Dissapointed in M-audio Audiophile USB

[robert1325]

Hi, my dad bought a M-audio USB 24196 device not long ago, we hooked it up to his stereo system (300B valves and B&W 801's) and found the sound very flat, not dynamic and the bass very boomy. So we tried it on my stereo, ( Cambridge audio 640A and B&W dm603s3) and got similar results.

I installed foobar and Asio , but it's still not very good. My audigy 2 and his Sb live sound more musical. Should it sound better?

Sorry for my english, i'm dutch

My dad mainly uses it for movies, we have theatertek - dvi - infocus 4805.


Robert

 

[jiiteepee]

- what type of sources you had? (CD/DVD/WAV/MP3/...) and which music genre (class./rock/pop/...). If compressed, which bit-rate used?

- which settings used on Hi-Fi system (bass/treble needs to be set ±0, no loudness active --> just bypass all (I have it a setting called 'direct').

I agree, the Audigy 2 has really good 'sound' through Hi-Fi system..

jiitee

 

[robert1325]

We only connected it with the computer, so no other sources connected to the m-audio, we played mp3's / dvd's and Flac's and all sound very boring, not musical.

My dad uses no pre-amp, and I always put my amp on direct( bypassing the bass and treble controls) for extra clarity.

Last time I connected my audigy 2 I was surprised with the sound, But I got some problems, I only get one channel. Luckily for me, there's a Bolder analog modded squeezebox coming my way!

 

[Scrith]

I think most of the positive reviews here at Head-Fi for the Audiophile USB are for the digital output. The built-in DAC is nothing special (though it should certainly sound better for music than an Audigy2, which resamples, badly, to 48K). Perhaps you prefer the sound of badly resampled music though?

 

[LeChuck]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scrith I think most of the positive reviews here at Head-Fi for the Audiophile USB are for the digital output. The built-in DAC is nothing special (though it should certainly sound better for music than an Audigy2, which resamples, badly, to 48K). Perhaps you prefer the sound of badly resampled music though?

I agree, I look at the Audiophile/Transit as transport devices which offer great bit-perfect outputs to a quality DAC of your choice. The onboard DAC circuitry is really nothing to write home about.

 

[blessingx]

Never tried the RCA, but the headphone jack wasn't bad, especially with the PS upgraded. You could do better, of course, but what can't you do better?

 

[granodemostasa]

I've found the analogue out to be livable whenever my dac is out for repairs and such.... and it's a good match for the head-five, i think.

 

[robert1325]

Ok, I think my dad should've bought the PC link box from DIY kits and a nice dac. He feels he's wasted his money a bit... Oh well, we can always sell it again and buy the pc link and a dac.

The headphone out sounds good yes, we tried it on his akg k500's .

 

[dknightd]

I've never listened to the USB audiophile, but do have the firewire audiophile which is probably similar. I've heard that the USB version benefits from using a better power supply. I suspect both are merely adequate at everything they do. But consider what they do: ADC, DAC, MIDI in and out, digital in and out, and Headphone amp. All for a fairly low price. I would not expect it to excel at all these functions for the price paid! If all you want is a DAC you can certainly buy better (and perhaps for less money). I still have the firewire audiophile connected to my computer, but all I use it for these days is the ADC and MIDI - eventually I might buy a better ADC, then I can sell the M-Audio.

Keep in mind what your dad is driving. Probably $10k or more in speakers and amplifier. Did he really expect that a $120 computer card would sound as good?
I am suprised you like the other cards better, but, since I'm a Mac guy and haven't heard them perhaps they really are better . . .
Perhaps your Dad can think he didn't waste money by adding a decent DAC to the optical output of the M-audio. If he uses 300b tubes there is good probability that he listens to vinyl - maybe he could use the ADC part of the m-audio to digitize his analog music.

edit: To get the most out of your M-audio, you probably want to set its volume ouput at 0db, or maybe slightly less, and use a preamp (or headphone amp) for volume control.