[Bluestreak]

In my neverending quest for the perfect sound card, my interest was piqued when I saw that the Prodigy 7.1 had a headphone amp. Would their built-in amp be sufficient enough to drive the HD-590 Senn cans, which has an impedance of 120ohms? I couldn't find out what kind of amp the Prodigy had, but from what I read here, it does seem to suffer from hissing. Would the HD590s be sensitive enough to pick up on that hissing? I know some phones are, but not sure whether the HD590 is as well.

In the meantime, if you use a Prodigy 7.1, let me know what you think of it.

In any event, I should note that Audiotrak sold out their Prodigy line of cards at most distributors, but they are releasing a new batch later this month, so you may start seeing them again at brick and mortar stores in another month or so.

 

[lcachola]

I used to own a Prodigy 7.1 and it sounded pretty good, but it's not much better than the much cheaper Chaintech AV710 I own now, which also runs on an Envy24 (however, you need an amp with the Chaintech). I found the headphone amp of the Prodigy provided a nice boost, but it's rather noisy. I suspect you'd be better off getting the Chaintech with something like a Headsave Classic amp to drive those 590s. Another problem I had with the Prodigy that was more driver related and this was with any driver I tried from Audiotrak: the sampling rate kept changing inexplicably from 44.1 to 192 Khz, making all my music sound like chipmunk chatter.

For the money, everyone likes the new e-Mu 404 for the same price as a Prodigy, though I'm not sure if it's powerful enough to drive the 590s without an amp. Someone else might be able to help there.

 

[Bluestreak]

Thanks for the input, that's basically what I suspected as well.

 

[MiChael.]

I think HD 590 is sensitive enough to be even driven unamped, but...

 

[Bluestreak]

That's part of why I got it, because it didnt need an amp quite as much as the HD580s do. However, apparently an amp is just the ticket when dealing with weak signal sources (namely your PC), which is why the difference between amped and unamped seems to be so pronounced here, even with the HD590s.

 

[MiChael.]

hmm, back then when I had M-Audio Revolution 7.1, which suppose to be quite similar to Audiotrak (but without headphone amp) drived fine HD 600's.
HD 600 should be quite similar to HD 580 as far as I know ...or HD 580 to HD 600 *grin*. Prodigy have slightly higher output volume.
I tried HD 570 sometime and it was hard to drive, but who needs 570's.
About HD 580 and 600, it should play fine, but amp (depends on amp) gives most probably better sound.

 

[JazzJackRabbit]

I got Prodigy 7.1 and I don't think you'd ever use an amp feature for HD590. Most of the times Prodigy7.1 is perfectly capable of powering HD600 unamped. The only time I turn it on is AC3 movies which tend to have really low sound levels. Normally the main soundbar stays at 66%, and additional one at default 16db, which is about half-way.

Concerning amp I did not notice any hissing with HD600, it's possible that they have too high impendance to pick it up of course, but I wouldn't know. I did notice that amp changes the sound noticable. The bass is more powerfull, but overall the sound thins out somewhat, not a biggie though.

 

[Bluestreak]

I'm figuring amps are a good solution if you have a weenie sound source (like the Audigys), because they function in part in correcting signals, ergo, better bass.

I'm learning quickly with some sound cards (like the M-audio) an amp isn't really needed, but with the Audigys you'll end up stepping on your own mother to get your cans some merciful help in dealing with crappy Creative cards.

 

[MiChael.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluestreak I'm figuring amps are a good solution if you have a weenie sound source (like the Audigys), because they function in part in correcting signals, ergo, better bass. I'm learning quickly with some sound cards (like the M-audio) an amp isn't really needed, but with the Audigys you'll end up stepping on your own mother to get your cans some merciful help in dealing with crappy Creative cards.

I don't know Creative general ability to drive headphones, but Clipping is the problem with Creative, I remember that SB Live clipped audible when master was over 40% and I've read from this forum that Audigy 2 clipping is over 50%. Of course Creative products are not recommended (except EMU

). Anyway SB Live was inferior to drive anything properly.

hmm, M-Audio have usually quite low output signal... I could say that of Revo, but it drived quite fine HD 600's. Some people say Audiophile 2496 have even more quiet output signal, but at least there's no distortion. IIRC, Revo had some attenuator limiter feature in DAC.

 

[Bluestreak]

Hey come on man, from 40 percent of the SB Live! to 50 percent Audigy, that's a BIG improvement dude! Now if you just strain your ears hard enough, you can actually hear sound this time!!

But anyhow, I did notice that I didn't have to boost the master volume for the M-Audio that high. In fact it was too loud most of the time if you pushed it past 40 percent. Stupid M-Audio people, if only they paid more attention to building better drivers. @#$%...

 

[MiChael.]

Eh-hehe, 40% to 50%, lol.. How much does the percent tell, a bit of nothing. SB Live output voltage is about the same than weak portables have. I do belive audigy have louder signal, percent don't show the actual volume.

And what bad you see in M-Audio drivers ?
Especially if you compare M-Audio drivers to Terratec and Creative drivers, I see none.

 

[Bluestreak]

The only bad is that they only update their drivers every six years, and there's no support for TV tuner functionality (you have to control all the settings through WIndows mixers) and timeshifting sometimes causes crashes. Two thumbs down for M-Audio because of this.

 

[JazzJackRabbit]

I think m-Audio discontinued their Revo7.1 some time ago, which might explain why they stopped updating drivers...