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If CDs produce audio at 44.1kHz, why do people care about soundcards outputting at higher kHz (other than for home recording)? Even more so with mp3's and ANY compressed format! They won't get anywhere near 44.1kHz. And the 0404 and even the SB Live both share the same processor (EMU10K1 I believe).
So in that case, why don't I just chuck in another SB Live and be done with it?
Man, I'm talking to too many ppl with conflicting views. But my mate who just pointed out this sampling rate thing makes a very good point.
What's the point of soundcards with 192kHz DACs? ADC's I can understand.. you'd want as much detail coming in at whatever rate you can manage. But for playing back CD's and lesser sources, surely 44.1kHz is the absolute limit u need?
There are more important aspects to sound cards than sampling rates. It's the quality of conversion that matters, and the 0404 is better at doing this than the audigy.
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What's the point of soundcards with 192kHz DACs? ADC's I can understand.. you'd want as much detail coming in at whatever rate you can manage. But for playing back CD's and lesser sources, surely 44.1kHz is the absolute limit u need?
Yep. Google for the nyquist theorm (excepct spell it properly) for a bit of background information.
Don't know what DSP 0404 has, but if it's 10K2 like the one in 1212m/1820(m), you're asking for trouble if you plan to put an audigy 2 in the same pc.
Balls. What does it matter what parts the two sounds cards have, even if they're in the same machine. Whether it's a good idea or not is a judgement call, whether it will work shouldn't be being questioned.
Have you ever resized a jpeg picture? If you resize it to make it say, 10% bigger (similar to jumping from 44.1khz to 48khz), there are a lot of fuzzy pixels and general blurryness. If you resize it with an algorithm that is more concerned with speed than with accuracy, you will even get artifacting. That is what the sound blaster line (the ENTIRE line) is doing to your 44.1khz audio.
As for them using the same processor, the Ford GT uses a dohc supercharged version of the same 5.4L engine they use in an F150 truck (albiet sohc naturally aspirated). Same engine (basically), but tweaked for totally different uses. Same thing with the EMU10k2 chip, which is apparently a tremendiously versitile chip.
The Sound blaster line is tricked out for gaming. It's set up to produce 3d enviornmental effects, and to relieve the computer's cpu of as much sound processing duty as possible. The accompanying audio hardware is set up after that purpose.
The EMU professional line is set up for audio accuracy and quality reproduction. It's set up for "high end" audio work. It just so happens that a lot of the goals of high end audio work happen to conincide with quality music reproduction.
That's what commando ment. Just like you wouldn't buy the F150 to race around nurburgring, and you wouldn't buy the GT to tow a boat (Even though either one is probably basically capible of doing so), so too you wouldn't buy the EMU line if gaming is your concern, and you wouldn't buy the Sound Blaster line if music is your concern.
Also, you're thinking about mp3 and audio compression the wrong way as well. Most mp3s actually are 44.1khz. That's not what they're getting rid of to reduce file size.
Balls. What does it matter what parts the two sounds cards have, even if they're in the same machine. Whether it's a good idea or not is a judgement call, whether it will work shouldn't be being questioned.
No, he's right. From what I remember, the audigy line and the EMU line share a data link library with the same name, but the files are not identical. I'm pretty sure that has caused a lot of people problems.
Balls. What does it matter what parts the two sounds cards have, even if they're in the same machine. Whether it's a good idea or not is a judgement call, whether it will work shouldn't be being questioned.
Driver conflict for the 10K2 chip. Big warning in 1212m install guide. Solvable in practice, but big pain in the @ss.
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Head-fi tip of the day: never admit your hypothesis was wrong. Once is one time too many.
As for them using the same processor, the Ford GT uses a dohc supercharged version of the same 5.4L engine they use in an F150 truck (albiet sohc naturally aspirated). Same engine (basically), but tweaked for totally different uses. Same thing with the EMU10k2 chip, which is apparently a tremendiously versitile chip.
The Sound blaster line is tricked out for gaming. It's set up to produce 3d enviornmental effects, and to relieve the computer's cpu of as much sound processing duty as possible. The accompanying audio hardware is set up after that purpose.
The EMU professional line is set up for audio accuracy and quality reproduction. It's set up for "high end" audio work. It just so happens that a lot of the goals of high end audio work happen to conincide with quality music reproduction.
That's what commando ment. Just like you wouldn't buy the F150 to race around nurburgring, and you wouldn't buy the GT to tow a boat (Even though either one is probably basically capible of doing so), so too you wouldn't buy the EMU line if gaming is your concern, and you wouldn't buy the Sound Blaster line if music is your concern.
Also, the 10K2 chip only has one clock giving 48Khz on the Audigy2.
On the 0404 and 1212m/1820/1820m (it's the same pci card called 1010 on these three), you get two clocks (44.1 & 48), so there's no resampling going on.
Btw, the DSP on E-MU cards cannot be used above 48Khz, which sux imo, because it is quite useful (ain't that a contradiction): you get up to 16(?) 2 band parametric equalizers. And they distort much less than what foobar provides.
The same DSP is programmed differently on Audigy 2: EAX yada, yada.
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Head-fi tip of the day: never admit your hypothesis was wrong. Once is one time too many.
I am using - now don't laugh at me - my Total Bithead for gaming. I haven't noticed much change in framerate between it and my onboard Envy24. Surely the EMU cards can't be slower than such a simple USB card, can they?
I say that to ask, how bad can the EMU stuff be for gaming anyway? If games can recognize a bithead without trouble, surely they'd be able to run an EMU card! Right?
Hang on!!
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