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Answer a noob's questions?

post #1 of 3
9/20/11 at 1:20pm
Thread Starter 

Hey all,

 

I'm interested in getting some better audio stuff. The only step I've ever taken towards doing so before was buying a decent pair of headphones (Sennheiser HD555s), although I'm getting the impression now that they're just "decent" and not really in the "good" or "great" category. My current setup is just those cans hooked up to my computer's onboard sound card. I have loads of questions, so let's see if I can some things cleared up.

 

1. People seem to talk a lot about external DACs here rather than just internal soundcards. Why is it that external ones are better/more deisrable? Is there something fundamentally bad about having the DAC be like a normal internal PC device?

 

2. If I were to get a decent DAC, would I notice a significant change in the sound quality of my music over my onboard sound card even if the bitrate of my music is not super high quality? I don't have CDs to rip from; most of my music is downloaded from emusic.com, and the bitrate tends to be in the upper 200 kpbs range, but not 320kpbs+.

 

       2b. I guess I'm a bit confused; how does bitrate fit into sampling rates and all this        "24/96" stuff being thrown around? I'm woefully ignorant.

 

 

3. All else being equal, what would increase the quality of the sound I get at the moment more: better headphones, or a better DAC?

 

4. I listen to music, but I'm also a gamer - I'm not deadset on having amazing gaming sound quality or anything, I think I would be partial to having better musical quality, but is there a particular soundcard/DAC that would suit both purposes fine.

 

My bottom line is that I want to start down a road of having better sound quality. However, I'm also on a budget ( don't want to spend more than $100-$200 at the moment). Where do I begin?

 

Thanks :)

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post #2 of 3
9/20/11 at 1:48pm

You may wish to start by telling us what computer you have, what soundcard, what output do you use or have, toslink, spdif coax, usb, etc?  Do you use an amp?

 

As far as your other questions re:  bitrates.  If you do not plan to upgrade your source material form the mp3 level then I would not worry about a dac in the $100 -$200 range unless you are prepared to hear how poor your mp3s really are.  If you plan to listen to some better quality files then yes you may hear a difference.

 

Do some searches on low cost dac amp combos and you can read about other experience in upgrading form whatever they were using.

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post #3 of 3
9/20/11 at 3:27pm
Thread Starter 

Ok, sure. Well, I built my PC myself, so it's a custom configuration. I have this motherboard:


 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128444

which has this audio:



Audio Chipset
Realtek ALC892
Audio Channels
8 Channels

...which I imagine is pretty ordinary, but I don't know how ordinary. I don't have an amp. I just have my hd555s plugged directly into the green lineout from my motherboard.

I am prepared to to get better audio files if it will make a difference; I just don't know how to go about doing that, exactly. I'm not aiming to be an extreme audiophile, I just want to have better sound and hear more detail. Does that mean buying CDs instead of downloading, and ripping at higher bitrates, or in lossless formats? I've heard that it's not possible to hear a difference from a 320kpbs mp3 vs. lossless (or at least that many people can't). So, my question is, if 320kpbs is about as good as it gets, then is a high 200s kbps bitrate that much worse? Or does the quality not increase in a linear fashion?

To be honest, I've heard files that vary in bitrate and I've never been able to notice a difference in quality. Or if I did, I wasn't sure if I was just imagining it, because it seemed so slight. I assume that I've just never had the proper setup to be able to hear a difference. Is the difference really that black and white?

Or, alternatively, are there places online to get music in a better quality format than the average mp3?
 
EDIT:
 
I looked into it and got this information from eMusic, where I get most of my audio files.
 
"eMusic utilizes LAME encoder, version 3.98.2 at VBR (Variable Bit Rate), alt preset extreme. VBR preset extreme uses an average bit rate of 256kbps, which offers quality comparable to 320 CBR (Constant Bit Rate)."

This should be good enough quality that I would benefit from maybe having a better DAC / better headphones right?

Edited by Kortheo - 9/20/11 at 4:35pm
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