[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by device manager You realize that the Zhaolu will bypass the DAC's in your card and the Pro's external box right? This is the main reason that I opted for the vanilla X-Fi. In addition I don't have any other hardware that I needed to connect to the X-Fi, so I can only assume that you do. Team X-Fi

Yeah, I need the 3 digital outptus and 2 digital inputs. Optical input is for sirius satielle radio (recording Howard Stern shows if I am not there to listen to them live.) The coaxail output on the card is for my speakers, and the coaxail output on the breakout box will probably be for the zhaolu.

 

[skyline889]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaGWiRE Yeah, I need the 3 digital outptus and 2 digital inputs. Optical input is for sirius satielle radio (recording Howard Stern shows if I am not there to listen to them live.) The coaxail output on the card is for my speakers, and the coaxail output on the breakout box will probably be for the zhaolu.

Why do you need three coaxial jacks? The Z5500 can use either the standard analog, three mini plug, front/rear/center+sub setup, or a single coaxial or toslink digital input, all of which are fed into the remote control center. I used to have these.

 

[Loftprojection]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaGWiRE I have trouble believing it'de make that big of a difference (i.e. the crappy you describe it as) even if that is the case.

Take my words lightly JaGWire. My words are an exageration and a bit sarcastic! Yes the HagUSB is giving me a better sound quality over a coax digital out then the Audigy 2zs was giving me over an optical digital out. However the "better" is not nigth and day or crappy in any way!

 

[strid3r]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyline889 So no one knows where this information is coming from? If someone could provide a reliable link I would really appreciate it.

First google hit:
http://www25.big.or.jp/~jam/audiocard/audigy/

The DSP on the Audigy 1 and 2 series both resample to 48khz. This can be somewhat remedied by using software to resample (Foobar's built-in resampler for example). I personally own the Audigy 2 ZS and found that resampling in Foobar definitely helped. Without it, I found there was some distortion in music, most notably on string instruments.

 

[Patrick82]

I have a problem hearing a difference between sources. It started with Audigy2 VS EMU0404 where I couldn't hear a difference. After upgrading to DAC-1 I finally heard a noticeable difference. Upgrading to Cary 303/300 there was another "significant" difference again.
After I tweaked my system with power conditioning and isolation I can't hear a difference between DAC1 and Cary 303/300 anymore! The DAC1 is that good.

I can hear a huge difference between amps but not sources. Even 192 kbps mp3 sounds good!

 

[Alu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyline889 I would appreciate it if you show me where you got this information from.

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showp...25&postcount=3

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...igy+upsampling

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showp...7&postcount=23

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showp...4&postcount=12

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alu http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showp...25&postcount=3 http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...igy+upsampling http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showp...7&postcount=23 http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showp...4&postcount=12

Any proof the x-fi doesn't do the same?

 

[Mrs. Hyde]

When you enable "Bitmatched Playback" in Audio Creation Mode it doesn't resample.

A couple of weeks ago I downloaded udial.wav - http://sjeng.org/ftp/work/udial.wav, which when played back without resampling, just gives you some telephone dialtones, without any distortion. Apparently when played back with resampling, there should be some weird distortion.

Now, I've tried it with Bitmatched Playback enabled and the wavfile just sounds like som dialtones, no distortion.

Then I tried it with Bitmatched Playback unchecked, but still with sampling rate of 44,1 khz. Then I get the same dialtones, but only the first 3 tones are loud, the following ones are subdued. No other distortion though. Same when I set the sampling rate to 48 khz.

My conclusions:

When set to Bitmatched Playback, the X-Fi's output really is bitperfect.

That the X-Fi always resamples when Bitmatched Playback is not enabled.

The X-Fi's resampling is supposed to be inaudible to human ears, but it still gets "caught" by udial.wav.


Question:
Does anybody have an opinion on the nature of the distortion, I mean the fact that some tones are subdued, but that there aren't any "weird sounds" as others have reported.

WARNING!: DON'T PLAY UDIAL.WAV AT LOUD VOLUME, THERE IS A VERY LOUD 19 KHZ TONE AT THE END OF THE FILE THAT COULD POSSIBLY HARM YOUR EARS AND/OR YOUR LOUDSPEAKERS, EVEN WHEN YOU CAN'T HEAR IT

 

[tourmaline]

ehmm, my experience is that there is a significant difference bewteen sources; a 2000 dollar sounds significant better then a 500 euro sorce, wich lacks, detail, musicality and body! Difference between 2000 and up are getting smaller and smaller, indeed. Quote:

Originally Posted by bahamaman I'm voting for number 2.

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrs. Hyde When you enable "Bitmatched Playback" in Audio Creation Mode it doesn't resample. A couple of weeks ago I downloaded udial.wav - http://sjeng.org/ftp/work/udial.wav, which when played back without resampling, just gives you some telephone dialtones, without any distortion. Apparently when played back with resampling, there should be some weird distortion. Now, I've tried it with Bitmatched Playback enabled and the wavfile just sounds like som dialtones, no distortion. Then I tried it with Bitmatched Playback unchecked, but still with sampling rate of 44,1 khz. Then I get the same dialtones, but only the first 3 tones are loud, the following ones are subdued. No other distortion though. Same when I set the sampling rate to 48 khz. My conclusions: When set to Bitmatched Playback, the X-Fi's output really is bitperfect. That the X-Fi always resamples when Bitmatched Playback is not enabled. The X-Fi's resampling is supposed to be inaudible to human ears, but it still gets "caught" by udial.wav. Question: Does anybody have an opinion on the nature of the distortion, I mean the fact that some tones are subdued, but that there aren't any "weird sounds" as others have reported. WARNING!: DON'T PLAY UDIAL.WAV AT LOUD VOLUME, THERE IS A VERY LOUD 19 KHZ TONE AT THE END OF THE FILE THAT COULD POSSIBLY HARM YOUR EARS AND/OR YOUR LOUDSPEAKERS, EVEN WHEN YOU CAN'T HEAR IT

Wow, that's really interesting. Do you have to be in audio creation mode for bit perfect though?

 

[Mrs. Hyde]

Quote:

Wow, that's really interesting. Do you have to be in audio creation mode for bit perfect though?

Yes

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrs. Hyde Yes

You also can't record in entertainment mode if you have say somethign connected to optical in, correct?

And not sure if I asked this before, but if I was to hook something up to optical in, and have a dac on optical out, can I route optical in to optical out without having it get converted to analogue so the DAC converts the digital signal to binary?

 

[Mrs. Hyde]

Wouldn't know, don't care. Sorry

 

[JaGWiRE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrs. Hyde Wouldn't know, don't care. Sorry

no problem, sorry for thread jack

.

 

[dknightd]

Sounds like you may have hit your point of dimishing returns. Or, maybe the Dac1 is just overpriced and now out of date. I haven't tried your soundcard, maybe it really is as good as the dac1. (I'm a mac guy . . . )

I'm assume you have the 44.1 thing sorted out. If your sound card upsampled everything then You might not hear a difference. So lets assume you are
really sending 44.1 to both your sound card, and the dac1.

It could be your amp - maybe the sudgen introduces it's own character that
makes all decent sources sound the same.
It could also be the headphones. Sometimes the differences in dacs are
hard to hear over headphones. Have you tried listening on your speakers?
Soundstaging differences seem to be easier to pick up on speakers.

There is no doubt in my mind that quality Dacs today have smaller difference than was the case years ago.

Bottom line, if you are happy with the cheaper solution then sell the expensive one, quick before others catch on.