[Baenwort]

I was hopeing to get some advice about what choice to make. I am currently useing the Nforce2 with Soundforce built into my motherboard.

My setup is as follows:

Kenwood Sirius H2A to Line IN
MP3s at 320 CBR. played with Coolplayer
Voice coms

going to a Headroom Cosmic amp with power supply upgrade(not the Base Station One).

going to a Byerdynamic DT-770Pro.

Eventual upgrade choice is to add a 5.1 suround sound setup for DVD watching but that is a future consideration (right now leaning towards Klipsch ProMedia as I have small avalible space or geting some bookshelf speakers and a sub.)

I would like to be able to listen to my music and still be able to hear voice coms. The way I have it setup now is to send the Sirius stream to the computer then use it to combine the voice coms and the music to be sent to my amp. If you know of a better way please speak up.

I'm not currently happy with the current setup and from my thinking the weakest part of my system looks to be my soundcard so I figure to upgrade that first. I'm very happy with the amp and headphones when I use them with my Sharps SR60 MD player/recorder so I think my discontent is in the computer end. I mainly listen to Rock/Country/Pop/RnB/BigBand/Classical with the largest amount spent listening to Rock and Classical. (about 1/3 each)

 

[Geek]

Hey, I use HD600/cardas and a Maxed Out Home with reference upgrade, which is basically a huge cosmic amp.

I use the turtle beach santa cruz, it's OK with my setup. Since you dished out the cash for phones/amp, try the M-Audio revolution for starters. That's the extent of my familarity with computer audio. Every other computer component I have listened to doesn't make the cut (we're talking onboard audio, really cheap old sound cards that have serious problems).

But yeah, M-audio revolution or (if you run outta $) the turtle beach santa cruz if they still exist out there.

Cheers,
Geek

 

[itim100]

Are you using the anolog output from the Soundstorm? The problem with the Soundstorms is that the DAC are very noisy. The only soundcards I have ever listened to that didn't have obscene amounts of noise were the Audigy cards. MAudio and Turtle Beach and both of the Sounstorms I have heard (abit and asus boards) have DACs nowhere near the cleanliness of the Audigy. The mp3s will sound much better through either a digital output or an Audigy's anolog output. The other advantage to the Audigy over the MAudio is that most MAudios rely on your PCs CPU to do most processing, while the Audigys have their own dedicated hardware. If you don't like Creative's drivers, the kX drivers are great (especially for mixing sound channels to go anywhere you want).

I don't know much about high end amps, but I know way too much about PC audio, so feel free to pelt me with questions.

 

[Baenwort]

Well, I have a 3200+ AMD do you really think the performance hit with useing the M-Audio and games would be all that much? I've disliked Creative products after geting a Live! and the first Audigy and swore off of them due to the drivers and all the incompatibility issues I've had. I don't need the breakout box as I have everything inputing to my amp which is siting up ontop of my desk.

Is the Soundforce Didgital out any good? My spending limit on this is $300 so would it be better to get a DAC and use the Soundforce D/O? I'd like to stay away from Creative products if at all possible.

I watch all my movies and TV via my computer also. Would any of you know if it would be worth looking for something with Dolby Headphone? I've never listened to it myself but I'm thinking of geting a new MD player and the one I'm looking at has Dolby Headphone but I know nothing about this technology. Would it be a good idea to get something for my computer that supports or does this also?

 

[itim100]

No, with an nForce2 board and a 3200+, the extra CPU usage wouldn't be noticable in practice.

The digital out on the Soundstorms is actually one of the best in the commercial category, as it is one of very few that outputs in full true Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. Many cheapies can output anolog surround, but not many do the full real time surround encoding. Not even the Audigy series can do that.

Yes, I would try and get the digital decoder. If I had anything digital, I would use the Soundstorm. Depending on the DAC you get, it could end up sounding much better than the Audigy. The digital out should eliminate all of the noise except whatever noise you mix in with your line ins and such. Digital cannot have noise in the channels, can it?

 

[blessingx]

Quick question Baenwort... if you're already dealing with very large files (320 kps MP3), why not use FLAC or Monkeys instead? Size doesn't seem to be the most important issue why not go lossless?

 

[TimSchirmer]

Why are you using soundcards with 800$ amps???

That is simply insane! I would never spend more on my amp than my source, much less than 4 times as much!

 

[itim100]

Perhaps he got a deal on his amp? Perhaps he uses it with a more expensive source as well... Chill out dude, maybe he's just filthy stinkin rich.

Yes, I enthusiastically recommend Monkey's Audio for lossless compression, unless you are using winamp, in which case it is difficult to get a good decoder. (Anybody know of one? I prefer winamp2 now, but whatever...)

