[Azure]

Um...the soundcard is 25 bucks. I have onboard right now anyways, so paying $25 for a 7.1 sound card with a good reputation is a good deal with or without the A500s.

 

[Csidinim]

The 7.1 won't be useful for music listening. The soundcard will still require some sort of amplifier because the line-out won't be sufficient for headphone use. I think his point was that since you finally admitted that you don't have the ears to appreciate better quality than what you have now (or way before since you had bundled earbuds) that even an extra penny spent would be a waste of money. You had long ago reached your threshold of audio quality, which fortunately for your wallet, consists of a $5 pair of earbuds that usually comes free with a Walmart CD player.

 

[kschul2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azure Um...the soundcard is 25 bucks. I have onboard right now anyways, so paying $25 for a 7.1 sound card with a good reputation is a good deal with or without the A500s.

The post above reinforces the point I was trying to make.

Keep in mind that your Karma is by no means a bad source. I have the Chaintech card and also in the past had a Karma. While I never A/B'd them I don't remember either having much better SQ than the other. I do know however that the Chaintech's headphone out is not as powerful as the Karma's. My Karma drove my Grado SR-225's to plenty high enough of a volume. The Chaintech on the otherhand, at 100% volume was still not as loud as I would prefer. And this was with Grados, 32ohm headphones. I'm too lazy to look up the impedance of the A500s but I would bet it's higher than 32ohms so the Chaintech is going to have even more of a time with them.

But none of that is really what I was trying to say or I think what the above poster was saying either. If you can't appreciate the SQ of $100 headphones why throw another $25 in there? IMHO, the jump from stock $5 earbuds to A500s is many many times more of an increase in SQ than you should expect from a $25 soundcard. And you say that the Chaintech has a good reputation...I don't understand how that reputation can mean anything to you. Seeing as how you were upset with us because we recommended the A500s and they had all of these good reviews and then you get them and don't like them at all...they have a very good reputation here but you still think they were a complete waste of money. Yet you're going to spend $25 more of your hard earned money on another product that WE recommend...

 

[Azure]

I've been wanting a soundcard for ages now. I've been thinking of getting a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 for a while now, but it is too expensive. Now that I've seen this one for only $25 I'm tempted to get it. It's only $25 for a soundcard. Spending that much on a soundcard is normal. It's not like I'm doing another crazy purchase by buying $25 headphones.

 

[Imyourzero]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kschul2 The post above reinforces the point I was trying to make. Keep in mind that your Karma is by no means a bad source. I have the Chaintech card and also in the past had a Karma. While I never A/B'd them I don't remember either having much better SQ than the other. I do know however that the Chaintech's headphone out is not as powerful as the Karma's. My Karma drove my Grado SR-225's to plenty high enough of a volume. The Chaintech on the otherhand, at 100% volume was still not as loud as I would prefer. And this was with Grados, 32ohm headphones. I'm too lazy to look up the impedance of the A500s but I would bet it's higher than 32ohms so the Chaintech is going to have even more of a time with them.

Well, not necessarily... Low impedance cans like Grados need sufficient current, and a card like the Chaintech isn't able to provide very much. When I tried to drive my SR80s directly from the Chaintech (this was months ago when I was trying to get by without an amp), they wouldn't get very loud before the card started to clip. My 300-ohm Sennheisers, however, fared much better. Even with no amp, they reached high volumes and still sounded good because they aren't nearly as dependent upon current. This holds true for the E-MU 0404 and probably any other soundcard that does not have an onboard amp.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kschul2 IMHO, the jump from stock $5 earbuds to A500s is many many times more of an increase in SQ than you should expect from a $25 soundcard.

Agreed. The sonic improvement when going from a crappy set of headphones to a GOOD set of headphones should be much more noticeable than going from most soundcards to the Chaintech. For music, the Chaintech does sound better than my Audigy 2 but it's not a knock-your-pants-off difference. However, for $25, I didn't expect a huge difference. I will say that the difference is enough to make the extra expense worth it.

