[Darvy]

Soo.. I have decided to purchase a Sony mdr-cd3000.. I will probably order it in 2 or 3 days from audiocube.

I did more reading and came up with more questions. I hope some members here will be able to shed some lights to them.

Question 1.) I was adviced that my sound card (audigy X-gamer) wasn't good enough for music; just good for games. That same person said I should get an m-audio card for music and dvds.. so basically would anyone care to elaborate on this? Also is the cdrom efficient? or do I need to upgrade?

Question 2.) I am thinking of buying the 350 dollar amp that everyone is raving about (Perreaux SXH-1). I was wondering on how this whole amp thing works. Does it just enriches the sound? Basically I was wondering if it is worth it.

Question 3.) I would like to achieve surround sound with the headphone. Someone told me you can achieve it using software decoder like WinDVD. He wasn't sure if the same thing will work with a DVD player. To be honest I rather keep it all on the computer. Would a nice hardware dvd-decoder give me surround sound?

Question 4.) Do they have cable upgrades for the cd3000 or is it already highquality? I am assuming the latter.


Thanks for reading!


Darvy

 

[joelongwood]

The only question I can answer with some degree of confidence is #4..........as far as I know, there are no cable upgrades available for the CD3000. But that doesn't mean that it can't be done.

I'm sure there are other, more knowledgable people here who will respond to your other questions.

 

[Darvy]

I did some extensive reading on this forum this morning and gained some insight into this thing.

I guess my question is answered for #1. I'll have to get a card that has a built in DAC on it and has 24 bit sound. From there its either comp --> new sound card ---> cd3000 or comp --->new sound card ---> Perreaux SXH-1 ---> cd3000.

I guess my current soundcard is efficient enough for my gaming needs.

The rest of the questions.. still need answered..

joelongwood - I just saw some of the upgrades and man.. some cables are 200 dollars etc LOL. I feel sorry for my wallet.

 

[Habib]

I will try to answer #3. I have a little experience with both software and hardware decoders. I think the surround sound you are talking about is for headphones if I am not mistaken. Both software and hardware can output surround sound to speakers, mainly 5.1 setup. But when it comes to headphone setup, software decoder such as the WinDVD can downmix 5.1 sound into stereo that mimic surround sound. As far as I know this has nothing to do with hardware decoders which just means that they have a dedicated chip to crunch all the DVD/sound processing instead of CPU for the software decoder. So if you want surround sound on your headphone when watching DVD, software decoders are the only way to go. Because I am not sure there is a hardware decoder that has that feature.

 

[lindrone]

Answer to question 1:

Yes, you definitely need a new sound card. It has really less to do with bitrate than just the cleanliness of the audio. SoundBlaster Audigy is actually much better for games than the M-Audio Revolution. However, when it comes to a faithful music reproduction and clean signal, M-Audio is by far better than Audigy. I have both in my computer right now, and I suggest you to actually keep both, so you can dedicate M-Audio to just the headphone, and the Audigy to speakers.

There's no dedicated 'headphone' out for either of these soundcards... it's better to switch your soundcard in the sound control panel (or in some applications, you can specify which soundcard to use inside the application iself) than trying to unplug/plug in speakers/headphone all the time.


Answer to question 3:

This is a combination of software/hardware. M-Audio's control panel can simulate surround sound with the headphone. Some DVD playback software will also give you the option to downmix the 5.1 into headphone.. just as Habib noted earlier. Sometimes you need a combination of both of these, sometimes you don't... All depends on the software.

Nevertheless, it's an option that you'll have... You do *not* need any sort of hardware decoder. For one thing, most new video cards (newer GeForce & Radeons) has some of the same capability that dedicated hardware DVD decoder had, and soundcards are responsible for the sound now. DVD software still does most of the decoding part, and our modern CPU's are more than enough to handle it. The audio part is simply having the software configured to send the correct streams to the soundcard.

 

[wallijonn]

Darvy,

1] Do you do a lot of gaming? EAX is nice, but more and more games are going to Direct-X sound, so it may be moot. The Audigy is good enough for music, but there are better solutions. Do a search for 'sound cards' in this forum, especially reviews. The problem with any non Creative soundcard will be driver support. If WXP64 comes out tomorrow, will your soundcard come out with drivers? If you should decide to use Linux, will there be some way to play music. (Creative is very lax here, leaving the Linux community to hack a driver). If you decide to go back to WME (stranger things have happened) will there be srivers and utilities for it?

2] It's not a question of voltage, but rather of current. Most soundcards do not produce enough current to adequately drive headphones. An amp will make all the difference in the world. With an amp you will be able to hear the bass and get rid of treble hiss.

3] Even with an hardware decoder you will have problems using headphones, much less surround sond. Aureal and EAX are but two algorithyms used to emulate surround sound, with aureal being better for headphone listening. I just ignore the whole mess and enjoy a good N64 or PS1 game for what it gives me.


4] There are no after market CD3000 cables out there. And very few people are willing to experiment on the CD3000. We'll all have to wait until an adventuresome Head-Fi'er succeeds and posts his findings. If you buy them, and you like them, why try?

