[thebigham]

Hi guys, I'm sorry if I posted this in the wrong section. I just got the M50 after reading all the great reviews on the forum. And this is my very first full size headphone! I'm loving it so hard. But I have encountered a problem. When i plugged the M50 into my computer, the audio is really low even when i maxed my computer's volume. And I also have a faulty headphone connector on my computer. Any major movements will cause it to play through the speakers instead of the headphone.
 
I'm currently looking at this 
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 SB1090 5.1 Channels USB Interface Sound Card
 
Would this help and not degrade the overall audio quality? I''m really new to this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
EDIT: I just realized i posted in the wrong section. Sorry!

 

[ohaider]

I actually have that external sound card and I can tell you that you won't need to worry about the volume. I'm currently using it with my Sennheiser HD555s.The card definitely doesn't degrade SQ. I compared the creative x-fi 5.1 surround with my on-board HD audio and the card does sound a bit better. I'm not really sure how to describe it, but with my 555s, they sound cleaner and more refined than on-board.
 
I only have one major gripe with mine and that's when I plug in my 'phones I hear popping and crackling noises - when not playing any music. I wouldn't worry about this, though, as I probably just got a bad one. It should be fine for using with your M50s.
 
Since you have speakers, you can hook them up to the soundcard via the RCA inputs, too. Hope this helps.

 

[thebigham]

Thank you for the respond. I actually just got X-Fi Surround today. For some reason it does not increase the volume of my M50. And that "popping and crackling noises" present in my unit as well. I have the Audio Engine 2 speakers. The pop is so loud that it made me jumped. I'm afraid prolonged use of this sound card might damage my speakers, so I returned it immediately.

 

[ohaider]

Quote:

Thank you for the respond. I actually just got X-Fi Surround today. For some reason it does not increase the volume of my M50. And that "popping and crackling noises" present in my unit as well. I have the Audio Engine 2 speakers. The pop is so loud that it made me jumped. I'm afraid prolonged use of this sound card might damage my speakers, so I returned it immediately.

Hmm, that is weird. Maybe you got unlucky too. I've heard that drivers can cause the crackling/ popping sometimes, too, but I'm too lazy to test every driver Creative has for the card. Yeah, glad you did return it if it was making your speakers do that. Not worth possibly destroying your speakers. If you still need a soundcard, you could try an internal one. That might just be what you need.

 

[Riku540]

I think what you need is not a soundcard, but a DAC. If I had to recommend one it would be the FiiO E7, and for ultimate budget performance, the FiiO E9 to go with it.

 

[Dirtyworks]

Sorry if this is too long to bump a thread, but I feel I should mention:
I have the same card as previously mentioned, the USB Creative 5.1 Surround. The popping and crackling is definitely the drivers - I had the card for a while, without having the issue, and then I don't remember what I did, but I did something to the drivers & the problem started. I am currently using the 1.1.99.0 driver and not having any issues. If you're having the same issue on these drivers, I would suggest completely uninstalling all the software and drivers for the card and doing a clean install. I found that if I installed the new drivers over the old drivers that it would cause issues, such as the popping and cracking.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if it's output isn't enough to drive the M50's - its a USB powered unit and only gets ~5v.

 

[Oddworld]

I feel like I need to comment here. Creative drivers are horrible.
Please save yourself the pain, get something else
I've been using the Fiio E7 + E9, its great

 

[thebigham]

I returned the Creative one already. The E7 + E9 is not within my budget, so I bought the uDAC-2. I'm loving it so far.