Corak
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2002
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I have seen there have been a couple of posts recently in the vein of SACD vs. soundcards. I'm sorry if I throw more fuel in this fire with this post.
I admit I'm a total newbie audiophile-wannabe user just hoping to improve his audio experience.
I have not much space in my room so I would much prefer a soundcard solution to a SACD. Not only that but with a better soundcard I have many advantages for not only CD-A but also DVDs and even high quality MP3s/APE files.
It would really help to hear from people who own both an Audiophile2496 type card and an Audigy. Or people who own both an Audiophile2496 (or similar) and a Rega Planet (or similar).
I'm using a Creative Audigy with Creek OBH-11 and Sennheiser HD600 cans currently. I have no other serious CD source available right now.
I have read some mixed reports on this switch (Audigy -> A2496). The negative reports however didn't seem to involve HI-FI cans like the HD600.
I hope the Audiophile 2496 will do as much to the PC-Audio experience as the recent Creek OBH-11 addition has.
I'm not looking for a subtle change but only big steps.
The M-Audio Audiophile 2496 is unfortunately pretty expensive here in Europe (~219$ is the cheapest I have found). I could get a Terratec EWX for much less ($160) but Terratec's driver support just sucks.
I need a card with the following requirements:
- good driver support, should work in Linux as well as in Windows (I guess this rules anything non M-Audio out)
- analogue RCA stereo out to connect card directly to the OBH-11
- no resampling, good on-board DAC
- game support irrelevant, I will keep the Audigy in the box for this purpose. Because of this the card should live well together with this gaming card in the same box
- option to add external DAC later would be nice
- should work great for all Audio tasks but games (e.g. CD-Audio, MP3, DVD, etc.)
- extremly low hiss, I guess a shielded DAC would help here. But unfortunately no M-Audio card has this AFAIK. Will the A2496 still have less hiss than my current Audigy? (hope so)
- might be nice if it had digital S/PDIF in so I can plug my Audigy into it to leverage the better DAC for games
- I don't care for MIDI, so this is not required (A2496 overkill here)
- I don't care for professional Music Tool support since I am in no way interested in making music myself (A2496 big overkill). Again I only need good reproduction.
- quality should close in to good SACDPers like Rega Planet as far as possible
If the upgrade from Audigy to a real 2496 is a night & day (no placebo effect) difference is there a better option than the A2496 for my purposes? Seems not so far.
I would be willing to invest more in the audio card if it's worth it for pure reproduction. I paid $800 for my current graphic card a while ago and if it's REALLY worth it I'm willing to invest more than $200 into an audio card.
I'm in special curious about balanced analogue outs. How big is the difference to non-balanced outs?
I'm hoping in improvments in detail, soundstage, musicality, general music-wow-factor.
I wonder if someone with a Rega Planet could bear to listen to an Audiophile2496? I have listened to a Rega Planet myself in a shop and I was really awed by it's quality. I'm not sure how close I can get to this with soundcards.
I have heard a Rega Planet SACD and I must admit it's really nice. Is there any hope to reach this quality at all with an Audiophile 2496 (or similar) or should I forget the soundcard route and only invest in some SACDP? I would have to research this from the ground up again. I have never used a SACDP or even a PCDP myself.
I'm not looking for the ultimate answer to an Audiophile system. I'm just hoping to achieve a decent quality so that any expert wouldn't vomit in disgust listening to my system.
I admit I'm a total newbie audiophile-wannabe user just hoping to improve his audio experience.
I have not much space in my room so I would much prefer a soundcard solution to a SACD. Not only that but with a better soundcard I have many advantages for not only CD-A but also DVDs and even high quality MP3s/APE files.
It would really help to hear from people who own both an Audiophile2496 type card and an Audigy. Or people who own both an Audiophile2496 (or similar) and a Rega Planet (or similar).
I'm using a Creative Audigy with Creek OBH-11 and Sennheiser HD600 cans currently. I have no other serious CD source available right now.
I have read some mixed reports on this switch (Audigy -> A2496). The negative reports however didn't seem to involve HI-FI cans like the HD600.
I hope the Audiophile 2496 will do as much to the PC-Audio experience as the recent Creek OBH-11 addition has.
I'm not looking for a subtle change but only big steps.
The M-Audio Audiophile 2496 is unfortunately pretty expensive here in Europe (~219$ is the cheapest I have found). I could get a Terratec EWX for much less ($160) but Terratec's driver support just sucks.
I need a card with the following requirements:
- good driver support, should work in Linux as well as in Windows (I guess this rules anything non M-Audio out)
- analogue RCA stereo out to connect card directly to the OBH-11
- no resampling, good on-board DAC
- game support irrelevant, I will keep the Audigy in the box for this purpose. Because of this the card should live well together with this gaming card in the same box
- option to add external DAC later would be nice
- should work great for all Audio tasks but games (e.g. CD-Audio, MP3, DVD, etc.)
- extremly low hiss, I guess a shielded DAC would help here. But unfortunately no M-Audio card has this AFAIK. Will the A2496 still have less hiss than my current Audigy? (hope so)
- might be nice if it had digital S/PDIF in so I can plug my Audigy into it to leverage the better DAC for games
- I don't care for MIDI, so this is not required (A2496 overkill here)
- I don't care for professional Music Tool support since I am in no way interested in making music myself (A2496 big overkill). Again I only need good reproduction.
- quality should close in to good SACDPers like Rega Planet as far as possible
If the upgrade from Audigy to a real 2496 is a night & day (no placebo effect) difference is there a better option than the A2496 for my purposes? Seems not so far.
I would be willing to invest more in the audio card if it's worth it for pure reproduction. I paid $800 for my current graphic card a while ago and if it's REALLY worth it I'm willing to invest more than $200 into an audio card.
I'm in special curious about balanced analogue outs. How big is the difference to non-balanced outs?
I'm hoping in improvments in detail, soundstage, musicality, general music-wow-factor.
I wonder if someone with a Rega Planet could bear to listen to an Audiophile2496? I have listened to a Rega Planet myself in a shop and I was really awed by it's quality. I'm not sure how close I can get to this with soundcards.
I have heard a Rega Planet SACD and I must admit it's really nice. Is there any hope to reach this quality at all with an Audiophile 2496 (or similar) or should I forget the soundcard route and only invest in some SACDP? I would have to research this from the ground up again. I have never used a SACDP or even a PCDP myself.
I'm not looking for the ultimate answer to an Audiophile system. I'm just hoping to achieve a decent quality so that any expert wouldn't vomit in disgust listening to my system.