[lojay]

Finally got the E-MU plugged right, suprisingly, it DIDN'T blow me away at first, maybe my expectations were too high, esp. how the E-MU can't really bring much more detail than the CDP's (I thought they were gonna give me 1000% more detail)

But somehow as I listened to more music it did seem quite good (as in musical and involvement).....but again when I A/B, or compared Steely Dan on the card with my '95 pcdp and Voxson pcdp (what the hell's that brand?), I couldn't point my finger at where the E-MU excels, rather the difference is obvious and large on techno/ metal/ hard rock. For me, when listening to jazz or softer rock (incl. Pink Floyd) the difference isn't that big, at least not worth the $ in upgrade. Since my Audigy isn't here, I hope I can get it back soon to do some listening.

I don't know why, but it seems that the differences in sources w/ E-MU is easier to see on the HD497's, but not the SR225's, which I used to compare my pcdps with the E-MU.

Maybe both the E-MU and the SR225 arent burnt-in, and the E-MU's only got 15 hours on them.

Or maybe I need a headphone in the league of CD3000's to see really how much better it sounds. (It better be a big leap from the SR225, which I don't think is a big leap from the HD497 after weeks with them.)

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Well I could easily hear the improvements that the mod I did to the EMU made, even with my cheap, terrible sounding Aiwa HP-X222's

So I think you should be able to tell the difference fine with your much better cans. It is likely being limited a bit by the fact that you don't have an amp, and the card does sound much better with an amp IME. It doesn't really put out the current needed to make those low impedance cans really sound their best.

 

[lojay]

Aiwa? I know exactly what your talking about

Sure, I'll look for an amp (gotta buy one anyways)! Any reccommendations? Or should I wait til I get my new headphones (eg. CD3000)?

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lojay Aiwa? I know exactly what your talking about Sure, I'll look for an amp (gotta buy one anyways)! Any reccommendations? Or should I wait til I get my new headphones (eg. CD3000)?

The Gilmore Lite will likely work very well with both your Grados and the CD3000's, the only downside is that it might take you a while to get it.

 

[lan]

I wouldn't judge a new product right away especially if you have more than 1 new item. Let them stay in your system for a month and go back to Audigy.

The emu's clarity is more obvious to me in the treble in my system. I'm using 1820m though so it maynot be the same experience as 1212m.

You're getting another new headphone and you don't even have a complete system yet? Doesn't make sense to me. Differences can be masked with lesser interconnects and no power conditioning. I would've spent some $ on those and complete one system before getting another better headphones such as CD3000 when I already got SR225s.

edit: I have my grados wired at the end with RCAs. Sounds pretty good out of my 1820s output. Not loud but acceptable for me.

 

[lojay]

The Grados are borrowed (my good friend is having his month long exams

), and my Sennheisers are broken (HK doesn't have the replacement cables yet).

Complete system? Yeah, I want to upgrade the interconnects, the headphone cables, throw an amp in, and add in a CD3000, but they both have to take take time as both arent available here....

Damn, and would listening to CD's thru a NEC 2500A DVD +-RW, by CDDA to foobar ASIO(dll) thru the E-MU's be worse than ripping them lossless?