Confused

Aug 5, 2004 at 2:02 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 9

jivex5k

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Alright, I've been reading about sound cards and DACs and am a little confused. What is the difference exactly? If I get a nice soundcard what would be the purpose of getting a DAC, and vice versa. Would i be better off getting a DAC instead of a soundcard? My laptop doesn't have coax or optical inputs so id have to get firewire or usb. But if i got a soundcard (such as the aureon firewire 7.1) that gave me a digital optical or coax output, i could go from that to a DAC, but would it really serve a purpose? Im just confusing myself right now....
Any help is appreciated
`thanks
 
Aug 5, 2004 at 2:20 PM Post #2 of 9
I think the principle is that the DACs on a soundcard are generally inferior to those of a standalone unit. Thus, you achieve bit-perfect output using your soundcard, output it to a DAC, and let the superior standalone DAC handle the conversion to analogue, thus improving quality, or at least avoiding degradation. In addition, if using bit-perfect output and optical, there will be no (essentially no?) EMI when using an external DAC.
 
Aug 5, 2004 at 3:52 PM Post #4 of 9
Quote:

But would it produce a significant increase in quality if your using a good sound card?


as long as the soundcard doesn't distort the signal i.e. bit-perfect output they are all the same. no point buying an expensive soundcard when the chaintech can sorta get the job done.
 
Aug 5, 2004 at 3:55 PM Post #5 of 9
Quote:

Originally Posted by tiberian
as long as the soundcard doesn't distort the signal i.e. bit-perfect output they are all the same. no point buying an expensive soundcard when the chaintech can sorta get the job done.


Not exactly. The EMU 1212m has digital outputs that have less jitter than the AV-710, and that can affect sound quality (check out lan's review of the EMU 0404, he can hear the difference between different cards digital outs).
 
Aug 5, 2004 at 5:26 PM Post #6 of 9
Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Radar
Not exactly. The EMU 1212m has digital outputs that have less jitter than the AV-710, and that can affect sound quality (check out lan's review of the EMU 0404, he can hear the difference between different cards digital outs).


thanks for the info mr.radar, heh guess i am too used to jitter immune DACs.
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Aug 5, 2004 at 5:32 PM Post #7 of 9
Alright, but is the increase in sound quality going to be that significant when going through a DAC vs. straight from the card, and how would i know if the card is bit perfect or not. If the Transit can give me bit perfect then the only reason I would spend more money on a card would be for the inputs/outputs.
 
Aug 5, 2004 at 5:46 PM Post #8 of 9
do a search on bit perfect sound cards, and yes the transit is bit perfect when using asio plugin in foobar, not sure about normal usage tho sorry
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for soundcard vs dac, search EMU vs benchmark dac
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Aug 5, 2004 at 9:21 PM Post #9 of 9
Quote:

Originally Posted by jivex5k
Alright, but is the increase in sound quality going to be that significant when going through a DAC vs. straight from the card..


i think this is something only you yourself can answer; members here have vastly differing ideas of what is 'significant'.
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