[vinylbee]

I am in the market for a new cd player and have limited my budget to
approx $1500 which could get me:

1. MusicalFidelity X-ray ($999)
2. Music Hall CD-25 (about $700)
3. Jolida 100 with mods ($1400)

Does an EMU-1212 come close to any of those models above ? Or do I have to go as high as the 1820 ?

Thanks

 

[Asmo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vinylbee I am in the market for a new cd player and have limited my budget to approx $1500 which could get me: 1. MusicalFidelity X-ray ($999) 2. Music Hall CD-25 (about $700) 3. Jolida 100 with mods ($1400) Does an EMU-1212 come close to any of those models above ? Or do I have to go as high as the 1820 ? Thanks

The stock 1212m wouldn't, but if you got one modded it would compare nicely, if you are serious about going to PC / Hard Drive based, I would look at getting a modded 1212m, maybe a RME HDSP 9632.

 

[Erukian]

I don't power my headphones/speakers off my 0404 directly, what real advantages would I get from modding it? I mean it already sounds _great_ going from the A2 to the 0404, will modding it give me a whole new level of detail and naturalness to the sound like the A2>0404 did?

 

[Asmo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erukian I don't power my headphones/speakers off my 0404 directly, what real advantages would I get from modding it? I mean it already sounds _great_ going from the A2 to the 0404, will modding it give me a whole new level of detail and naturalness to the sound like the A2>0404 did?

Short answer, yes.

Long answer, maybe.

It depends on your headphones & amplification quality also to match that of a great source, you may notice another large jump in performance by changing headphones or your amplification, modded a e-mu card will definetly give a noticeable change, but, these mods are not cheap, can usually cost more than you paid for the card originally. Depends what you want out of it.

 

[jefemeister]

Using the 1212 over a CD player has a lot more to it than just the quality of the card. The main advatage, in my mind anyway, is that you no longer need the CD reading part of the CD player (which is the most expensive part) and you don't have to worry about your scratched up disc getting read properly ever again. It does take some commitment and effort though. It takes me about 8 minutes to rip 1 CD to wavs if I'm commited for a few hours.

 

[uzziah]

also consider getting an av710 or emu 0404, and something like a benchmark dac-1. use the extra $$ for good interconnects, a good sized hard drive, and making sure your pc is silent

other dacs to consider:

belo canto dac2
apogee mini dac
scott nixon tubedac+
many others

 

[uzziah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vinylbee I am in the market for a new cd player and have limited my budget to approx $1500 which could get me: 1. MusicalFidelity X-ray ($999) 2. Music Hall CD-25 (about $700) 3. Jolida 100 with mods ($1400) Does an EMU-1212 come close to any of those models above ? Or do I have to go as high as the 1820 ? Thanks

i'm sure you realiize that the 1212m is $200, and the players you mentioned are up to 6 times more expenisve. that it would be even comparable would be something.

 

[jefemeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by uzziah i'm sure you realiize that the 1212m is $200, and the players you mentioned are up to 6 times more expenisve. that it would be even comparable would be something.

well said. And I agree with using an external DAC. soundcard, digital cable, really nice DAC, and big hard drive is easily under $1200.

 

[IstariAsuka]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vinylbee Does an EMU-1212 come close to any of those models above ? Or do I have to go as high as the 1820 ?

The 1212m actually uses uses the exact same PCI board as the 1820m, the 1820m just has an external box. The external box uses the same circuit setup (DAC, opamps, etc.) as the PCI card, IIRC. It is, though, external, so that is something. But not all that much of something.

If you're even considering an 1820m, I'd instead spring for an AV-710 with an external DAC, or, if you're anal about jitter, an 0404 with external DAC. This would fit in your budget with your choice of several popular popular DACs, only the really high-end scary-expensive stuff wouldn't.

 

[vinylbee]

So the PC will just act as a transport if I am to invest in a Benchmark DAC then ?

Is the 1212 recognised by all the software products I have seen mentioned in this forum ?

