How do you find the SoundMax on-board audio?

[cyan]

Hello~

Hey, I am just curious that how to you guys find on the come-with-board SoundMAX audio adapter? Personally I also own a SB Live! card (which has been used for years and it's really getting old). When I just do a little audition using my A900, I just find the SoundMAX to be a lot better than my SB Live!..There's a lot of background noise coming out of my SB Live!
Maybe it's just getting old?

Anyway, do you guys have any suggestion on a decent USB or PCMCIA sound adapter? I wanna use it instead of the SoundMAX.
My budget is around $200

Thanks

 

[Soundstorm]

Sound Mangler Live has crappy Sigmatel or Creative AC97 codec, very bad resampling in the EMU10k1, lousy opamps, etc.

SoundMAX onboard audio uses the Analog Devices AD18xx or 19xx AC97 codec and is generally considered the best AC97 codec available now(the Crystal AC97 codecs used in the Santa Cruz were long ago discontinued). It's no surprise that the SoundMAX sounds better than any Sound Mangler Live(Live 24bit is totally different from the older Live series).

http://www.3dss.com/reviews/SoundMAXSPX/

 

[cyan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soundstorm Sound Mangler Live has crappy Sigmatel or Creative AC97 codec, very bad resampling in the EMU10k1, lousy opamps, etc.

Yeah, Sound Mangler

By the way, I wanna know how do you guys find the sound quality of SoundMAX? Do it worth the money if I upgrade to a external adapter for my notebook? Or maybe I just can't distinguish the improvement using my A900?

 

[Kram Sacul]

I think it sounds listenable but then again i haven't unleashed my 0404 yet. Just mute the bass boost though.

 

[]|[ GorE]

The SoundMax AD1980 and AD1985 are the best sounding onboard codecs.PERIOD.I have done extensive builtin sound card tests.Beats everything outthere,esp the crappy Realtec and Avance Logic Stuff.
BULL****! Even the names sound bad enough.
Who would name a company Avance Logic..........

 

[sgrossklass]

Wasn't Avance Logic bought by Realtek?
Still it's interesting that the AD chips come out best. Well, AD knows how to make good DACs, and since the old AD1816 all-in-one chip really wasn't bad in its day I'm not too surprised that their AC97 stuff is rather good as well.

 

[salmon]

I have soundmax on Intel avalon mobo, the sound is clean dynamic and dead. Instruments don´t sound like they should. SB 128 reproduce instruments better.

 

[]|[ GorE]

I dont think your Avalon board has the AD1980/AD1985.

 

[stackofhay]

I have an Intel 865PERL mobo and an IBM T42, both with SoundMAX. In the laptop, the sound is downright flat compared to the Crystal setup I had in my old dell, although an amp improves it a bit it is still shrill on the top end and kind of dies during complex passages. The bass is a bit thin IMHO too.

In the standalone computer the SoundMax was better than in the laptop, but still lacking in detail and in its ability to handle complex dynamics. Even with a PPA or the DYNALO, it is just not good enough to make me happy.

So..., I switched to a Chaintech sound card (modded with Blackgate caps) using the oversampled Wolfson DAC in conjunction with one of my DYNALO amps, and it is like a breath of fresh air -- more open, more depth and nice articulation of inner detail. Not as good as a Benchmark DAC1, but a lot closer than the SoundMAX... Actually, it's really nice to listen to.

I used:

Pimeta
PPA 627/quad buffers
Dynalo (really well matched and compensated)

Senn 650/cardas
Senn 595
Ety 4P/4S

Foobar2K with .wav and 320VBR LAME .mp3 rips

YMMV...

 

[Soundstorm]

stackofhay, can you take some photos of your Black Gate modded AV-710 and put them here?

 

[stackofhay]

Nothing special about the mod - I used non-polarized blackgates for the two caps used to couple the wolfson DAC to the black 1/8" jack.

There is really nothing to see in a photo, as these caps are the same size and installed in the same place as the stock units.

The board at $25 plus a few $ for the caps is an amazing deal. The blackgates opened things up a bit and removed quite a bit of grain from the sound of the stock card.

I've done nothing else to the board at this point.

 

[Soundstorm]

Can you state the exact part number of the Black Gate caps that you used and a photo showing exactly which caps on the card to be replaced?

 

[jiiteepee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ]|[ GorE The SoundMax AD1980 and AD1985 are the best sounding onboard codecs.PERIOD.I have done extensive builtin sound card tests.Beats everything outthere,esp the crappy Realtec and Avance Logic Stuff. BULL****! Even the names sound bad enough. Who would name a company Avance Logic..........

So, you have not listened any Intel HDA's yet?

Some info @ http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/...l-hdaudio.html

jiitee

 

[]|[ GorE]

stackofhay,
it isnt fair to compare onboard with the AV-710 ,is it ?

The thing i like about the AD1980 is its neutrality.And dont compare the AD1980 with others by using headphones.Its Line out jack isnt good enough for cans.

 

[stackofhay]

Hi All

First, I think the SoundMax is "ok", the Crystal setup I had in my old Dell Laptop was "pretty good" and the 710 is "good to very good".

I bought the Intel motherboard hoping that it would sound as good or better than the Crystal setup and it did not. Disappointed, I sought out a cheapie solution for stereo sound. The chaintech from newegg plus the blackgates (non polarized, 10uF purchased from PartsConnexion in Canada) cost me a total of under $35 with shipping and is plenty good for listening to headphones at work.

I'm about 3000 miles from the board right now, so I cannot take any photos. I believe the caps in question are the two electrolytics closest to the black 1/8" jack (for channels 7/8). The parts I purchased were the same lead spacing and case size as the stock caps, so I just removed the old ones and stuck these in their place. With a good ohmmeter you can trace back from the black connector to these two parts.

I think the model was "N" or "NX" or something like that. And they were relatively cheap at the time. Check www dot partsconnexion dot com for current availability. I believe the parts with "N..." designation are non polarized.

Good luck!