[Kibblesnbits]

First, are you driving headphones with it? If you are, what impedance are they? Second, can any of you suggest studio monitors or bookshelf speakers that can be driven directly from the 0404? I haven't enough room for a stereo reciever.

 

[Brandon B]

According to the review on digit-life.com, the Emu 0404 USB's headamp can drive high-impedance headphones with no problem. I don't remember for sure, but I think they used Sennheiser HD580s for testing.

I don't know much about studio monitors, so I won't recommend a certain brand, but I'm pretty sure you could get a decent set to hook straight into the 0404 for around 150-300 dollars.

edit: here's the link to the review I was talking about: http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/...-0404-usb.html

 

[Ross1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kibblesnbits /img/forum/go_quote.gif First, are you driving headphones with it? If you are, what impedance are they? Second, can any of you suggest studio monitors or bookshelf speakers that can be driven directly from the 0404? I haven't enough room for a stereo reciever.

Well, my pair of speakers require a pretty good stereo amp to drive them, so while I use the 0404 USB as a DAC there, I cant really comment on that bit. The pair of headphones I am currently using are the HD280's, it does a fine job with them, but they arent hard to drive and I am looking to get a pair of HD595's soon, so we shall see how it fares with that pair.

 

[Nandro]

While using it as a dac is there any sense in using say a gilmore lite? I am looking for a cheap dac/amp setup for my pc, but am getting more and more confused as to how much the audio card comes into play as I havent seen any so far that have a regular line out. I may have to abandon the thought of using my pc as a source which stinks because I love using it. I love all my music in one place.

 

[Jahn]

it looks like you already have three headphone amps - LD II - RA1 Wannabee - X-Cans v1. Pick one, and have an interconnect go from the analog outs of the EMU to that amp. You're done!

 

[Nandro]

Actually the RA-q clone died, and the X-cans powerconverter took a dump as well, so I am on my LD II, using the headphone output as the line out to the LD II from My extigy. So the EMU will have analog outs to go right into the amp?
I was actually looking at this because I heard that firewire had less jitter although I know I would be limitinng myself in the future.
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...hile-main.html

Or is the USB version just as good?

 

[crystal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kibblesnbits /img/forum/go_quote.gif First, are you driving headphones with it? If you are, what impedance are they? Second, can any of you suggest studio monitors or bookshelf speakers that can be driven directly from the 0404? I haven't enough room for a stereo reciever.

I'm using these (600 ohms):

http://www.akg.com/products/powersla...nguage,EN.html

and these:

http://www.m-audio.ca/products/en_ca...Pro4-main.html

 

[Kibblesnbits]

Thanks, Crystal. I was concerned about driving a pair of K240's (55 ohm) and my roommate's HD650's (~300). This should work out great.

How do those M-Audio monitors sound? The description of "Professional Desktop Multimedia Audio Monitors" has me a little worried.

 

[crystal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kibblesnbits /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks, Crystal. I was concerned about driving a pair of K240's (55 ohm) and my roommate's HD650's (~300). This should work out great. How do those M-Audio monitors sound? The description of "Professional Desktop Multimedia Audio Monitors" has me a little worried.

"Worry not"

Those things are good.

Their sound is very clear, uncoloured and flat....more like a monitor than a HiFi curve. Awesome for the $$$$ in my opinion.

That's exactly what I use them for....mixing (home studio) and multimedia (throw on a CD or two) and they do it well.

You have to be realistic though and realize that they won't blow your doors off, but they more than fill a room.

If you can find a music store with them....go have a listen because everyone has different tastes.

I have them plugged into the "1 Main" stereo mini jack output on the EMU and I control their level with the "Main Output" knob.

 

[dimi]

I'm interested in that kind of setup too. I'd like to disable the onboard PC soundcard and use the 0404 usb as only card with headphones and speakers on it. So, let me see if I got it right:

1. The 0404 USB connects to a PC USB port and:
2. Headphones go into the headphone output (easy enough)
3a. Powered Speakers can go to the "1 main" output at the front, or
3b. A power amplifier (that will drive normal speakers) can connect to the "Left-Right" RCA outputs at the front.
4. An S/PDIF out of a CDp can be connected in the S/PDIF in, fot listening to CDs.

