[FIJI]

I've read a lot of good things about the juli@ on here and it makes me wish I would have known about head-fi.org earlier. When I built my current pc, I mostly built it for gaming so I got an xfi. However, now I mostly use my pc for listening to music. I currently use foobar, audio creation mode with bit-matched playback, I use the optical out -> MicroStack -> k701's. Compared to my current setup, would the optical out on the juli@ be noticeably different than optical out on xfi? I don't really wanna ask if the juli@ would be noticeably "better" because better is just a matter of opinion. I mostly wanna know if the juli@'s optical out connected to the microstack would sound noticeably different, and in what ways would it be different (if at all)? Thanks!

 

[nuhi]

I had Juli@ and it is nice and simple but when it comes to digital comparison you'll hardly hear any difference no matter which card. To hear something like that you'll have to have top of the line amplifiers and speakers/headphones.

(IMHO)

Only thing that sounds noticeable to my ears is comparison with onboard sound chip probably because it has less filters on the power supply line compared to a dedicated card, sounded muddy in comparison.
However X-Fi resamples so there could be some hope of improvement...

 

[device manager]

FIJI, the X-Fi is the best gaming card on the market, ASIO 2.0 support, and the digital coax out offers bit-perfect out to a DAC. You get the best of both worlds.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nuhi However X-Fi resamples so there could be some hope of improvement...

True, but in audio creation mode you have the option for 44.1 kHz and bit-perfect playback.

 

[FIJI]

Thanks for your replies. Anyone else have any opinions?

 

[JaGWiRE]

Everyday I find a new amazing feature with my x-fi. I think this card was worth every single penny. I would recommend it to ANYBODY who plans to use a dac, it's features are endless. For example, if I am listening to foobar2000 with ASIO, I can mute wave and not get sound from anything but foobar. Or if I have spdif input runnng my sateille radio, I can mute wave and only get sound from the radio. Or if I want to record a show on my radio, I can set the x-fi to record at a set time daily. This thing is loaded with neat features, and I would recommend it to just about everybody, especially if you don't like the drivers other companies offer, and their control panels (i.e. I can't deal with m-audios control panel, too little features.)

 

[skyline889]

You can do that with almost any Creative soundcard, I could even do that with my onboard sound in fact. If you're mostly going to use it for music, I would buy and EMU 1212m or an 1820m, it's way better for music than any of the X-Fi versions, and does gaming and DVDs, better than most people think. The EMu 0404 might be another option for you, but imo it sounded a bit too thin and sybillant, with a DAC it's much less noticeable but still there.

 

[003]

If you are using analog out, the juli@ or an e-mu card will be a very noticeable step up in quality.

 

[FIJI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 003 If you are using analog out, the juli@ or an e-mu card will be a very noticeable step up in quality.

using optical out only.

 

[FIJI]

no more opinions

 

[Corrupt^]

Haven't had a Juli@ but after tweaking some settings, the Xfi is pretty darn good in Audiocreation Mode.

Just turn off that crystalizer and cmss 3D crap.

I turn the bass/treble from windows both up to 100% and then I tweaked the sound so the source stays under about 12db, sounds way better then back when I used Entertainment Mode.

 

[yeeyy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIJI using optical out only.

Since you only using Digital Output for your music playback, I would recommend you go for X-Fi.

Reason:
1. Bit-Perfect output can be obtained @ Audio Creation Mode.
2. You can use the built-in AC3/DTS decoder in X-Fi for best performance when watching movie.
3. You can have the best gaming experience.

 

[Disiskurt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyline889 You can do that with almost any Creative soundcard, I could even do that with my onboard sound in fact. If you're mostly going to use it for music, I would buy and EMU 1212m or an 1820m, it's way better for music than any of the X-Fi versions, and does gaming and DVDs, better than most people think. The EMu 0404 might be another option for you, but imo it sounded a bit too thin and sybillant, with a DAC it's much less noticeable but still there.

If he's going to use a DAC, why tell him to get a more expensive E-MU? Hell, you could get the same results with the AV-710 (with whatever flashing needed to make the digital out bit-perfect.) Like nuhi said, unless you're using this with ultra-expensive top of the line equipment, you probably wouldn't hear any difference between the cards. The most I can say about the E-MU is that Patchmix is a b****. Sure, one can get a handle of it and use it fine for different stuff than music playback, but to me it definitely wouldn't be worth the hassle if you're not even gonna use the analog out or the music creation/mixing features. It's impractical to use a professional mixing card just for it's optical out.

And btw, the X-Fi Elite Pro is supposed to match the 1212M's analog output. I am very skeptical that you've had the actual experience needed to legitimately make those claims that the E-MU is better than any of the X-Fi cards. And the E-MU may do better at gaming and movies "than most people think," but the large majority would agree that the X-Fi kills the E-MU in that respect. I wouldn't because I have never heard an X-Fi card, but I've done enough research to know the general consensus in that regard.

Just stick with the X-Fi, it's very likely that you're not missing anything.

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Disiskurt If he's going to use a DAC, why tell him to get a more expensive E-MU? Hell, you could get the same results with the AV-710 (with whatever flashing needed to make the digital out bit-perfect.) Like nuhi said, unless you're using this with ultra-expensive top of the line equipment, you probably wouldn't hear any difference between the cards. The most I can say about the E-MU is that Patchmix is a b****. Sure, one can get a handle of it and use it fine for different stuff than music playback, but to me it definitely wouldn't be worth the hassle if you're not even gonna use the analog out or the music creation/mixing features. It's impractical to use a professional mixing card just for it's optical out. And btw, the X-Fi Elite Pro is supposed to match the 1212M's analog output. I am very skeptical that you've had the actual experience needed to legitimately make those claims that the E-MU is better than any of the X-Fi cards. And the E-MU may do better at gaming and movies "than most people think," but the large majority would agree that the X-Fi kills the E-MU in that respect. I wouldn't because I have never heard an X-Fi card, but I've done enough research to know the general consensus in that regard. Just stick with the X-Fi, it's very likely that you're not missing anything.

I've had an M-audio card before which I think had more game support then the e-mu, and it was hell, and the control panels on these sort of cards are just awful. I agree, and as for digital output, it should be fine. The e-mu does not pass DD or DTS which sucks if you have a pair of 5.1 speakers like mine (not like it matters, I plan to dump them), and overall I think consumer grade products are much more user friendly.

 

[FIJI]

thanks guys. i think i got the answers i was looking for - i was well aware that the analog out on various cards sounded different and some cards definitely have a better analog out than others. like i said my main concern was with digital/optical out and whether a different card's optical out would be *noticeably* different than the optical out from my xfi. since i have no intention of using the analog out when i have the micro dac i think i'll stick with my xfi especially since i'm familiar with it and the control panels are very user friendly. not to mention that i won't have to spend anymore money. i do, however, really like the way the juli@ looks, but who really cares about how a soundcard looks...lol

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FIJI thanks guys. i think i got the answers i was looking for - i was well aware that the analog out on various cards sounded different and some cards definitely have a better analog out than others. like i said my main concern was with digital/optical out and whether a different card's optical out would be *noticeably* different than the optical out from my xfi. since i have no intention of using the analog out when i have the micro dac i think i'll stick with my xfi especially since i'm familiar with it and the control panels are very user friendly. not to mention that i won't have to spend anymore money. i do, however, really like the way the juli@ looks, but who really cares about how a soundcard looks...lol

If I didn't buy half my computer stuff based on looks, my computer would be 5 times more powerful now

.