[OwNmE]

Hello everyone !

As the title of this topic already says, I don't have too much knowledge about most hi-fi related topics. So it'd be nice if you could help me out on a couple of questions.

Last week I was able to get the Sennheiser HD 650 headphones really cheap and since I spent LOTS of time listening to music through headphones I figured that I should finally spent some money on a new system and bought the Senns. From what I've read on various forums the Rega Ear seems to be a very good amplifier for my needs and it fits my budget really well so I bought that one, too.
I'm currently using my computer's On-Board soundchip as a source in connection with Foobar for mp3s and Audio CDs (through my CD-Rom drive in the computer). The mp3s are all very high quality mp3s, 192 kbps at least. I'm sure that the On-Board sound chip REALLY sucks, so I just ordered an E-Mu 0404 sound card, because I've heared a lot of great things about it and it seems to be great value for price.

Now the questions :

1. Which will be the best way to connect my E-Mu 0404 with the Rega Ear? Will I be able to use the S/PDIF Out of the E-Mu without an DAC? If not, how do I connect the card to the Rega using the analog output of the E-Mu while keeping BEST results? I don't wanna spend a whole lot of money on cables, though.
2. What do you think about my Computer-as-Source set up? Is it ok to use the CD-Rom drive as source? Does it matter at all? Or is the soundcard the only important factor i need to consider to get the best sound? Is the quality of the mp3s acceptable as a source?
3. Should I rather buy a good CD-Player?
4. Do you find something in my setup that you'd call a bottleneck that keeps me from getting the best possible results for my budget?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Asmo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OwNmE Hello everyone ! As the title of this topic already says, I don't have too much knowledge about most hi-fi related topics. So it'd be nice if you could help me out on a couple of questions. Last week I was able to get the Sennheiser HD 650 headphones really cheap and since I spent LOTS of time listening to music through headphones I figured that I should finally spent some money on a new system and bought the Senns. From what I've read on various forums the Rega Ear seems to be a very good amplifier for my needs and it fits my budget really well so I bought that one, too. I'm currently using my computer's On-Board soundchip as a source in connection with Foobar for mp3s and Audio CDs (through my CD-Rom drive in the computer). The mp3s are all very high quality mp3s, 192 kbps at least. I'm sure that the On-Board sound chip REALLY sucks, so I just ordered an E-Mu 0404 sound card, because I've heared a lot of great things about it and it seems to be great value for price. Now the questions : 1. Which will be the best way to connect my E-Mu 0404 with the Rega Ear? Will I be able to use the S/PDIF Out of the E-Mu without an DAC? If not, how do I connect the card to the Rega using the analog output of the E-Mu while keeping BEST results? I don't wanna spend a whole lot of money on cables, though. 2. What do you think about my Computer-as-Source set up? Is it ok to use the CD-Rom drive as source? Does it matter at all? Or is the soundcard the only important factor i need to consider to get the best sound? Is the quality of the mp3s acceptable as a source? 3. Should I rather buy a good CD-Player? 4. Do you find something in my setup that you'd call a bottleneck that keeps me from getting the best possible results for my budget? Thanks in advance!

1. You cannot use S/DIF, get 1/4" to rca cables from headphile.com, or buy some 1/4" mono adapters from radioshack to use on standard rca-rca cables.
2. I would not use the cd-rom, rip all your music to lossless or high quality lame vbr mp3.
3. You mean a stand alone CDP or a cd-rom? You do not need a high end cd player, you will not find one within your budget that will beat the E-MU cards.
4. Your soundchip sucks (lol), once you get the E-MU, things should be a lot better, also, rip your music to lossless, 192 is not enough, especially with high end phones like the 650s. The Rega Ear is a great amp, I would consider something higher end to use with the 650s, read the AMP forums here for better idea of what people consider a ideal match for the 650s, I would not consider anything less than the rega ear however.

 

[OwNmE]

Thank you, questions number 1,3 and 4 have been answered.
What I don't understand is your answer to question 2. Why is a lossless rip of the music any better than the original audio cd in the CD-Rom drive? Does the drive weaken the overall sound quality? If so, why? I thought that the quality of the sound is not depending on the type of CD-Rom drive, but rather on the soundcard, since the CD-Rom drive will only read out the digital information and pass it on to the soundcard for further treatment.

 

[Asmo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OwNmE Thank you, questions number 1,3 and 4 have been answered. What I don't understand is your answer to question 2. Why is a lossless rip of the music any better than the original audio cd in the CD-Rom drive? Does the drive weaken the overall sound quality? If so, why? I thought that the quality of the sound is not depending on the type of CD-Rom drive, but rather on the soundcard, since the CD-Rom drive will only read out the digital information and pass it on to the soundcard for further treatment.

I believe the correct answer is because HD playback would give you less jitter, as opposed to CD-ROM. Also, lossless is just a great way to back up your digital media, you can un-compress lossless files back to original wav file and compress it in another method, or burn it to CD etc.