Sounds cards... - Page 5

Regardless of noise floor, the 1212m sounds awesome, much better than the m-audio cards. I lowered my noise floor substantially but my pc is still very loud compared to Iron_Dreamer's but I can still very much appreciate the 1212m for how it sounds. The lower noise floor is just an added benefit.

Besides, you don't hear the noise floor of a good card until you crank up your amp to levels that would blow your ears out if you actually played something. The main benefits of the EMU are more details, more natural sound, better soundstage, etc...

Your noise floor is effectively the noise floor of your weakest component...in this case my stupid noisy power supply I think I'm heading off for the 140mm fan powersupply about...now.

Edit: wow, i'm dumb. After all this time, I looked at my power supply's box and I just found out I have a fan speed switch. Looks like my emu 1212m will be coming just that little bit sooner. Waiting upon my next paycheck...

I think the downside to buying an EMU over a audigy is that EMU doesn't have DVD-Audio, THX Certified, EAX Advanced HD and DTS-Extended Surround.

So those are alot of missing sound quality components.

Well those are features which I think won't be missed much.

DVD-Audio on the computer is not that great anyway. It won't be that good on Audigy in any case.

THX certification is just paperwork and doesn't mean much.

EAX and DTS Extended is not really relevant since the emu isn't surround capable anyway.

but if you want the best sounding pumping out of your PC, 5.1 is a very pleasing sound. I have a bunch of CD's that have 5.1 sound on them. and I would like to be able to experience that sound.

I know this site is mostly about headphones, but you can't deny, as far as the best sound card, audigy gives you the most options for your dollar.

Yes the Audigy series does have a lot of features but no where near the best quality.

You have some DTS CDs? Don't you have your receiver decoding those?

sure, but my receiver is in my living room, where I hang out maybe an hour a day. I'm in front of my PC at least 3 hours a day. And usually when I'm in the living room I watch TV.

I think I'm gonna be going with an external DAC when I get around to upgrading (keeping my eyes open for a good deal on a used Audio Alchemy DDE). With this issue of operating systems, I don't want to be limited to Win2k/XP (not to mention using new, relatively untested drivers) so I'm keeping my Audiophile 24/96 for the forseeable future.

fewtch, I wouldn't bother going with an external DAC unless you can spring for a good digital cable and power conditioning also. Since you're using AP24/96 which has coax digital output, it isn't the optimal connection to the DAC since it's noisy from the computer. I'd sell it and get the chaintech to get optical out. But if you really want to keep it, get a reclocker and use it to clock your AP24/96 and the DAC.

emu1212m is still better than using a reclocker in most cases. You'll have to try really hard to get the reclocker + digital cables combo to perform the same in digital out.

I can't afford all that, and don't want the cheapie Chaintech... so you've discouraged me from upgrading (thanks a lot ). I think I'll just stay with what I have for the forseeable future and save myself the hassle and $$ (edit -- or I'll just get a DAC and let my own ears decide).
How many times do I have to keep repeating that I don't want a card that won't work under Win98SE? Shall I call you on the telephone? The EMU 1212m is OUT, period, unless they release Win9x drivers.

Not enough developers have supported 5.1 channels. They are waaaay behind the curve compared to the XBox when it comes to sound. Sound, mind you, sound.

I find the mere 2 channels of sound pumping out of my PC to be more than pleasing. Of course eveything I have hooked up to my PC costs more than it.

-Ed

I know what your situation is. All I'm doing is putting things into perspective that's all. I've probably done more experimenting than most others with this computer source stuff and this is just my observation that just an external DAC isn't going to be that much better alone as an upgrade. I'm not trying to discourage.

The point in mentioning the emu is that most likely still better than if you decide to reclock a lesser soundcard.

C'mon fewtch, you haven't tried out Windows 2000 or XP yet?

You'll like it...........

If you are determined to have multiple OS's in one box, there are hard drive selectors out there that let you switch between different hard drives to boot from, physically keeping the hard drives separate from each other.

Dual booting is good too, in fact if you use programs like Partition Magic, or need to quickly reinstall and rescue files off of Windows 2K or XP partition (make sure you don't format in NTFS) you'll need it by booting into Win98 to access those partitions.

I used to have a dual boot with Windows 98SE to rescue Win2K, but I prefer keeping my files on a redundant server instead. After some time, I eventually stopped installing dual boots and Window 98SE was retired permanently.

-Ed

I am dual booting already between Win98SE and Win2k. I tend to use Win9x much more often, because I have a lot of software (and also a scanner) that doesn't work under Win2k, and my video card's drivers only allows AGP 1x under Win2k (slows down graphics a lot, video can be really jerky).

Also, I like the feel of working with Win98SE better, 2K accesses the hard drive too often and eats too much RAM. Frankly, Win98SE is a lot smoother and more software compatible across the board.

I'll probably migrate gradually to Win2k and eventually stop using Win98SE (next time I upgrade my video card, MB and CPU anyway), but for now I want to be able to listen to music under either/both.
So I take it your theory is that most of the problem with the sound is from the clocking, rather than the DAC (and that a better DAC with a standalone power supply won't be much of an improvement)? If so I'm not sure I agree, and would like to hear the results for myself. I think the Audio Alchemy has both optical and SPDIF inputs, so maybe I'll get one and try it out, then get a card with optical out if things don't sound much better. Frankly I don't think clock jitter is much of a problem with the AP 2496, from looking at the THD% with RMAA tests... IMO it's more the DAC and analog section that aren't the world's best.