[wallijonn]

anyone ever take the analogue output out of the rear of the cdrom, and instead of connecting it to the soundcard, connect it to an amp?

they do make those 5.5" drive bay amps. do any of these have headphone outs?

 

[williamgoody]

Sovkiller.
Yes, I do. I believe the the Sonica is as good as some of the Cd players out there, not all of them, but definitely some.
I understand what your saying. I love the 600's as well. But there not for everyone and every situation. I'm not saying this is the case here, but not everyone is going to want to, or can change their source or whatever to accomodate their headphones. Plus you really threw out a general statement in a matter which looked like you were losing your patience.

Luvya. I haven't read of a lot of people here here who use their computers to play Cd's consistently. If you want to enhance the sound and bring it up to the capacity of the Senn's, you may want to hook up an amp to the computer, or maybe grab a portable PCDP, lime a D25S.

 

[taoster]

Quote:

Originally posted by williamgoody Luvya. I haven't read of a lot of people here here who use their computers to play Cd's consistently. If you want to enhance the sound and bring it up to the capacity of the Senn's, you may want to hook up an amp to the computer, or maybe grab a portable PCDP, lime a D25S.

FORGET THE AMP! get a new sound card.
There would be NO improvement until the SB Live is removed from the equation.

 

[Guyferd]

Luvya,
get yourself a TB santa cruz or the audigy 1.
That will solve the problem.

And yes.. sorry for my ignorance. I didn't know you were listening to cds out of the pc. Hm.. this is a rare case but a cd belong better to where they are supposed to belong.. a cd player.
Still, you deserve to have a better sound of of your pc(just incase you insist on playing the cd out of pc). In this case, we have all SUMmed up.
the sb live is the problem.
I have owned sb live, heard audigy but not santacruz . IMO the audigy is better sounding than live and less harsh. I have read alot of thread from users who use sb live and felt that they were bright etc etc.
And how much does audigy cost? An OEM will be less than $ 80. That's pretty cheap.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

If you're using the computer to play CDs be sure to set your computer up to play CDs by Digital Audio Extraction to the sound card DAC, and not through the DAC inside the CD-ROM drive, which is supposed to be often crappier than the DAC in the worst soundcard you can throw at it.

... One indication that you're not getting DAE is that any software EQ or DSP effects won't work when you're playing CDs. For winamp you can get the latest version of CD Reader to get DAE.

 

[Jackangel]

Quote:

Originally posted by ai0tron ****ING DUH SOMEONE TEACH THESE PEOPLE TO READ THE FORUM ARCHIVES.

Settle down.

 

[mercid]

im curious

I see that you guys are always offering up the audigy over the SB Live! I do not understand this, the audigy sounds no better then the live. Period.
The audio processor in the Live! is exactly the same as on the Audigy, the EMU10K. Audigy adds firewire and nothing else.

-Mercid

 

[mercid]

Quote:

Originally posted by Joe Bloggs If you're using the computer to play CDs be sure to set your computer up to play CDs by Digital Audio Extraction to the sound card DAC, and not through the DAC inside the CD-ROM drive, which is supposed to be often crappier than the DAC in the worst soundcard you can throw at it. ... One indication that you're not getting DAE is that any software EQ or DSP effects won't work when you're playing CDs. For winamp you can get the latest version of CD Reader to get DAE.

Just as another note, If you are using windows xp, by default the cd is sent down the IDE/SCSI channel and then onto the soundcard, this offers the best quality. You can find MUCH more information in microsofts technet.

 

[bangraman]

Some odd posts. I wouldn't be looking to use an HD580 (is it similar to the HD600 which is my frame of reference? Must be given the specs) with a PC. But an SBLive! will do a half-decent job provided it's partnered with a good amp. If you want a wholly-decent job from a PC, then you'll have to look beyond Audigy or the Santa Cruz to the 'prosumer' and 'pro' cards along with a proper headphone amp.
For now though Luvya, I would say a secondhand amp from these very forums will liven up your sound no end, and is in fact pretty much mandatory with such a headphone. I'm curious, did someone recommend you get these for this use or was it your decision?

 

[Luvya]

Quote:

Originally posted by Joe Bloggs If you're using the computer to play CDs be sure to set your computer up to play CDs by Digital Audio Extraction to the sound card DAC, and not through the DAC inside the CD-ROM drive, which is supposed to be often crappier than the DAC in the worst soundcard you can throw at it. ... One indication that you're not getting DAE is that any software EQ or DSP effects won't work when you're playing CDs. For winamp you can get the latest version of CD Reader to get DAE.

I set it to play by Digital Audio Extracton, but there is no sound coming out. Wondering why...

The reason why I don't want to get another sound card is because I am not planning to listen to my CD from puter in the future. I'd rather just wait (and save $$) then put out big money for a decent CD player than just upgrading constantly. But one thing though, I borrowed my friend's Sony walkman D-E220 (sell for $50 in best buy) and the sound is just soso...at best just on par with my sound card.
I am also interesting in buying a Meta 42. I know it's a nice amp but I want to be more informed about the parts I want. Basically, I want to know what I am getting instead of just blindly choosing the best (most expensive) parts. So I am still doing my research..
One thing I can't figure out...what's the diffrence between Cha 47 and Meta 42? In terms of design and components...Anyone?