If you do go for it, though, just do yourself a favor and stop after getting the Chaintech. After that, you start spending more to get smaller improvements. And don't get mad at us if you buy it and aren't blown away! I can see it now..."I just spent $25 to make my old soundcard sound like crap, and now music through the Chaintech/A500s sounds exactly like it used to sound before I bought all of this!!"

 

[cosmopragma]

Page count : 10

 

[alexik01]

This thread made me laugh.

Anyway, I would just like to say I bought the A-500s last Christmas, and later the AV-710, based on recommendations from here and am very happy. With all the hate going 'round, thanks

PS. My next post will be titled "Why didn't you tell me to get better phones in the first place so i wouldn't want them now? Damn you head-fi!"

 

[dj_mocok]

Hmmm...

I think sense that since he spent 1 year to decide which headphones to get, he will spend another year to whinge about it as well..

I think I can see this thread again in 2006.

 

[kschul2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azure I've been wanting a soundcard for ages now. I've been thinking of getting a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 for a while now, but it is too expensive. Now that I've seen this one for only $25 I'm tempted to get it. It's only $25 for a soundcard. Spending that much on a soundcard is normal. It's not like I'm doing another crazy purchase by buying $25 headphones.

Well ultimately it's your decision how you spend your money. But for your sake and everyone else's I'd just like to remind you that you also wanted those headphones for ages as well and they ended up not being a good buy at all. If you do decide to buy the Chaintech then I really hope that you're able to enjoy it and maybe it'll even improve your likeness for your A500s. But if you don't like it PLEASE remember exactly what you just said, that its only $25 and it's not a crazy purchase worth getting frusterated with.

 

[Fennario]

Reading this thread is like finding the raw hamburger that's been hiding in the corner of the fridge for the past two months, but you just have to open the butcher paper to see it prior to throwing it away, and before you know it your entire kitchen is covered in rotten meat.

 

[Csidinim]

wow. how poetic. hamburger.

 

[Kazuya]

Azure: You've re-enforced the point that things are subjective. While you may think the cost of the Audigy is expensive, I'm raising my eyebrows at why you're even bothering with a $25 soundcard.

I'm actually a bit shocked to read that you spent a whole year to decide on what headphones you're going to get. I'm a student, earn not a whole lot of beans and I don't spend that much time worrying about $100 (~$125 in my Australian lingo) purchase.

 

[Azure]

I'm mainly upset becuase I feel that I purchased the wrong headphones and could have gotten something better if I just spent a bit more money. Perhaps if I upped the amount I'd spent to aroudn $150-$180, I could have gotten better results.

As for the $25 soundcard, isn't it supposed to be nearly the same quality as the 5.1 Revo and the Audigy ZS? The AV-710 is supposed to be a good card. Anyways, I've been wanting a sound card anyways, so I won't be disappointed since this doesn't have to do with the headphones (I'll be getting for speakers primarily, using it with headphones will just be a slight plus).

 

[crazyfrenchman27]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azure I'm mainly upset becuase I feel that I purchased the wrong headphones and could have gotten something better if I just spent a bit more money. Perhaps if I upped the amount I'd spent to aroudn $150-$180, I could have gotten better results.

Actually, probably not. You're asking for a revolutionary change in sound, not an evolutionary one. It's possible that you just don't like the ATH-A500 sound signature, no matter how accurate it might be.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Azure As for the $25 soundcard, isn't it supposed to be nearly the same quality as the 5.1 Revo and the Audigy ZS? The AV-710 is supposed to be a good card. Anyways, I've been wanting a sound card anyways, so I won't be disappointed since this doesn't have to do with the headphones (I'll be getting for speakers primarily, using it with headphones will just be a slight plus).

You're going to need an amp with the AV-710 to get decent results.

-Matt

 

[Azure]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyfrenchman27 You're going to need an amp with the AV-710 to get decent results. -Matt

Won't it still be better than on-board?