[MikeW]

Hey guys, my gear's in my sig, im looking for a better PC transport, what are my options? Im thinking of an EMU 0404 PCI, has anyone got experiance comparing the X-Fi's Flexijact SPDIF to a EMU 0404, has anyone done this upgrade and noticed an improvment? Im considering USB > SPDIF Converters like that Musiland 01 USD, or a Transit. My DAC has usb input, but i've recently been listening to it via SPDIF and notice an improvment, but i've always had my doubts about X-fi's goofy Flexijack SPDIF output. Though im using a 30$ blue jeans 3.5mm to Coax cable, that was a mistake lol, once this card is gone i've got a useless cable. Im trying to keep this below 200$.

 

[MikeW]

I did some comparisons of my motherboards Realtek ALC1200 chipset, it has both Coax and Optical, I tried them both, with bit-perfect output via foobar/asio. They both came up worse sounding then the X-fi, despite their proper cable connections and x-fi's flexijack. I've also connected my OPPO 980H DVD player, it's been sitting in a box for awhile now since I picked up the BDP-83 (omg awesome bd player btw). No matter what I do, I can't get my computer to sound as nice as the Oppo spinning disc, when used as a transport connected to the same dac/amp. (even with an inferior quality spdif cable) Im quite spoiled by my huge lossless music library and the convenience of PC transport though, and the OPPO does not support any lossless formats, that means I'm stuck burning CDR"s in CDA format for lossless music.

 

[MikeW]

I think I'm going to try out the Emu 0404 as a transport, I spent some time today messing with my power cords, and oppo player, I had my amp and dac sitting on top of it, temporarily, the oppo vibrates a bit (not good for tube amp, or dac for that matter) though when spinning so I moved it, and swapped in a much better power cord. I only managed to considerably widen the gap between the OPPO and PC as transport. Now it's even more obvious the oppo is far superior for transport purposes. At this rate I can see myself giving up on PC audio. If i have to spend thosands on exotic reclockers and pc transports, when a 150$ cd player is as good, or possibly better, I have to question if it's worth it.

 

[tosehee]

Are you using the coax output from Oppo or its stereo out directly to amp?

 

[MikeW]

optical spdif output from oppo to dac. the only thing im changing is the tranpsort back and forth. From my X-fi's SPDIF Output, to the OPPO's SPDIF output.