From reading the manual, I can't make out for sure:

A. Can the two outputs (Headphones - speakers) work simultaneously?
B. Is there a way to select which output is active from a 0404 switch or something?

C. What about input selection? Can the inputs from the CDp and PC be selected easily from the card contols? What happens if I play Foobar FLAC in, say, 96KHz, and switch to CDp (s/pdif) in, playing 44.1KHz? Does it handle alright?

 

[Nandro]

If its anything like most sound cards of that nature, the speakers are disabld as soon as you plug in the headphones. Its like that on my extigy and the other creative cards.

 

[dimi]

It's supposed to be pro-oriented that's why I hoped I wouldn't have to unplug the headphones all the time.

 

[sejarzo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dimi /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm interested in that kind of setup too. I'd like to disable the onboard PC soundcard and use the 0404 usb as only card with headphones and speakers on it. So, let me see if I got it right: 1. The 0404 USB connects to a PC USB port and: 2. Headphones go into the headphone output (easy enough) 3a. Powered Speakers can go to the "1 main" output at the front, or 3b. A power amplifier (that will drive normal speakers) can connect to the "Left-Right" RCA outputs at the front. 4. An S/PDIF out of a CDp can be connected in the S/PDIF in, fot listening to CDs. From reading the manual, I can't make out for sure: A. Can the two outputs (Headphones - speakers) work simultaneously? B. Is there a way to select which output is active from a 0404 switch or something? C. What about input selection? Can the inputs from the CDp and PC be selected easily from the card contols? What happens if I play Foobar FLAC in, say, 96KHz, and switch to CDp (s/pdif) in, playing 44.1KHz? Does it handle alright?

I'll do my best to explain based on a few days worth of experience with one:

1. Yes, the "front" headphone output is indeed always active and independent of the "main". The headphone output is a 1/4" TRS jack, and it has its own amplifier, independent of the driver for the main outputs. Each output has its own volume control, and they are different--I connected some HD201's to the main output mini jack rather than the headphone output, and the main outs obviously are not designed to run low-Z phones--very little volume resulted. The main output (taken from the mini jack) is very sufficient to drive my monoblocks on my large system or my PIMETA headamp. I don't have cabling yet to run from the larger output jacks on the back because......

2. There are no RCA outputs whatsoever. If you consider the side of the unit where the headphone output is located as the "front", the outputs are directly across on the "back". There is a 1/8" mini TRS output, plus 1/4" TRS jacks that can provide a balanced output signal (with TRS plugs) or an unbalanced output signal (with TS plugs.) The pictures are not very clear, so I can see why some folks think there are RCA's next to that mini output.

If you intend to interface it with speakers that have an RCA input, you can either buy 1/4" TS plug to female RCA adapters that plug into the 0404--so you can then attach standard RCA male terminated cables, or buy/build cables.

The only RCA jacks on the device are the S/PDIF input/outputs on the front of the unit, to the left of the headphone jack.

You can control the volume of the headphone output and the main output independently, and both are "live" at the same time.

3. This is pretty strange--somehow, the USB input and the input from the S/PDIF jack are mixed and both end up on the outputs at the same time. I haven't had both connected at the same time, but that seems to be what the manual intends to state, but doesn't do so clearly. There is an attempted clarification of that in an FAQ on the E-MU site that mentions the mixing.

However, I think that might depend on the setting of the "direct monitor" switch.....and that is confusing to me. I mistakenly presumed that one would have to push the selector button to set it to "S/PDIF" to listen to the S/PDIF input--but that is totally wrong. That selector shows where the direct monitor output is routed, not the input from which the direct monitor is taken!

Thus, if you want to listen to a signal present on the S/PDIF input, the best method that I have found would be:

a. power down the 0404,
b. disconnect the USB cable,
c. plug in the coax or optical from your digital source,
d. turn that source on, and only then
e. power up the 0404....and you should see the EXT sync LED light up.....if not, start a CD playing in the source before turning on the 0404 to absolutely ensure that the 0404 "sees" the desired sample rate on the input from the moment of power-up.

