Better source upgrade AuzenTech Auzen X-Fi Prelude vs E-MU 0404? - Page 2

Wait, wait, wait...........that all depends on the configuration of your music playback app!!!!!

If you choose to use Foobar's ASIO output option to play music via the 0404 USB, then Foobar will have "exclusive use" of the device, and Windows sounds, online videos, sound clips, etc. will not be heard. But the main reason that one uses ASIO is to optimize the "exclusive music listening" experience...something that might not even be detectable to most listeners. It's just nice to know that if one uses ASIO in Foobar, then there is no chance that something in the Windows audio system is resampling or otherwise goofing up the stream.

If you configure Foobar to play music via DirectSound, then the output from Foobar still passes through kmixer in the playback chain.....and the 0404 USB will play all of the streams playing in all open apps, just like a regular sound card would.

If you have a need to listen to a mixed stream from various apps, the difference between ASIO and other methods isn't significant. Just use the DirectSound option in your music playback app, sit back, and enjoy. You can very easily switch playback output settings in Foobar as needed, should you feel that ASIO does indeed provide the best reproduction when you are listening to music only.

In my system, Foobar is configured as the sole app that uses ASIO. If I'm not running Foobar, the 0404 USB is simply the default Windows audio device.......and I can listen to an mp3 via WMP at the same time that I play a video in a browser and hear both.

I just reset the output option in Foobar to DirectSound 2.0, closed and then reopened Foobar........and I could hear audio from a FLAC played back in Foobar, an mp3 in WMP, and a Yahoo news video clip all at the same time.

Yep, sejarzo's right... You can have all of the regular applications you want, but only one KS or ASIO application at a time. Realistically, this can be avoided in almost all cases.

I'm going to pop this question in this thread, since it's related and pretty simple.

I'm getting the Prelude soon as I'm building a new PC and I decided on it about a week ago. I have some cheap 5.1 logitech speakers that I use frequently, not so much for music listening but for gaming/watching videos/etc.

is there a convenient way to leave these hooked up but also hook up headphones (currently have grados) just for convenience? or will I always have to go to the back of my machine to get things done?

there's a headphone jack on the speaker volume controller but obviously that's not going to give me the sound quality I want. I don't currently have an amp so I can't include that in the solution (or the problem )

thanks. don't mean to hijack the thread I just didn't think this needed it's own since it's fairly related.

You could get a splitter just for the front L/R channels, or you could use onboard sound for either your headphones or speakers.

Or... You could use the Prelude's 10-pin front-panel connector if your case has a headphone jack. According to the specs, it sends both a headphone and a microphone signal. It's those 10 bare pins just to the left of the Molex connector on the top of the card (high-res picture of X-Fi Prelude).

excellent. there is one in the case I'm getting so I'll be sure to use that. (antec 900) you have been quite helpful to me in this process, IS, so I must thank you again .

...and what if i have multi-channel output via my onboard soundcard and want to use usb as a output for a external DAC...?

Will usb block the onboard soundcard or not... ?

No, the use of a USB audio interface won't interfere with other audio devices (ex. onboard sound). Just consider it another sound card. As long as your applications are appropriately configured for either onboard sound or the USB audio interface, everything will work.

I think you're confusing some terms... MP3s are rated in kbps -- kilobits per second -- which are units of data. The sampling rate is in kHz -- kilohertz -- which is a measurement of frequency.

All of your MP3s and FLACs that were ripped from CD are 44.1 kHz, since that's the sampling rate of a CD. The average compression rate for a 16-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC file is somewhere in the 1,000 kbps range. FLAC is like a variable-rate MP3 in that way, but the difference is that with FLAC, no information is lost.

There's no need to resample to 192 kHz as it will not add any extra information. If the resampling algorithm is poor, it might actually degrade quality.

aha

auzentech prelude is much , much better card in many way then usb 0404 .
the sound is more detailed , more dinamic , and lively like a cdplayer sound .
is the first card who it seemed like a good cdplayer .
the e-mu have a stifled , not so dynamic sound .
like the differece between a hd595 and k701 .

but auzen don`t sound good with "resampling" only in creation mode and bit perfect .

I disagree. Emu 0404 usb sounds better than prelude in everyway.

aha

no no no
is no comparison "everyway"

i have both - and the prelude is not - only better - is incredible vs 0404
the 0404 is mediocre - inferior - even terratec aureon space is better in some way .

i will mod 0404 usb - "in a short while ."

Bit of a noob question. Is there any significant difference in quality, if at all, in using your onboard spdif out vs. using a dedicated cards digital out.

Cheers

It can make a difference if the onboard sound card does not support bitperfect mode, and has a bad resampling alogorithm. Many soundcards resample all audio to 48 Khz. If this is done poorly it can really make things sound bad. There are options to use players (like Foobar, or WinAmp) that support using a software resampler to fix some of the issue. In general, passing the data bitperfect is best, although there is also some of the oppinion that resampling to a higher bitrate using a good quality resampler is also a good option.

As Brewmaster said, it depends on the motherboard's chipset. If it uses the Intel HD Audio specification and not the old AC'97 specification, it should be fine. A dedicated card's digital output can potentially reduce jitter and improve digital SNR, but the sonic improvement of a transport upgrade is often debatable, so YMMV.

If you're using the 0404 USB, use the USB connection unless you're really having issues. Note that my statement about "one device at a time" was only applicable when running an application with KS or ASIO. You can use as many DirectSound outputs as you want--this is the method that most programs use to communicate with the sound card.