[razzz42]

Quote:

Hm... $20 cheaper, even after being "upgraded"?  Not sure If I would trust that...no mention of any warranty either.  :/
 
EDIT:  Yeah, it comes with the "LITE" edition's Op-amps, which I would end up swapping out for the "ADVANCED" configuration.  I'm pretty sure that the "Special Edition" is just a LITE edition under a false label.

 

You would have to ask the guys who roll capacitors what they think about the 'special' card from the link. Card is basically the same except for the capacitors called out and compared to the 'Advanced' edition card in the Ebay listing. Any factory installed opamps, you are going to pull and replace anyway, non issue there but I would hope you would go for a better upgrade in opamps than the 'Advanced' configuration.
 
The DAC 'Envy' chip is still supported by stable VIA's drivers (occasionally updated believe it or not).
 
Same company doing the selling and they have sold a lot of both cards. Have to email about the warranty, my guess is that it is the same for both cards... Must have a glut of NE5532 opamps to get rid of.
 
Any opinions on the 'special' card capacitors?
 

 

[ingvarb]

Quote:

can you change the output power of the headphone amp via software ?

Yes you can.

 

[Darknecron]

If the capacitor upgrade turns out to be legit, I will get the card from e-bay.
 
 
Here are links to PDFs describing each capacitor series' specs.  I don't know how to read them, but I'm sure you guys do.  
 
AHS Series Capacitors
 
LXV Series Capacitors
 
 
One question though...where is a good place to purchase op-amps?  my local radio shack is quite lacking...
 
Okay, two questions:  Would it be possible to make an EMI shield for this card, like the one on the ASUS Xonar STX?

 

[razzz42]

Quote:

One question though...where is a good place to purchase op-amps?  my local radio shack is quite lacking...
 
Okay, two questions:  Would it be possible to make an EMI shield for this card, like the one on the ASUS Xonar STX?

Depending on if you want popular opamps, buying from China or Hong Kong off Ebay is usually the cheapest way to go but do be careful. Electronic houses in the US and Canada might send you some free samples. It all depends on what you want or think what you want to start narrowing down the possibilities then price shop for them.
 
I have the Prodigy Lite card and the Advanced card and the 7.1 HiFi (which has a shield), they all perform well without interference, as is. That means there is dead silence at idle through the speakers or headphones.

 

[mrlimbo]

Quote:

Yes you can.

Thanks for the info , useful to know , if i need to fall back to this card , as ive bought a Asus Xonar D2 , but not 100% convinced that it will come my way !!!!

 

[Darknecron]

Well, I just ordered the card off of e-bay.    I can hardly wait for it to arrive!  I will be swapping the op-amp configuration with one of those from the first post.

 

[mrlimbo]

Quote:

 
 
I have the Prodigy Lite card and the Advanced card .

Hi , what are the major differences that youve found between the 2 and is it worth the £15 more for the Advance DE ?
Thanks

 

[razzz42]

Quote:

Hi , what are the major differences that youve found between the 2 and is it worth the £15 more for the Advance DE ?
Thanks

The original 'lite' model seems slightly flat and not as detailed. Hard to notice using stock opamps but the better opamps needs better capacitors to handle the signal flow or at least respond to a better signal flow.
 
You would have to ask the do-it-yourself guys about the specifics (somewhere on this board), I'm guessing even the 'special' card would be an improvement over the 'lite' version capacitors. Can't tell any difference between the 7.1 HiFi version and the 'Advanced' model when comparing stereo output.
 
Yeah, the extra bucks/euros are worth it in my opinion, not that you are dealing with the absolute top of the line hardware but the 'Advanced' card has (3) sockets to roll opamps in and out of and is a solid performer. Reinstalled opamps and the card itself hundreds times and with that I know exactly what the guys are talking about when it comes to staging, highs, lows, mids, details, sibilance, warmth, color and all the other descriptions used for different opamps sounds. One of my better investments for speaker and headphone output, very satisfying.
 