 

[Luvya]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jackangel Luvya, I recently considered my options for a portable amp, primarily trying to decide between a SuperMini and a Meta42. The general impression I got from those who responded (and from other threads) was that the SuperMini (v3) is a great headphone amp for the price (100) and the small size, but that it's not as good as a Meta42. It occupies a useful niche, but I decided to pay more for a meta42. I do need something portable, but as long as it can fit nicely in a pocket, that's fine. Something smaller than that, while nice, isn't likely to be any more useful. And I wanted to be confident that my amp could drive even high-impedance phones loudly and cleanly, if so desired. The SuperMini may do this fine, for all I know, but I chose to take a small chance in buying something more expensive that I may not need, because hopefully it will provide me a greater chance of being satisfied with my decision. It's nice to have options, isn't it? Sometimes a curse, especially for indecisive bastards like me. If you decide on a meta42, you'll have even more options to face, regarding components. Of course, you could let your builder choose the best option for you, given your criteria. In any case, if you do decide to go with a meta42, you should consider KurtW as the one to make it for you. He will be building mine, and has been very helpful (read: putting up with many questions) along the way. piece, rp:AUM

Hey, I saw ur thread from another forum. I am glad u finally made up your decision. Would u care to elaborate how u order from someone in the forum? Anything I should know before ordering?
And how long it will take? Sorry, I meant to PM u about this...but I dunno how to use PM in this forum.

 

[Jackangel]

The best way to find out about ordering a meta42 is to PM someone who makes them, such as KurtW, JMT, erix, etc...

There's more than one way to PM someone. One convenient method is to click on the PM button located at the bottom of a message posted in a thread by someone you wish to PM. For example, if you wanted to PM me, just click on the PM button at the bottom of this message. That will take you to another page where you can send the PM. It's very much like posting to a thread in one of the public forums, but here you will find a recipient field, which must contain the name of the person you are PMing. After that, put in a subject (required for PM) and then enter the body of your message as usual.

Another way is to click on the 'user cp' button in the top right corner of nearly every Head-Fi web page. This takes you to your own user control panel, from which you can manage your Head-Fi acount. From here, click on the 'private messages' link (upper right). Then click on the 'new message' button (near-bottom center) and send your PM as described.

You can try it out by PMing me with any other questions/comments, and I can pretend like I know something.

As for getting a meta42, those who build them will help you sort out of the details, just ask them whatever's on your mind. You should have a clear idea of how you will use the amp, how much you can pay, etc. I think you can expect to wait 2-3 weeks from the time you finalize an order to get your amp, assuming the builder isn't too busy.

piece,
rp:AUM

 

[wallijonn]

Quote:

If you are using windows xp, by default the cd is sent down the IDE/SCSI channel and then onto the soundcard, this offers the best quality.

i honestly don't think so. the data cable runs data & control signals. the digital or analogue 'pigtail' cables will carry the actual sound waveform.

i've found that mediaplayer or cdplayer will not produce sound out of the cdrom front jack (usually about 0.8v @ 32 ohms. @300 ohms, that probably produces about 0.2 v, if not less). to get the front jack to produce sound, one would have to use creative player. at least it's a way to compare sound quality between outputs.

Quote:

I set it to play by Digital Audio Extracton, but there is no sound coming out. Wondering why...

use a digital 2 wire pigtail cable instead of the 4 wire analogue cable. then try, again. digital audio extraction actually works better on the audigy than the SBlive!. xp should necessitate a reboot upon first enabling.

 

[Luvya]

So I listen to willijonn and installed the creative playcenter just so I can listen to my CD from the front jack! And heck! That still doesn't work

But something else happens...
THE VOLUME IS SO BIG NOW!! Remeber when I said I had to max out both mater and wave bar to get somewhat lound volume? Now, I can get decent volume just at half of the bar! Wave bar doesn't work anymore (I wonder why)..only the master bar can change the volume. This is the case in Playcenter...if I try to play via media player both bar still work. Mmmmm...
Although I am happy with the kind of volume I am getting now, I notice a hiss sound on the background unfortunately

It wasn't there before the installation of playcenter..

 

[radrd]

Okay, here is your best low budget solution (if you listen to CDs and take good care of your CDs):

Read this:

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...&threadid=4784

The headphone jack: I think I've finally found the answer to the question, "Can a portable player drive Sennheiser HD580s?" The answer is "Yes, if you're using a D-25S." The D-25S easily drives my HD580s to extremely loud levels without distorting -- an astonishing feat if you're used to the poor quality of most headphone jacks on portables.

The D-25 drives them much more loudly than the 570, and cleaner to boot. The bass response is also surprisingly good -- tight, strong, and not at all muddy

Buy this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...item=802170136

It will sound much better than your sound card, and you can always buy an amp later.

Silicon Salvage is trustworthy, and the D25S is one of the best price to performance sources you will find.