[Dynobot]

Quote:

Well as the saying goes your chain is only as good as your weakest link....

Sure is...
 
 

 

[leeperry]

 

 
Do you think NEC USB controllers are best out of the ones you have tried??
 
I remember you were looking at some Korean made Audiophile USB card....

Well, I'll just say that you can do much better than the mobo chipset USB IME(and to my surprise, to say the least)...and yeah, NEC chips seem like the top choice for USB audio(that Korean USB board is also using one of those). Computers can be fantastic sources, but godd**** is it a pain, as everything seems aimed at crippling the SQ and sinking the boat altogether

 

[leeperry]

I can't seem to able to find the link again, but someone posted a link in the headphones section a few months ago about a guy who had very personal and sometimes plain weird theories about sound in today's society.
 
He was also claiming that listening to headphones while doing something else was very fatiguing to the brain, because the picture and sound didn't match(there's a fancy name for this)...and I have to admit that one thing WM8804 has done for me is drastically increase the sound reality "factor". It stunned me right away when I tried the Bravo, and the more I improve the signal fed to it, the more impressive it gets...especially w/ that killer sounding Fostex ortho, that has the most amazingly natural sounding mids you could find <$1K.
 
The sound just feels very very real, when my brain used to know right away that it was listening to a mere recording before(toslink yada yada). I'm glad to see that WM8804/05 are being used in more and more products!

 

[grokit]

I would concur that when I am reading or doing or watching something else while listening to headphones that my listening session suffers and becomes less involving, it becomes somewhat like background music.

 

[leeperry]

That's the opposite for me, but I'm left-handed...you might be right-handed? both brains are wired differently. The more natural sounding the headphones, the harder it is for me to focus on something else. Apparently vision takes up most of the human brain power, so there's very little remaining cycles for audition...gotta make choices

 
I can sense that my brain is trying to imagine visually what it's hearing, but that didn't happen before the Bravo. The sound just wasn't realistic enough.
 
Movies are a major relief, because the A/V match...ah, finally!

 

[grokit]

Why yes, I am right handed. Brain hemispheres are interesting 

 

[leeperry]

Sure is, I remember seeing a TV program where a woman had some brain surgery that went terribly bad...and her two hemispheres where not communicating anymore...one hand picked the red shirt, the other put it back..scary!
 
There's also these conjoined twin sisters who share the same brain: http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/the-twins-who-share-a-brain-4912/
 
One can disconnect from her own eyes and connect to her sister's, and she can also connect to her auditory cortex. their two brains are completely shared. This was very instructive, but also very depressing...not recommended to watch.

 

[grokit]

 

[leeperry]

one song that literally disconnects my vision is "Canned Heat - Going Up The Country", the flute in the intro sounds too real...my brain starts wondering wth the sound comes from, and how many flutes there actually is.
 
I also never get bored of this CD, Canned Heat were completely improvizing(unlike "Going Up the Country" which is a cover)...they left Hooker out of speech, and the SQ is top notch too: http://www.amazon.com/Hooker-Heat-John-Lee-Canned/dp/B000002UZU
 
But I realize that it's like a big puzzle, each component of the chain straightens it...the root being more of less the aMG dongle, w/o it the magic's gone.

 

[leeperry]

I think I'd even dare saying that drivers versions for the USB3 NEC chip also seem to change the SQ somehow(but different firmwares don't).
 
I've been rolling between all the 2.0.x drivers for a little while now, and I really don't like how 32 sounds...the 30 release notes are full of stuff like:
-Tuned the host driver to improve performance.
-From V2.0.30.0, we added recovery processes.
 
reminds me of the pesky Musiland drivers days, for which everyone has a favorite version number

 
I know placebo's power is strong and real and that the brain is a poor measuring tool, so I'll do some more comparisons.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

 
 
You mean like the ones found in different USB cards?
 
Do you think NEC USB controllers are best out of the ones you have tried??
 
I remember you were looking at some Korean made Audiophile USB card....

Are you running your USB system from the mobo USB or from an add in card?
The USB card with the molex connectors for power input might be the way to go. as
Using one of these cardsnthe power input would technically be cleaner because of the direct tap to the PSU instead of power running through the traces on the mobo.
Are you considering using one of these?
I have seen quite a few people using such things for USB based audio systems.

 

[Dynobot]

Yes I am tapping directly off the mobo with a 6inch usb cable to the Audiogd DI.  I wouldn't mind a good pci card for usb.  I'm going to have to add that to my list of must-do tweaks.

 

[leeperry]

if you can go PCI, that Korean board seems hard to beat...I don't have any empty slot for it, only PCI-E.
 
now that the USB board drivers rolling is over, I might try the proprietary Tenor drivers again...they used to hiccup w/ Reclock, so I've made bug reports to their coder...maybe he took my feedback in account

 

[ROBSCIX]

Quote:

Yes I am tapping directly off the mobo with a 6inch usb cable to the Audiogd DI.  I wouldn't mind a good pci card for usb.  I'm going to have to add that to my list of must-do tweaks.

I see.  I thought you were using an add in card.  I see many new USB3 card with add-in power connectors and good
build quality.  What cards are you considering?
 

 

[Dynobot]

I'm not considering any card right now because I don't know enough.  Right now I will just keep my eyes open and read up on what is available...any suggestions?