[edb]

I noticed that some high-end consumer soundcards, like Creative X-Fi Pro, have comparable prices as some pro soundcards, like E-Mu 1212M. In terms of music playback, does anybody know if pro cards have substantial advantages over high-end consumer cards?

 

[TooNice]

Umm, the Elite Pro is considerably more expensive than the 1212M.

In terms of SQ, I believe that they are supposed to be very similar (same DAC if I am not mistaken), so the trade off is between gaming features and cost, rather than SQ.

However, if you take the Fatal1ty edition, which is priced more along the line of the 1212M, then the "pro" card should have an advantage, since the former uses the same base card as the lower end X-Fi.

 

[Sycraft]

Basically the high end consumer cards (which are what you are talking about in that range) tend to focus more on features. Things like the X-Ram, the X-Fi's powerful DSP and game support, remote control, etc. Low end pro cards (which is again what you get at this price range) tend to be more focused on lots of inputs and good quality electronics. That's not to say the consumer cards have bad electronics, just that at a given pricepoint the pro cards probably have better.

 

[Xakepa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by edb I noticed that some high-end consumer soundcards, like Creative X-Fi Pro, have comparable prices as some pro soundcards, like E-Mu 1212M. In terms of music playback, does anybody know if pro cards have substantial advantages over high-end consumer cards?

To be honest, very few pro SC are coming with outstanding output capabilities (Hammerfall comes to mind). For superior output/monitoring bit-perfect output + dedicated DAC is generally preferred.

 

[acidboy84]

IMO X-Fi is a great solution for those who needs an 'entertaining' sound card without neglecting much sound quality for music lovers(like us

). If you do not play games or watch movies on your computer it's better to get a better sound card like the EMU series.

 

[lator]

I like E-MU 1212M because it has seperate digital and audio cards. So I can use the digital card alone with DAC and analog one with the soundcards DAC. I think it is a great value card with very extensive customization for in/output. If you need soundcard only for listening music, then I suggest you try to find 1212M without the software bundle. I saved about 80$.

 

[Rescue Toaster]

Some of the lower end pro cards have software tricks that let you bypass the windows mixer even in programs that just use waveout, along with ASIO, etc... support.

The HUGE majority of gaming & other cards with DSP's like to resample everything to the 48/96/192 timebase, which is really annoying with 44.1khz CD audio.

 

[edb]

AFAIK, sample rate conversion can be disabled in X-Fi. Does anybody know if it's possible to bypass windows mixer in X-Fi?
Thanks.

 

[sgrossklass]

Quote:

Originally Posted by edb AFAIK, sample rate conversion can be disabled in X-Fi. Does anybody know if it's possible to bypass windows mixer in X-Fi?

You can always use ASIO in audio production mode - ASIO4All performs better than the native ASIO though. (I guess the "native" ASIO driver only is a WDM wrapper anyway.)

 

[edb]

Does X-Fi Pro support signal routing like 1212M and other pro cards? Does signal routing have anything to do music playback quality?
Thanks.