 

[Ben_Tech]

What about this article??

MP3 VS CD

 

[fewtch]

Quote:

Originally posted by Ben_Tech What about this article?? MP3 VS CD

That article is ancient, and MP3 encoders (specifically Lame with the --alt-preset switches) have increased greatly in quality since then. It's even less likely that an average listener will be able to tell the difference now, and now with Lame --alt-preset standard or extreme it's possible that an audiophile won't be able to tell the difference either.

 

[Geek]

With a 3200+, adding a sound card shouldnt drop the performance level much; and if there is a drop, it's not going to have a realistic impact on the games you play.

I mean, going from say 380 FPS to 340 FPS on quake 3 isn't going to make any difference at all; espeically when it's v-synced to your monitor's refresh rate of probably 100-120hz or so, same goes with other games.

Loading times will not change.

Cheers,
Geek

 

[Kor]

http://digit-life.com for their Audio Quality benchmarking, and general sound card reviews.

http://3dsoundsurge.com for their soundcard/speaker reviews.

I have an Abit soundstorm mobo, and I own a Philips Acoustic Edge (generally considered to have decent output quality, similar to Santa Cruz), and I haven't felt the need to plug the Acoustic Edge in yet. I didn't notice any difference with my HD497/Logitech z560 setups.

I also performed a blind test on myself, where I failed to distinguish the CD Wav version from the alt-extreme mp3 version for 3 different tracks, so I suppose I don't have amazing ears (??).

[my recipe for the blind test: pick 3 favourite tracks. Encode them using alt-extreme and Ogg Vorbis, and decode them back into Wav files. Use a program to randomize file names, and burn the encoded-then-decoded wav files and the original wav files onto a CD and play them back.]

 

[Baenwort]

Would the digital decoder be of any help to me? I'm currently only useing my headphones as I live in a apartment and for the forseeable future will either be living in a apartment or onboard a ship so speakers do not look to be in the works for the next 2 years or so.

I've heard a little bit about DACs here on Head-fi but I don't really know much about them other then they go from a digital output from your source to a analog that your amp and headphones can handle.

The reason I haven't gone to lossless is mainly due to the fact that I wasn't really into useing any source but CDs untill about a year and a half ago when I started using MP3s as the ship I'm stationed on was starting workups for our recent overseas deployment and I found I would not have the space to bring my CD collection and needed to find a way to bring my music with me in a small format. We returned from deployment in May and that was when I found out about the various lossless formats but I already have my entire collection in MP3(currently taking up 78gigs of a 120gig drive) and I don't currently do not wish to devote the amount of time it would take to redo my collection in another format.

As to the amp vs source question it is due to a couple of reasons. I was not satisfied with the Headroom Total Airhead I had prior to this and wished for something better. Also, all of my audio components need to be portable as I change location about every 6-9 months due to my Ships scheduel and also we spend a large percentage of the time out to see and I need to be able to fit everything into a small amount of storage space. The amp is everything I think I'll be needing for some time (at least for 5 more years. when I will be geting out of the Navy) but sources are next on my list. Currently they are the Xitel Hi-Fi from my laptop(when onboard ship) my Sharps SR60 MD player/recorder when I need portable listening and my Home Computer when I'm off the Ship. I also used to have a PCDP with a digital out that I used with my MD player but that was broken during deployment as I loaned it to a budy. I'm currently not planing to replace it as my laptop has the optical digital out that I need. I don't plan to get a standalone CD player untill I purchase my home system upon leaving the Navy.

I did get a good deal on the amp but my primary modivation for it was buy paying this much now I won't have to upgrade for a LONG time( 10+ years I'm hoping) and will be able to use any future money on sources and music to play on them. I purchased the amp while I was deployed and not haveing to pay Federal Taxes(combat zone exception) so I had the extra money at the time. I'm very happy with my headphones and amp and right now the only upgrade I think I'm ever going to need is this current one for my PC to last me till I get out of the Navy and then just 1 source upgrade per new music format.

I tend to purchase top of the line when I do buy in the theory(sucessful so far) that it will last me till either it breaks or a new format comes out. The only reason I'm contemplating upgradeing my MD player is due to the fact that is suffered rather badly during my deployment and is on its last legs. Also, I've noticed that they are coming out with some models that have Dobly Headphone built in and right now I'm try to find out if it is worth geting a model that supports that.

Kor what do you the soundstorm going to?

I'm hoping for some recomendations about DACs with soundstorm vs standalone soundcards. Or failing that some biased opinions.