[comabereni]

Tee-hee

. It actually sounds best with those settings...

I like the card, there is a difference, I can afford it, I'm keeping it. Just putting things into perspective is all. (Read: the AV710 doesn't stink after all

).

-coma

 

[lan]

In your opinion of course.

You are losing some information attenuating it that much though. Of course, do what sounds best to you.

 

[comabereni]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan In your opinion of course.

Of course. I should have put another smilie after "settings..."

Now that I have the E-MU and Foobar married and living alone together in my PC, I can experiment more with the balance between volume settings in PatchMix, system, preamp, etc. and it won't mess with other applications since I have directed them all to report for duty to the AV710. I'll play around with it some more and see what shakes out over time (then do the AV710 comparo again in a few weeks). FWIW, I did spend a good part of the day with the volume in Foobar set to ~3/4, or around -20dB, and a little while with it set to 0.0dB/max.

-coma

 

[Asmo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by comabereni Of course. I should have put another smilie after "settings..." Now that I have the E-MU and Foobar married and living alone together in my PC, I can experiment more with the balance between volume settings in PatchMix, system, preamp, etc. and it won't mess with other applications since I have directed them all to report for duty to the AV710. I'll play around with it some more and see what shakes out over time (then do the AV710 comparo again in a few weeks). FWIW, I did spend a good part of the day with the volume in Foobar set to ~3/4, or around -20dB, and a little while with it set to 0.0dB/max. -coma

So your using foobar as your primary volume control? Not your pre-amp or amp? Hmm, where did you read that was the best way to do it? AFAIK, that is not the optimal way to run things.

 

[10068]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glassman glad to see you around again! try some CMI onboard AC97 codec, that is the audio excellence you must be looking for and for standalones, try lineout of some subpar discman, I think you'll be happy!

Indeed. I prefer my portable cd player's Headphone out over my 1212m + XRS + v2se. it's because i stupidly built a system with all analytical components, even though i don't prefer that type of sound. such is the life of sduibek.

anyways, it just goes to show.... we are all living in a dream world. this cd player probably cost 50 bucks but it is equal to my ~2500$ system to these ears.

cheers.

 

[comabereni]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asmo So your using foobar as your primary volume control? Not your pre-amp or amp? Hmm, where did you read that was the best way to do it? AFAIK, that is not the optimal way to run things.

I don't actually use foobar as my primary volume control, I use my external preamp. What I read in this thread was that some users prefer to set foobar between -2dB and -5dB as it "prevents clipping from happening before it leaves the program and heads to the mixer (Patchmix)". lan, Mr. Radar, Kush_, and others discuss it in that thread.

I also think it sounds better to attenuate in foobar, I think lan is differing here with me on the fact that I attenuated too much.

-coma

 

[Asmo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by comabereni I don't actually use foobar as my primary volume control, I use my external preamp. What I read in this thread was that some users prefer to set foobar between -2dB and -5dB as it "prevents clipping from happening before it leaves the program and heads to the mixer (Patchmix)". lan, Mr. Radar, Kush_, and others discuss it in that thread. I also think it sounds better to attenuate in foobar, I think lan is differing here with me on the fact that I attenuated too much. -coma

Yah, I use -2 DB also. But -50 or -20?? Lan is right about how it would affect the sound.

 

[comabereni]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asmo Yah, I use -2 DB also. But -50 or -20?? Lan is right about how it would affect the sound.

Okay, it's a new day. Time to try out different settings. I never noticed all the threads on Patchmix vs. Foobar until I did some additional searching this morning. Of course that was because I wasn't using Patchmix

. Thanks (and to lan) for your thoughts and recommendations. I did use 0.0dB for awhile yesterday, perhaps not long enough to pick out any differences.

-coma

 

[Asmo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by comabereni Okay, it's a new day. Time to try out different settings. I never noticed all the threads on Patchmix vs. Foobar until I did some additional searching this morning. Of course that was because I wasn't using Patchmix . Thanks (and to lan) for your thoughts and recommendations. I did use 0.0dB for awhile yesterday, perhaps not long enough to pick out any differences. -coma

Yah there are so many settings to play with in patchmix, are you using +4 DB or -10 DB? If you are using +4 and get clipping try -10 before using foobar attenuation, I use +4 with -2 DB in foobar.

 

[comabereni]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asmo Yah there are so many settings to play with in patchmix, are you using +4 DB or -10 DB? If you are using +4 and get clipping try -10 before using foobar attenuation, I use +4 with -2 DB in foobar.

Too many options in Patchmix. Unless I am selling myself short according to greater knowledge held by some person here, I have found the following settings sound nice: -2.00dB in Foobar, 0.0dB strip level on the Patchmix input, appx. -15.0 main mix volume level (otherwise the signal is too hot to my preamp). It sounds really nice.

New impressions today: bass is noticeably more refined over the AV710. Like I said up-thread, smoother and deeper. Beautiful, and worthwhile for the used price I paid. If I didn't have a subwoofer or cans with bass reach, it might have gone unnoticed, but my 12" Infinity Kappa Perfect is singing now.

-coma

 

[Glassman]

there indeed is no clipping even if Patchmix lights up it's red clipping indicators.. the best performance can be achieved with no attenuation at all - bit perfect down to the DAC, that means leaving all volume controls at 0dB and using +4dB setting in Patchmix, as long as you amp can take it.. because -10dB is nothing else than another digital attenuation in signal path..

try recording what's played back using ASIO OUT strip by inserting SEND to ASIO IN, compare the played wave to the recorded and only then we can talk about possible clipping..

 

[comabereni]

I followed Glassman's suggestion and zero'd all digital attenuation in foobar and patchmix. I also replaced the high-gain tubes in my preamp/headamp with a lower gain set since the signal out of the E-MU without attenuation is really hot. For whatever combination of reasons, this is the finest sound I've ever heard from my system--absolutely, without a doubt.

 

[skitlets]

Since my amp's gain is too high in this setup, I must use ~30db attenuation. Where should this be done? Foobar or Patchmix?

 

[Glassman]

doesn't matter, you are seriously loosing performance.. why not decreasing the gain of your amp instead?

 

[skitlets]

However, I was under the impression, quite possibly incorrectly, that by processing in 32 bits, I have a certain amount of headroom before attenuation causes a decrease in dynamics.