What to feed my 2.0 amp/speakers set

Hi,

At my home desktop i listen to my music through my 2.0 system.

- PC (with onboard audio card)

- Onkyo A-9377 (stereo amplifier)  http://www.eu.onkyo.com/products/A-9377.html

- Mordaunt Short Avant 902i 2.0 set.  http://www.mordauntshort.com/summary.php?PID=47

I told a friend of mine i was thinking of buying a PCI(-e) soundcard to enhance the sound produced by my system (bypassing the onboard).

This friend came over the other day and brought his external soundcard, and other then i expected it changed the sound quite a bit, with tighter bass and more articulated high end. (this was a 7.1 sweex external usb soundcard)

This made me wonder what should be the best choice to enhance the sound produced by this system.

What are the alternatives, i guess i dont need a DAC, as my amp processes the digital signal.

thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mark2410 

if your feeding the onk with digital then your effectivly using it as a DAC.

 

i didnt hear any of it but i personally would be surprised if his external £20 DAC was actually better than the one in your onk, id stick with what you have.

i think i explained wrong, or you misunderstood.

the thing changed with the a/b test was only the source soundcard.

1. onboard -> ONKYO -> Speakers

2. Ext (sweex) -> ONKYO -> Speakers

from the onboard or external to the amp = 3,5mm -> stereo RCA

then the setup with the sweex sounded better then the onboard soundcard.

So i guess, also from what you posted, that i would be better off getting a new external or internal soundcard.

I guess i need to look for a good stereo soundcard then.

Someone to confirm this? :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by labrat 

Depending how bad you do believe your Onboard soundcard is, what about it are you missing?

The old Onkyos were very good amplifiers usually, had one myself which has now been entertaining my sister for years!

And if your sound is flawed by noise from your computer, a cheap external DAC can sometimes rectify this.

Look at Turtle Beach, they do have cheap 25 USD external DAC's that really does give you value for your money!

Other cheap DAC, like the "DAC on a cable" also does function as you would expect it to do!

 

 

thank you for the reply labrat,

the thing i am missing, and what was there with the external sound card, is the clarity of the high's and detail in the bass, even punchyness.

But i guess i will have to check out some externals and internals.

thank you,

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRG1990 

A Internal soundcard is powered by the computers power supply and connected to the computers noisy ground and inside a noisey pc case with fans , harddrives etc, a extenal soundcard is outside of the noisey computer case and can be mains powered so doesn't have to use noisey computer grounds and power. if your on a budget i would recommend the fiio e7 with the l7 if you can spend a bit more the fiio E9 & E7 i use the fiio combo in my speaker set-up , the fiio combo has a clean netruel sound with excellent bass and treble extension.

Thank you for your input, i really appreciate it.

But i guess i would be better of with a DAC that is designed for stereo sound (perhaps RCA output) with a headphone-out aswell.

As i see the FiiO's are designed for headphones as primary use, which would not be my primary use.

Though i would like a headphones output, so i can listen to my music out of my laptop at good quality aswell. (i spent a lot of time at university with my ESW9's plugged in, and laptop soundcard isnt very good, gets very muddy with full-bodied music.)

thank you,

I do already have a 3.5mm to rca cable in use atm from my pc onboard to my amp.

I guess i dont need the E9 as this is an amp, which i already have in the onkyo.

Yesterday i came across a Muse mini USB DAC's, and i think this might be the answer to my search.

Wouldn't you agree?

Last night i ordered a Muse-Audio TDA1543 4x.

lets hope it arrives shortly after. :)