Next, make sure that the direct monitor is set to Main (not S/PDIF!) which routes the analog output from the DAC to the headphone amp and main out driver circuitry. What appears to be a volume pot for the direct monitor level is really a rotary encoder--so it must be acting as a digital volume control. I'd recommend that you turn up the headphone output to a low level, then twist the encoder knob clockwise to get the max output level, and then adjust the headphone knob to the desired listening level. Otherwise, you would be losing resolution.....a rotary encoder is presumably acting in the digital domain, cutting bits to cut volume (which isn't terribly important for its intended function--to allow a player to listen adequately to play in tempo with the other inputs.)

4. As to sample rate switching, it should be able to handle it "on the fly", but sometimes it seems to balk a bit. My experience with using it with my desktop, my notebook, and as a standalone DAC appears to show that if you have an active digital connection made to either the coax or optical input before the 0404 is powered up with no USB cable connected, it will automatically sync to whatever sample rate is present at the digital input. If you have the USB connected, it would preferentially sync up with the USB input. And the lack of a selector for which input is "active", I suppose, makes that even more confusing. I don't entirely understand the desire to mix the two digital inputs--I can only see how that muddles things up.

On the other hand, 95% of the time, when I have played tunes via Foobar 0.8.3 through the ASIO plug-in, and changed the resampler rate during playback, the unit hardly flinches--there is a split second of silence, and the 0404 resyncs. The other 5% of the time, it changes tempo and pitch--and the 0404 control panel shows that it remains synced at the previous rate. All it takes is a restart of Foobar, and all is well.

For some reason, every time that I restarted the desktop or notebook running Foobar 0.9.?, the channel mapping was somehow lost--forcing me to remove and re-add the 0404 in the "Virtual ASIO Device" dialog in the Foobar preferences settings. So far, after "downgrading" to 0.8.3, I don't have the same issue.

 

[dimi]

Thanks sejarzo. Finally it's getting clearer. I think Emu should get your post and use it in the manual. So many thinks I got wrong from that

Quote:

Originally Posted by sejarzo /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is pretty strange--somehow, the USB input and the input from the S/PDIF jack are mixed and both end up on the outputs at the same time. ................. I mistakenly presumed that one would have to push the selector button to set it to "S/PDIF" to listen to the S/PDIF input--but that is totally wrong. That selector shows where the direct monitor output is routed, not the input from which the direct monitor is taken!

That's the most confusing of all. So, if S/PDIF and USB are both connected, you can hear music from both sources at the same time. Now, THAT is weird. This behaviour is not similar to a pre-amp where you can select one input source, then. And, how does the 0404 select which sampling rate it outputs if both sources have different?
And if you have both USB and S/PDIF connected and don't send anything from the PC (USB), the S/PDIF input can still work and just output that, right? Why do you disconnect the USB in order for the S/PDIF to work?
How about vice versa. Just turn off the source (CDp or whatever) that goes to S/PDIF, the only music will be coming from the USB, am I getting it right?

 

[crystal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dimi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks sejarzo. Finally it's getting clearer. I think Emu should get your post and use it in the manual. So many thinks I got wrong from that That's the most confusing of all. So, if S/PDIF and USB are both connected, you can hear music from both sources at the same time. Now, THAT is weird. This behaviour is not similar to a pre-amp where you can select one input source, then. And, how does the 0404 select which sampling rate it outputs if both sources have different? And if you have both USB and S/PDIF connected and don't send anything from the PC (USB), the S/PDIF input can still work and just output that, right? Why do you disconnect the USB in order for the S/PDIF to work? How about vice versa. Just turn off the source (CDp or whatever) that goes to S/PDIF, the only music will be coming from the USB, am I getting it right?

I'll just relate my experience for whatever it's worth....

S/PDIF works just fine on mine with the USB connected.

When I turn off the S/PDIF source, it flips back to "internal sync" on it's own.

I think that if the USB source and the S/PDIF source are the same sample rate, then it might be possible to hear both sources.

What I found is that when I use my music production software at say....96kHz sample rate and then shut that down and decide to listen to a CD on the S/PDIF in, I have to manually change the sample rate on the EMU control panel on the PC to 44.1kHz and select "external sync". Otherwise the S/PDIF will not sync to the CD player.

The panel below shows the drop down menu with the different sample rate options.

The panel below shows the status of the unit while using a CD player on the S/PDIF input.

That is what I would expect.

Of course, this is my experience with my particular equipment....your mileage may vary.