x-fi xtrememusic vs m-audio audiophile 24/96 - Page 2

I have the X-Fi Fatality(almost the same as the extreme music), which has the front audio panel. It puts out alot of power it seems from the front panel, which also has a headphone volume on it. It will drive my K81DJ's wayy over the edge.....but I don't know about higher impedance phones...and it sounds amazing to me. Had the Audigy 2 before and this card blows it out of the water in terms of sound quality....

I agree here. M-Audio Revolution 5.1 is a great card with fast and easy-to-load software. I have tried Santa Cruz, Audigy 2 & Audigy 2ZS, X-Fi Extreme Music, M-Audio Revo7.1 & Revo5.1. The Revo5.1 is easily the best among the bunch (I have yet opened my Audigy 4 Pro that I just bought).

Anyway, according to the review @ digit-life.com the Revo5.1 has better DAC than the Revo7.1.

"...Revolution5.1 with DAC AKM 4358 of a higher quality (the same DAC is installed in professional cards ESI Juli@ and Audiophile192), an additional headphone output jack and internal AUX."

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/...olution51.html

HD595 are very efficient headphones. I have EMU 0404 USB too and X-Fi drives 595 just as well as EMU 0404 USB.

I do not know anything about the beresford mkIII but most of the sound cards on the market, including the X-Fi's except ones that comes with a break out box, do not have a dedicated headphone jack like the Revo 5.1 sound card (or at least here in the US market). They may have a headphone mode but then output through the regular mini-output jacks.

The sound from the headphone jack on the Revo5.1 is very clear and does have volume; I never had to turn it up past 30% with my Sennheiser HD-650's (300-ohm) but I usually put it at 20% and this is without any amplifier. Nevertheless, I think it probably would benefit you to connect it to an external headphone amplifier to use with those large headphones such as HD-650's, K-701's, DT-880's, etc...

For how cheap? BTW, 1820 (without M) is inferior to more modern 1212M, 1616M and probably 0404usb as well. And I don't think you need 18 ins and 20 outs. However, if you can find it for the same price as revo 5.1, snatch it just for bragging rights

Ya most of the E-MU professional sound cards and the X-Meridian have better DAC than the Revo5.1

This is what I found for the X-Meridian:

# 4 pcs 24-bit/192 kHz AK4396VF (120dB-part spec.) DACs for 7.1channel output. (24-bit/192kHz in 7.1channel playback)
# 1 pc 24-bit/192kHz AK5385VF (114dB-part spec.) ADC input (24-bit/192 kHz recording)

So the AK4396VF provides a theoretical bandwidth of 120 dB which is higher than the 114 dB found with the AKM 4358 in the Revo5.1. Also this card has

# DTS® Interactive - A real-time 5.1 channel encoder.
# DTS® Neo:PC - An upmix matrix technology.
# Dolby® Digital Live (DDL) - A real-time 5.1 channel encoding.

and...

# Dolby® Headphone technology, conveying 5.1 surround and 3D gaming audio over stereo headphones.

which should be fun to use with headphones.


So from the specs this card should outperforms the Revo5.1 but I cannot comment on its software and drivers. From my experience, M-Audio Revolution line has the simplest (to use) software while still providing lots of option. Creative cards I know for sure cannot compete against M-Audio in this aspect. I have yet had a chance to use any of the E-MU but it looks complicated and probably would take longer time to load. And from my previous experience, Creative drivers are buggy at times as well.


I would read the review from the link provided below and see how the software/drivers work. If it is not too much of annoyance to you then I would recommend you to try this card, unless of course it is beyond your budget. If you are ready to use professional card then I guess you can either try the E-MU's, ESI Julia, M-Audio Audiophile 192, or some of the other ones but those cards do take time and patience to work with.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/sound/399/1/

What does the stuff in bold mean?

hey so, bringing back a year old thread to ask a question is a rational thing to do, no?


and thats written in pretty plain english, whats the issue?

I do what I want, it's perfectly legal, there is no need for you to ridicule it.

wow, and a you're a prick with zero manners, what a winning combination!

as far as your question, if you went to the trouble to read this entire thread, and dig that one little piece up, why not read further and understand, OR use google to find a step-by-step for removing those caps

If you're going to drive your headphones from a sound card, don't use the headphone jack.....plug your cans into the stereo audio output and set the configuration settings as stereo speakers.

Just because you get loud enough "sound" out of a soundcard, doesnt mean it is properly driving them. not to mention you're source is smack dab in the middle of a big EMI emitting machine....

eh?

most soundcards don't have a "headphone jack", and those that do, usually feature a headphone amplifier, or some sort of gain increase circuit, which is very likely capacitor coupled (if not a discrete amplifier), meaning that the output is better suited for high impedance/high current (what you'd call "hard to drive") loads, if its pushing them to volume appropriately, without distortion, its driving them fine, it doesn't matter if its a $5 chinese no-name USB box or a $1700 Grace m902, so how else would you "prove" (objectively) that it isn't properly driving them?

oh and the whine-and-cry about "oh all internal audio is the devil, RFI RFI RFI, EMI EMI EMI", again, how would you "prove" that point (objectively)?

If the point is about driving headphones, you really shouldn't miss Xonar Essences STX.
It has by far one of the best dedicated headphone amp.

Check out the threads of Xonar Essences STX, you won't regret it...