So the real work is ripping the cd onto hard drive but do I use just one compression level or does it have to go thru a few ? I guess I don't quite understand the real technicalities of what is really involved. My concern
is how much time with be taken and what steps and programs are needed to
get the job done so that I can have a kick-ass pc server cum cd player ?

Would it be not better just to use the Benchmark DAC with my existing cd player ?

 

[IstariAsuka]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vinylbee So the PC will just act as a transport if I am to invest in a Benchmark DAC then ? Is the 1212 recognised by all the software products I have seen mentioned in this forum ? So the real work is ripping the cd onto hard drive but do I use just one compression level or does it have to go thru a few ? I guess I don't quite understand the real technicalities of what is really involved. My concern is how much time with be taken and what steps and programs are needed to get the job done so that I can have a kick-ass pc server cum cd player ? Would it be not better just to use the Benchmark DAC with my existing cd player ?

Well, the reason people use their computers as source is because it is far more convenient. All your music is just a couple seconds away, no hunting for CDs, putting them in, whatever.

If you don't want that convience, there's no reason why an external DAC hooked up to a cheap CD/DVD player would not work just as well.

As for the ripping of CDs, it takes a little bit to setup properly, but there are several very good guides that should have you going within a half hour, and once it's setup you just pop in a CD, click a button, wait 8 or so minutes, and you're done!

 

[lcrim]

I am fairly new to this site but not at all new to the concept of what it costs to do home audio.
The Benchmark DAC-1 retails for just under $1000.

A suitable PC has a cost as well. Bargain basement and being computer savvy could get that down but reasonably not much below the $500 range.

Allow a bit for a card that is bit perfect and cabling that matches the quality of the rest.

Wouldn't the Lynx card @ $650, doing the D to A conversion provide greater value than an external DAC?

A power chord for the PC (which alone provides a performance gain) can be very pricey.

I guess I'm rambling but when you set a budget you need to consider all the items involved. PC audio is only cheap if you don't consider the price of the PC.
Not trying to offend but understand.
Larry

 

[Alu]

This thread is very interesting I have to say.
As I'm rather interested in using my pc as main source for the music I have to
completely agree with uzziah.
I spent about 200-300$ to get a silent pc with a capacity of 4x400 gigs or even
4x500 whenever that's out. I have yet to buy the hdds, as I have now only
around 500 gigs space all in all. (yes, I know, the white men are already coming
by every day to renew my jacket on a daily basis)
As soundcard it had to be something small, decent, with optical and ASIO, thus
the little transit, which I can also use on my later can setup with my laptop.
In between the amps and the card hangs the bel canto dac 2. With nice
interconnects.
I don't know whether a setup like this would compare to any better cd player,
but it sure sounds nice, and access to songs (lossless) is overly decent.

 

[Fidelity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IstariAsuka Well, the reason people use their computers as source is because it is far more convenient. All your music is just a couple seconds away, no hunting for CDs, putting them in, whatever. If you don't want that convience, there's no reason why an external DAC hooked up to a cheap CD/DVD player would not work just as well.

There are many reason's, the transport on those high end CD players for one are far superior to any high speed CD/DVD-ROM drive or cheap CD player, they simply cannot compete, second the quality of the power lines and the signal paths makes a big difference, and not all optical/coaxial outputs are equal in quality especially when we are talking about high end HI-Fi units here.

 

[lcrim]

Reading a digital signal from a hard drive is inherently quite a bit superior to reading from an optical disk. The following link explains this better than I can.
http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/eac/eac.html
The question to me is whether to do the digital to analog conversion through the soundcard or export the digital stream off the PC to a separate DAC unit. I don't have an answer to this.
This thread also somehow assumes that the PC doesn't cost anything or that the storage for all those ripped files is free. My point was or is that the dedicated CD player @ $1500 should be compared to the entirety of the computer as source.
Even at that, the quality that can be achieved were you to spend $1500 on a computer as source would IMO make trhis comparison laughable. You can store weeks worth of music and play it back at astounding levels of quality for an equal investment.
Larry