 

[lindrone]

Okay... need to get some facts straight..

1) All games these days uses DirectX for sound, the only ones that doesn't has to come in pre-Win98 age (some of the first games on Win95 didn't have DirectX). Whether or not it's DirectSound or DirectSound 3D depends on the games, not all games needs 3D sounds. EAX is a feature on top of DirectX.. and it adds some effects that DirectSound3D does not have.

However, almost all sound card now has some form of EAX compatibility, if not the latest version of EAX.. but games are usually backward compatible with earlier versions of EAX.

M-Audio is a very respected soundcard... it's a very well known high-performance chipset made by VIA (high-performance in relation to music playback, not gaming)... which is the same base chipset used across several of M-Audio's own high-end soundcards, and as well as many other company's entry-level soundcards. The driver support is not going to be a problem.

Lastly, the reason why M-Audio doesn't work for games has to do with its driver design. M-Audio has to be put into the "Sensura Game Mode" before it can interact with DirectSound3D... which means you have to go into the control panel to turn it on everytime. For me, even that didn't work, since the Sensura Game Mode only supports 5.1, 6.1, and 7.1 configurations. I have a 4.1 configuration, the center channel is completely missing.

That's the reason why the 2 soundcard in the same system approach is the best. You can keep your Audigy for playing games... and use M-Audio for music and DVD playback purposes.


3) This has got nothing to do with hardware decoder, nor Aureal and EAX. Aureal and EAX were both protocols for providing positional 3D sounds in games... Regular downmixing of 5.1 channel from DVD software into stereo channel for the headphones is a very easy process. At no point is Aureal nor EAX ever involved. (BTW, Aureal went out of business years and years ago anyway)

Downmixing DVD audio into a "virtual surround" sound environment for headphones is not a problem at all. In fact, softwares such as PowerDVD and WinDVD notes downmixing 5.1 signals into surround stereo as one of their chief "features". They realize not every PC users has 5.1 or 6.1 speaker set-ups.. not to mention laptop users.

 

[wallijonn]

lindrone,

thanks for the clarifications.

i have to ask though, since I have never tried it, is it truly possible to have two sound cards in the same box? will PnP assign them different DMAs and IRQs, or does one have to do it manually? I take it that the Revolution cards do not have game ports and midi support.

http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/features/articles/EAX.html

http://www.mediatwins.com/products/ac3_decoder.htm

http://www.dolby.com/dolbyheadphone/

http://www.dolby.com/dolbyheadphone/DH_Products.html

 

[Darvy]

So it is basically New sound card with DAC --> Perreaux SXH-1 --> MDR-cd3000

Since I will be gaming and listening to music using the cd3000 is there some way to interconnect both soundcard somehow so I don't have to get behind the case to change the plug? I guess a long Y connector connected to the cd3000 would do the trick.


Darvy

 

[lindrone]

Having 2 soundcard in your system is perfectly fine. Plug'n Play will work perfectly. You just need to go into the control panel and change the sound device when you want to use one or the other.

In some software, you can actually specify to use a certain soundcard regardless of which is active by the system at the time...

I have 3 soundcards in my system (Audigy, M-Audio Revo, and onboard Realtek)... have them all active, all working perfectly fine. Although everytime I install a Creative driver, it warns me "the system maybe unstable"... another way of saying, "Buy only Creative!"... hehehehe

Darvy, I would actually use two extension cable from the back of the case to the front... I wouldn't use a Y-cable, because I wouldn't want any possible distortion (hiss, or another background noise otherwise) from the Audigy disrupting my experience with the M-Audio.

 

[Darvy]

Lindrone or others

What do you recommend for my new soundcard?

under 300 dollars or 200

oh yea I've decided to get HD600 instead so I can get a better soundcard.

Thanks for the explanations

 

[dariusf]

Quote:

Originally posted by Habib So if you want surround sound on your headphone when watching DVD, software decoders are the only way to go. Because I am not sure there is a hardware decoder that has that feature.

Actually Sennheiser makes a hardware device just for that. DSP-360 Virtual Dolby Surround Sound Processor. It also has a build in amplifier that is a total crap. The surround decoding is not bad. I used to have one long time ago.

info link

Sold it on ebay for like $20 (thats what it used to go for)

specs

 

[dariusf]

Quote:

Originally posted by Darvy Lindrone or others What do you recommend for my new soundcard?

I would go with the M-Audio, my friend that composes allot of electronic music speaks very highly of it. I myself use a CD player

m-audio site

 

[lindrone]

M-Audio Revolution, or Audiotrak Prodigy...

Both soundcard uses the same chipset, they have equal capability at playing back music...

I think Audiotrak's driver is a little different, it installs the "Sensura Game Mode" as a separate device, so you can have your control panel set to Sensura Game Mode as default, and use the standard Prodigy for playback of music in your application of choice (by specifying the soundcard to use in individual applications).

Best part, both cards are just $99 MSRP...

 

[Darvy]

I looked those and they sound nice.

BUT

I thought I have to get a soundcard with a built in DAC for it to sound better?