m-audio 2496 vs prodigy hd2 for music

[fzman]

i'll be playing wavs from an xp box which is just a computer-- no real audio-only mods.....

i'm torn between these two cards right now, since, on paper, there are trade-offs for me getting either......

29/96 vs 24/192 ddac -- advantage hd2
rca outs for 2-channel analog vs 1/8" stereo jack -- advantage m-audio
coax spdif vs toslink spdif -- advantage ????

i will be using with msb link dac original and may also use my msb digital director. both take coax or toslink and the dd even cross converts in either direction. the dd only goes up to 48, in and out, whereas the link dac will do 96 in.

any thoughts on which card sounds better?

is more reliable -- drivers, etc...

will analog sound better than digital out or vice versa.....

obsessive audiophile minds want to know..

thanks for any guidance as i will pull the trigger today.

 

[FallenAngel]

29/96 vs 24/192 really important? Do you even have 24bit-content at 96 or 192kHz?

Output: Both HD2 and 2496 have RCA.

Coax vs Optical : Coax requires 75-ohm cable, that breakout cable for 2496 doesn't look like it and in general RCA isn't 75-ohm. Whether that will effect SQ THAT much is questionable.

 

[fzman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallenAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif 29/96 vs 24/192 really important? Do you even have 24bit-content at 96 or 192kHz? Output: Both HD2 and 2496 have RCA. Coax vs Optical : Coax requires 75-ohm cable, that breakout cable for 2496 doesn't look like it and in general RCA isn't 75-ohm. Whether that will effect SQ THAT much is questionable.

this is one of the things that confuses me-- if i put wavs on the hard drive, then they are 'red book' 44.1 files-- correct? if i set the soundcard (or, right now, the onboard) digital output to anything other than 44.1-- what excactly is occurring? is the soundcard hardware up or over sampling or is it done in software by the player app (winamp, for the moment)??

should this help, hurt or be neutral with respect to the sound i hear thru my headphones?

 

[FallenAngel]

software resampling, hurts