[synaesthetic]

I swear it's that time of the year again, the time when everything breaks. First my Etys start to disintegrate (left driver likes to cut out with great regularity, and the cord is fraying) now my sound card kicks the bucket. TV died a few weeks ago. Stove has been acting up. Bedroom night-stand lamp developed a loose connection. Vacuum cleaner burned the motor out when I brilliantly ran over the end of a spool of monofilament line.

You get the idea.

For some reason my Chaintech AV710 isn't registering at all. Just randomly today I turned my PC on and the sound card was mysteriously missing, and the computer was behaving very oddly (freezing, running very slow) until I removed the card. Tried everything to get it to show up and clear the other odd behavior, but nothing. I'm using my computer's onboard sound for now but it's pretty noisy and doesn't sound very good.

Apparently the AV710 isn't available anymore so I'm looking for either a new sound card or a USB DAC to replace it. Suggestions in the "cheap-fi" range, please. (Under 100 dollars).

This wouldn't be so bad if everything didn't decide to break all at once. =/

 

[ShanDo]

what about EMU 0404 PCI, good dac, nice sound...
or cheaper Audiotrak Prodigy HD2 or HD2 gold (maybe this one only in Korea)

 

[derek8555]

Or something like my 1212M? Should be able to get for $100 or less, but only if you like the more analytical sound...

 

[Chipp]

FWIW, X-Fi Xtreme Music's are at Geeks.com for a little under $40 right now. Great deal for that card.

 

[scottder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chipp /img/forum/go_quote.gif FWIW, X-Fi Xtreme Music's are at Geeks.com for a little under $40 right now. Great deal for that card.

Just be warned, Geeks.com has a VERY checkered past of losing peoples financial information.

 

[synaesthetic]

Is the X-Fi any good?

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

Quote:

Is the X-Fi any good?

Depends on which one, I believe the general consensus is to stay away from the Xtreme series. Think the Platinum series is supposed to be good

 

[^adm^]

Consider Alien dac too i think it's better than x-fi when it comes to music. But movies or games x-fi wins hands down.

 

[odymmij]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing /img/forum/go_quote.gif Depends on which one, I believe the general consensus is to stay away from the Xtreme series. Think the Platinum series is supposed to be good

It is the XtremeAudio that you should stay away from. The XtremeGamer and XtremeMusic are great and just as good as any other X-Fi with the exception of no Xram, but nobody uses that anyway. If you want to mod it and replace the caps, you would want to stay away from the XtremeGamer though. Everything above the XtremeMusic can be modded.

 

[YtseJamer]

Headphonia USB DAC Headphonia.com - USB DAC Cable 50'' (125cm)

 

[classicalguy]

Has anyone used the Headphonia USB Dac cable? Also, they appear to be releasing a new version "at the end of the month." Don't know what it will cost. I emailed them, and they just said the new version "has an output opamp which increases the performace of the DAC." So it remains to be seen what is released and how much it costs. It's certainly an interesting option.