New Purchase, please comment

[dustoff45]

Hello,

Going off to school, so I'm selling the old Klipsch 5.1 THX + SB Live! 5.1 and getting a decent closed headphone setup. I will have about 250 USD to spend. I have an SFF case (1 PCI slot) and do about 50% gaming (mainly FPS) and 50% music.

Phones: audio techinica ath-a500 that will be around $90 used on these forums, hopefully.

I am going to attempt to build a CMOY amp, and am budgeting $40

For the sound card, I think I will get the audigy 2 (non ZS) which is about $75 from Newegg or some such. Since I do not have another slot for something like the chaintech 710 (for the music side of it), I am thinking I will get a USB card, maybe the m-audio sonica? These are $40 shipped at musician's friend, or there is one on ebay for ~35. Is this enough of an improvement over the audigy2 to warrant the $40 spent?

I was kind of hoping I could get by with a cheaper card, the chaintech, but the gamer in me cringes at yet more CPU cycles taken up, and I think EAX is worth it in games.

Everyone seems to bash the audigy becuase it resamples everything to 48 khz, but I've read in a few places that foobar can do this before it reaches the audigy's hardware, and foobar will use a better algorythm. Does This work in the non ZS audigy 2 also?

That totals to 245, so I have hit my budget exactly! Is this what you would buy, given the situation? My main concern is the sound card issue.

 

[dj_mocok]

hmmm....come to think of it...
its pretty good plan as a matter of fact..

 

[dustoff45]

Hmm...thanks for showing me...now for the frantic ATH A500 vs. AKG K240 research. Thanks.

 

[dj_mocok]

yeah, i actually meant to show you that AKG 240S + CMOY from the "sale" forum, but changed my mind because i thought you might not want it since its not in mint condition ... but since its not affecting the sound...but anyway, im not the seller, hehe... so you might wanna PM him...

 

[Wodgy]

I think your Sonica + Audigy plan is a good one too.

BTW, people criticize the Audigy not only because it resamples everything, but because it sounds and measures so poorly, even when you do high-quality resampling beforehand in software.

 

[dj_mocok]

i was thinking... if you really really wanna stick with audigy for a long time, you probably wont really need an amp if your headphone of choice is A500 ?
then maybe you can use the money which you are planning for amp to get A900 instead ?

or maybe this:

Audigy 2 NX for the gaming card, (so you can use the PCI slot for chaintech) then you can get AKG 240S + amp...
is it still within budget ?

 

[dustoff45]

hmm, well audigy nx is 95 shipped from newegg, and with chaintech at 24 shipped, that is 120 for the two sound cards, plus the 125 for the phones and amp, puts us at bugjet. But it is pretty much the same as the audigy2 + sonica...that is a hard decision, so which sounds better, chaintech or sonica?

BTW DJ, what price is the a900 at? I thought it was more than $40 USD over the a500...I take it you like yours too?

The AKG 240s are open phones, and I kinda want closed ones for the dorm room. And like you mentioned, there is a scratch on them. I also kind of wanted to do my own CMOY, but that one he's selling looks nice. Hmm...

 

[dj_mocok]

A900 is like 100 bucks extra from A500...

but if you dont really mind about isolation, i highly recommend you ATH-AD5 (audiocubes sells this one for $109).

From audigy, the sound of AD5 and A900 are pretty much similar IMO.
the only thing i notice is, AD5 sounds more closer to you. (in a good way, not cramped)...


but comfort wise, it beats the hell out of A900... you can wear AD5 for a long long time, feels like having 2 small pillows on your head.
A900 is well-known for its comfortness, but AD5 even beats the A900 comfort-wise.

as a matter of fact, ive been wearing my AD5 much more often than A900.

this is the picture of AD5 i got from a japanese website. (cant remember the address anymore)

 

[dustoff45]

Whoa...beastie boys wear the ad5? (I saw in that past thread), I have been listening to their new cd all day...too cool. I bet the ad5 are guaranteed to bring THE BROUHAHA. Thanks for all the advice, I'm gonna sleep on it.

 

[dj_mocok]

I saw that Beastie Boys' clip too, but couldnt really tell whether its AD5 or other ATH phones...
but if its AD5, he made an excellent choice ...

 

[Darius94523]

I'm the guy selling the 240S + CMoy, and they sound pretty good out of any reasonable source (IE, MP3 Player, CD Player, etc). About using an Audigy for gaming, I have been using stereo headphones to game for a long time, if you have roommates and such, or live in an apartment it may be a PITA to use a surround system. Headphones are also great if you use voice chat and don't need feedback from your speakers.