[donunus]

Does anyone know how much power the headphone jack of the m-audio revolution 5.1 has? will it drive my sennheiser hd-555s ok? Is it a good quality headphone jack compared to a cmoy for example. If not, What is it comparable to in terms of power and/or finesse?

 

[donunus]

also, in case i buy an amp for the m-audio, does it have a good line out?Is it the headphone jack? Or am i better off getting an emu 0404 for its line out quality?

 

[Asmo]

The m-audio 5.1 is fine for the 555s. Headphone output is as good as a cmoy at least.

 

[donunus]

ok but if I do upgrade my cans in the future, will the soundcard be also ready for a good amp? In other words, is the headphone out that it has also a good line out compared to, say, an emu0404s line out? The revo doesn't seem to have a dedicated line out. Is the front LR jack the line out or is the headphone out all I'm going to be using to connect to an outboard amp?

 

[lordgibbness]

The front L-R is line level and is what you would connect to a headphone amp. It is quite high quality card (109dB SNR), and the DAC (AKM 4358) is the same as the Juli@ and AP192 - one step down from the 0404.

 

[kamaurul]

How about the headphone amp on the Prodigy 7.1 LT? Is it as powerful as the Revo's? Or better/worse?

 

[lordgibbness]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kamaurul How about the headphone amp on the Prodigy 7.1 LT? Is it as powerful as the Revo's? Or better/worse?

I don't think the Prodigy is quite as good as the Revo 5.1 - it is probably similar to the Revo 7.1. I'm not sure about the headphone output quality of the Prodigy, although I know it shares the speaker output (you can select speakers or headphones in the software control panel, which enables and disables the amp). If you are thinking of getting a Prodigy it may be worth getting it's big brother - the Juli@.

 

[Zorander]

The Prodigy 7.1 sounds noticably better than the Revo 7.1, in terms of neutrality and soundstage. The control panel is also more flexible than Revo's, not to mention working ASIO for Digital Out. The Headphone output of the Prodigy only seems to make things louder, while not having any noticable effect on quality. My HD-580 can play very loudly even with the headphone amp off, but soundstage is collapsed and all micro details are gone. If the headphone amp on the Revo 5.1 works similarly like Prodigy's, I still think getting a proper head-amp is a wise move.

Hope that helps a little. Cheers!

 

[kamaurul]

Thanks guys, but I think we might be talking about different cards here.

The Prodigy LT is a slightly different and newer incarnation of the original Prodigy:
Prodigy 7.1 LT
Original Prodigy 7.1

Differences between both cards are outlined in a table at the bottom of the LT's page, but among the more important ones are:
- the LT can be used as a low profile card (with a supplied low profile bracket)
- the headphone out is now on the back surround connector (can be used simultaneously with speakers). And it's *supposedly* better that the one on the original Prodigy.
- the LT uses an external I/O cable (something like the EMU 0404)

So, anyone know if the LT's headphone out is better than the Revo 5.1's?

If it's at least as good as the Revo's, I think the LT would be a better buy, but people have been saying that it has got some distortion issues caused by buggy drivers. Can any LT/Prodigy owners comment on this? Has it been solved by the latest drivers?

The distortion issue is one of the things that are holding me back from getting the LT. Along with lordgibbness's mention of the Revo's supposedly better DAC, and Asmo's mention of the Revo's Cmoy quality amp

.

 

[Zorander]

What kind of distortion???

I personally find the Prodigy better than Revo (more refined and neutral), and as I mentioned, its control panel is more robust than Revo's.

Regards.

 

[kamaurul]

Not so sure myself, but here are some of the stuff that come up if you do a search for 'distortion' at the Audiotrak support forum:

http://www.esiforum.com/show.asp?db=...mode=3&msg=518
http://www.esiforum.com/show.asp?db=...mode=3&msg=548
http://www.esiforum.com/show.asp?db=...ode=3&msg=1260

 

[eugenius]

zorrander, did you test the grado with an audigy2 or sb live 24bit?
How are they compared to the prodigy?

 

[kytuphicanh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eugenius zorrander, did you test the grado with an audigy2 or sb live 24bit? How are they compared to the prodigy?

Prodigy is better with Grado(SR125 and SR225) ,great improvement compare with AU2

Prodigy seem the best Envy based card now

but the HP amp in Prodigy in non LT version seem a little better(I use both LT and non LT)

I will compare with Lynx22 and RME HDSP 9632 in next month

 

[eugenius]

It's funny, they say the hp amp is a little better on the lt.

How does it compare to a 0404 quality wise? Is it such a huge difference?