Your tastes are well-defined. Can you get a listen to any of these units? I owned a couple of earlier-model Cambridge DACMagics a while ago and I thought the version 1 was not good while the version 2 was good value. The new DACMagic may be very good, but listening is obviously what will tell you. Alternatively, try to get a 30-day return option if you can't listen before you buy. Failing these, you may need to be prepared to buy and then sell on any units that don't meet expectations.

If you're going to try to choose by user reviews and comments, search the archives here and also try Audio Asylum (the Digital-General and Digital-PC Audio forums ) and Head-Fi. And since you like your Musical Fidelity amp, you might want to add the new V-DAC to your list... ;o)

Wish I could tell you a killer in your price range...

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/search.php

http://www.audioasylum.com/index.html

OK, since the OP has generously undertaken to inform the curious of his discoveries... there are two DACs at the low end which interest me. One is the Beresford, from the U.K.

http://www.beresford.me/others/main.html

and the other is the VALAB mentioned above, which is made by an outfit in Taiwan and sold on eBay.

http://stores.ebay.ca/Vintage-Audio-Lab

I would use such a converter with a computer-based portable system if its sound were better than that of my M-Audio Audiophile USB external.

I tend towards the VALAB DAC because their description on eBay is wonderfully enticing. The unit is said to be "sweat sounding", and I'm sure that would be great for rock.

Great post Music prof !

I'll bet you can tame that forward high end by running the DAC from an isolation transformer. Even a cheap one.

An iso transformer would plug into your AC supply. Then you plug your DAC's power cord into the tranny. This eliminates much of the pollution on your DAC's AC line.

The transformer accepts 120V and puts out the same voltage. No actual transformation of voltage happens. However inside the tranny there is now a physical separation between the AC circuit in your wall and the AC line which feeds your DAC. Think of it as Customs and Immigration ( OK, Homeland Security if you're that way inclined ). The barrier is not enough to stop trade but it does stop the riffraff -- the grunge and pollution on the AC line. As a side effect, it also reduces most high-voltage spikes to harmless levels ( but nothing will stop direct lightning ).

The results for digital audio are pleasing to the ear, and one of them is cleaner highs. That's why I mentioned the possibility.

Isolation transformers are used in laboratories, hospitals, server farms and sound studios to keep AC line junk from affecting the working of delicate, precise, mission-critical instrumentation; oh, and sound recording gear. They are often replaced, sold off, upgraded and so on but they don't wear out and you can frequently find suitable ones used on eBay. You'd only need a little one for your DAC, say a 125 volt-amp size ( 125 VA or about one ampere ), but bigger wouldn't hurt if that's all you could find.

My brother runs studio gear with his computer and finds he gets cleaner sound with the iMac plugged into an iso tranny.

Tbg raises one of the hobby's all-but-innumerable controversies. He is on his 47th system, according to his system page, so clearly he is entitled to his opinion. There are others whose mileage varies; see posts in the archives here by Sean and Lak, among others.

My own experience is that there is no downside whatsoever to running a costly digital source from an isolation transformer of adequate size and quality, and none either to running a cheaper one from a small, cheap iso tranny. Note the word cheap. What is especially appealing about this tweak is its excellent (IMVHO) return on investment.

The power conditioning controversy has extreme positions and moderate ones, like all controversies. The extremist on the positive side uses active devices, sometimes mass-market ones with MOV surge protection, on all his gear, even power amplifiers. The purist finds no conditioner of any real help, especially not on power amplifiers where it tends to limit current supply. The isolation transformer, used on a DAC, falls pretty close to the purist position.