I have tried some other brand cards and find them to 'dark' sounding or veiled.

 

[razzz42]

Quote:

Well, I just ordered the card off of e-bay.    I can hardly wait for it to arrive!  I will be swapping the op-amp configuration with one of those from the first post.

If you know what sound(s) you like or type of music, you might ask again here what the guys might recommend for opamps lately.

 

[Darknecron]

Quote:

If you know what sound(s) you like or type of music, you might ask again here what the guys might recommend for opamps lately.

Why thank you.  
 
I listen to a broad range of music (bold is what I listen to more often):
 
Dubstep
Trance
Drum n Bass
Trap
Classical
Orchestral
Trailer
Lite Metal
Rock
 
I prefer clarity above all.  I don't like excessive brightness or bloated bass.  Slight warmth is fine with me, although my Cambridge S30 bookshelf speakers already have a hint of it.

 

[mrlimbo]

Quote:

Thanks for the info , useful to know , if i need to fall back to this card , as ive bought a Asus Xonar D2 , but not 100% convinced that it will come my way !!!!

Well the Xoner D2 did fall through , so the HD2 is back in my thoughts , has anyone any experience of both cards ie the Prodigy HD 2 ADVANCE DE & Xoner D2 or D2X , as i can get both for the same price , although the D2 would be 2nd hand , ive read great things about the D2 plus its a £100+ card and it has a shield , my concern about the HD 2 is its lack of a shield and its seems to need alot of tweaks to get a great sound ? ie reading this thread !!!
 
If the Hd 2 is on par with the XD2 sound/dac wise and the lack of a shield is not a problem , then i will order the HD 2 , really want to get this sorted ASAP its getting on for 2 months trying to decide LOL ................and i thought i had made a decision when i ordered the X D2 .... Alas not !!!!
 
Any help would be really great

 

[Darknecron]

I think that with the swappable op-amps, the sound can be improved further than other cards at the price bracket.  I made a similar statement about the HD2 not having an emi shield, but according to razzz42, it has no noticeable interference anyway (probably due to it's pci noise killer circuit).

 

[moriez]

Quote:

I think that with the swappable op-amps, the sound can be improved further than other cards at the price bracket.  I made a similar statement about the HD2 not having an emi shield, but according to razzz42, it has no noticeable interference anyway (probably due to it's pci noise killer circuit).

 
Can't tell what other soundcards are capable of but the HD2 for sure can be improved on. The NE5532(lite) opamps sounded quite shrill compared to LT1361/64. In turn those sounded less to me than a Bdog-adapter combo. Never even tried the OPA opamps from the Advance version. When it comes to swapping, there's lot's possibilities and you can keep yourself busy for a while. The EMI noise though is there on my system but only noticeable when no music is playing and the volume is way up. I guess that would be the case for a lot of internal soundcards. Now that I went the external route I sure as heck won't be going back

 

[Darknecron]

Quote:

 
Can't tell what other soundcards are capable of but the HD2 for sure can be improved on. The NE5532(lite) opamps sounded quite shrill compared to LT1361/64.

 
I already have 2xLT1361 and a LT1364 being shipped to me as samples, so I can swap out those NE5532s on day 1.  Such an awesome company.  

 

[mrlimbo]

Quote:

 
I already have 2xLT1361 and a LT1364 being shipped to me as samples, so I can swap out those NE5532s on day 1.  Such an awesome company.  

So you went with the "Lite" edition , was that down to price or other reasons ? , im just so undecided about this card , the more i read this thread to more confused i get !!! , my overall impression from this thread is that peeps arnt really happy with it , so keep changing the opamps with more and more exotic ones , all the time , to try and get it to sound good ?,but seems theres always something lacking even after all that ?? , whereas the Xoner D2 just gets glowing reviews everywhere i read , but ive just missed out on another one , so im getting desparate LOL