[bdjuf]

...

 

[darkclouds]

Yes, your source will always matter. The higher you go on headphones and amp, the better your source must be to take full advantage of your headphon/amp combo.

 

[Sol_Zhen]

Source quality always matters.

 

[quackman]

whats a good audiophile sound card for a computer, while not being ridiculously priced?

 

[Digital-Monk]

There aren't really many. Lots of people like the Revolution. I have the Audigy 2 (~$100). It's alright, but far from the ideal source.

 

[quackman]

I heard about a soundcard reccommended for audiophiles, but not from someone on an audiophile site like this.

he reccomended the M-Audio line of sound cards.
does anyone have an opinion on these?

 

[dd3mon]

I heartily recommend the M-Audio Revolution for great 2-channel sound (haven't tested the full 7.1), it beats any Creative product hands down in sound quality. It will even drive cans like 600's reasonably well right out of the output!

-dd3mon

 

[Trounce]

I predict you'd have a very hard time telling the difference between 256kb/s MP3s or a CD, even through headphones, on the Audigy2 and Revolution.

I know the stats are slightly higher on the M-Audio model, but as sound cards go, they are both merely average.

 

[NewSc2]

Quote:

Originally posted by quackman whats a good audiophile sound card for a computer, while not being ridiculously priced?

M-Audio and Terratec are usually considered the audiophile cards. The highest ones go for $200-300+. I am happy with my $50 Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, though.

 

[Lando]

If you're considering the M-Audio and enjoy playing games, beware. People say the M-Audio is a cpu hog and makes gameplay choppy, even if it does sound good.

 

[jms007bnd007]

Source defenitely matters. As you get better amps and more revealing headphones, they will only amplify the defficiencies in your source. They might also reveal the defficiencies in the media you choose to play as well. Garbage in, Garbage out.

 

[stryker]

Look around but a good place that sells new stuff fairly cheap is at www.sonicsense.com .

They have a card by Sek'd (German) called the Prodif Plus that sounds pretty good. It is more of a pro/studio use card. It has onboard 20bit ad/da converters and comes with a nice .wav player demoware software program. Their software does *way* better than Windoze Media Player or cheaper stuff like Winamp at decoding stuff in .wav format.