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Guaging sound card specs/quality?Do I need a new sound card?

post #1 of 6
11/7/06 at 2:48am
Thread Starter 
So, I've got some Lame Audio and some MP3's encoded via VBR min 128kbps max 320kbps. How do I evaluate my computers capabilities as far as audio goes.

My sound card is an Audigy 1. Since then, Audigy 2-4 have come and gone, and the Xi-Fi is here at ridiculous prices.

What limits the sound quality of my MP3's or Lame files on my Grado 125's with Cmoy Headphone amp?

I'm pretty sure my Audigy is 24 bit 48Khz (Whatever that means.) The new Xi-Fi's are 192KBPS processing. What does this mean? Does this mean that the maximum quality I can get is 48KHZ from my 320KBPS or Lossless audio files on my Audigy 1?

Side Note: How do I use my SR 125's to their full potential? What is the ipod quality spec, if there is such a thing? Do the later generation ipods produce better sound? Mine is a gen2. Why did the cd-player at the place I bought my Grado's sound so damn good and full?

I guess I don't know how to guage the quality of sound cards or sound sources. What specs play primarily into sound quality and what are those specs called.

Would I hear a difference in my MP3's with a sound card upgrade? I do the majority of my listening from my computer. I do game a little, but I don't have a surround sound setup for my computer, nor do I want one. I am ONLY interested in 2 channel quality reproduction. Thx.
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post #2 of 6
11/7/06 at 3:57am
I think you would hear a great increase in audio quality by just ripping your music in a lossless format instead of MP3. Mp3 compresion is lossey so everytime you rip a cd using it audio data is discarded making have less depth and not as pleasurable to listen to.
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post #3 of 6
11/7/06 at 12:37pm
Thread Starter 
What do the numbers on sound cards represent, and could I tell a difference?
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post #4 of 6
11/7/06 at 5:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by topho
I'm pretty sure my Audigy is 24 bit 48Khz (Whatever that means.) The new Xi-Fi's are 192KBPS processing. What does this mean? Does this mean that the maximum quality I can get is 48KHZ from my 320KBPS or Lossless audio files on my Audigy 1?
Your Audigy resamples everything to 48 kHz using bad methods, which means that it will sound worse than a card that does not resample. I think you've confused terms. 192 Kbps (kilobits per second) is a common bitrate for MP3s. The X-Fi's DAC is capable of output at 192 kHz (kilohertz). A kilobit is a measure of space/size, while a kilohertz is a measure of frequency; two totally unrelated things, but both having the prefix "kilo," which of course just means "thousand" (ex. 192,000 hertz = 192 kilohertz).

Quote:
Originally Posted by topho
Side Note: How do I use my SR 125's to their full potential? What is the ipod quality spec, if there is such a thing? Do the later generation ipods produce better sound? Mine is a gen2.
Not necessarily. For example, right now, there's a debate about which generation of the iPod Shuffle has the best sound quality.

Quote:
Originally Posted by topho
Why did the cd-player at the place I bought my Grado's sound so damn good and full?
Perhaps because it had better components than your iPod, or ones that sounded better to you. Maybe it was connected to other high quality components (like an amplifier), which would have affected the sound quality and the ability to drive headphones.

Quote:
Originally Posted by topho
I guess I don't know how to guage the quality of sound cards or sound sources. What specs play primarily into sound quality and what are those specs called.
Most current sound cards have similar specifications. What really matters is the DAC (digital-to-analog converter) inside the card and the quality of its implementation, along with the quality of the drivers the manufacturer makes for the computer.

Quote:
Originally Posted by topho
Would I hear a difference in my MP3's with a sound card upgrade?
Maybe. It depends on your ears, the quality of the MP3s, the sound card you're upgrading to, and the quality of your listening equipment.
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post #5 of 6
11/8/06 at 2:11am
Thread Starter 
infinitesymphony, Thankyou so much for your very helpful reply.

From your response...I'm starting to doubt that I would be able to hear the difference between the Audigy and the XI-FI for regular mp3 playback.
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post #6 of 6
11/8/06 at 4:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by topho
infinitesymphony, Thankyou so much for your very helpful reply.

From your response...I'm starting to doubt that I would be able to hear the difference between the Audigy and the XI-FI for regular mp3 playback.
Always glad to help (or at least try). To some more experienced gear listeners, the change might make all the difference in the world. But, you'll always be better off upgrading the equipment that will make the most amount of difference. A speaker or headphone upgrade will always trump any other upgrade, simply because other upgrades don't matter if they never find their way to a decent speaker/driver.

Assuming you're happy with your Grado SR-125s, the next step is usually a DAC. DACs come in all sorts of configurations. Internal DACs like the ones inside sound cards and CD/DVD players, and external DACs. Some external DACs accept USB input and act as a sound card, while others only accept digital input from another device. The latter is the traditional role of a DAC.

The next upgrade after the DAC is usually a headphone amplifier. Some DACs, like the Zhaolu series (~$250) and the Benchmark DAC1 ($~1,000) have built-in headphone amplifiers.

To the audiophile community, DACs and amplifiers are greatly important elements in a system, because they both offer more realistic or better-sounding playback with each upgrade. Even if upgrading to an X-Fi (or upgrading some other component) doesn't drastically change the sound quality, consider it just the first step on the path toward your dream system.
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