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PCI Sound Card For Headphones Anyone?

Mar 25, 2005 at 5:55 PM Post #16 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by Jmmmmm
are there any brick and mortars that sell the emu0404 in the US?


CompUSA has the 0404 at stores (surprisingly) for the regular $100 price. Here check your local store's zip code for inventory.
 
Mar 25, 2005 at 6:33 PM Post #17 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by Distroyed
Ignorant, and ignorant. Clearly, neither of you have ever actually tried the cards without an amp, because if you did you'd know that they can drive high impedance cans (like the 650 for example) completely fine without an amp. The difference in quality with an amp is minimal (I compared it to a Benchmark Dac-1, in case you were wondering). But they struggle with lower impedance cans.

Please dont give advice when you're unqualified to do so.

Ignore these plebians, mattp; we know the way because we've actually walked the path!

But the emu cards are only good for gaming if you dont mind loosing EAX. If you really need it, you're stuck with a pretty small selection (though rumor has it the Audigy4 sounds good).

I drive my 580's straight out of my 0404, and I dont miss my Benchmark Dac-1 a bit. The only time you'll want an amp is if you listen to your music at unsafe volumes.



The Benchmark DAC-1 is not known for its headphone amplifier section, it is a bad comparisson, the headphone amp on the DAC-1 is nothing to write home about. I have tried my HD580s straight out of my 1212m, and I prefer them amped, most people do, these forums are not about tricking people out of their money.

Did you get rid of your DAC-1 because you didn't like the sound vs the 0404? I have never heard the DAC-1 myself, but I was considering purchasing one sometime down the road possibly as next step in source upgrade, did you try driving your cans from the XLR balanced outputs as recommended here?
 
Mar 25, 2005 at 6:53 PM Post #18 of 33
EMU cards have high output impedance (meant for line level anyway), not optimal for most headphones. Depending on headphones they may go loud enough (my HD555 does), but you might have some peaks and valleys in your frequency response (dependant on headphone impedance throughout the 20-20k range).
 
Mar 25, 2005 at 11:19 PM Post #20 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by Orthogonal
How exactly does the 1212m work exactly. There are 2 cards? One plugs in the PCI slot and the other goes where? does the other (daughter) card just go in any open slot you have. Thanks


The second card plugs into a free pci slot, but does not actually plug into the motherboard, it must be one slot lower than the other card, they connect to each other via a short ide cable.
 
Mar 25, 2005 at 11:24 PM Post #21 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by Orthogonal
How exactly does the 1212m work exactly. There are 2 cards? One plugs in the PCI slot and the other goes where? does the other (daughter) card just go in any open slot you have. Thanks


You got it. It takes up two PCI slots.
 
Mar 25, 2005 at 11:25 PM Post #22 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by ender
As for purchasing an amp, I really am interested, but not necessarily for the 0404 alone. I would be willing to shell $300; definitely no more than $500 and I certainly have no qualms with paying less than the former figure! If I were to get an amp, it would be my only one, so my preference would tend towards portable. Alu, if you or anyone else has any suggestions for a good all-around amp that renders the best bang-for-the-buck and is portable, I am all ears.


Ray Samuels' SR-71. Get it and be happy. Portable and amazing quality and right smack dab in the middle of your budget.
There is no other choice.
 
Mar 25, 2005 at 11:50 PM Post #23 of 33
One last question about the 1212m.
It appears that you can't connect heaphones to them directly. Do you need to have it go to an external DAC or have some other sort of converter so you can use a stereo jack? Thanks
 
Mar 26, 2005 at 12:42 AM Post #24 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by Asmo
The Benchmark DAC-1 is not known for its headphone amplifier section, it is a bad comparisson, the headphone amp on the DAC-1 is nothing to write home about. I have tried my HD580s straight out of my 1212m, and I prefer them amped, most people do, these forums are not about tricking people out of their money.

Did you get rid of your DAC-1 because you didn't like the sound vs the 0404? I have never heard the DAC-1 myself, but I was considering purchasing one sometime down the road possibly as next step in source upgrade, did you try driving your cans from the XLR balanced outputs as recommended here?



ACtually, the Dac-1's headphone amp is well respected on this site by its owners. Iron Dreamer, Nealpeart, Edwood, et al can attest to this.

I ditched my Dac 1 because I didnt find the extra 5% improvement to be worth the $1000 price tag. I also tried the balanced XLR output with my 650's. Well many rave about how it brings that line of cans alive - which it does - it does so with a decrease of clarity and a near complete loss of control of the bass. I can understand how the bass wouldnt be a complaint on say rock or pop music, but for more complex music that demands the accuracy, that mod destroys it.

Bottom line, the 0404 is probably the best $90 anyone can spend on a source. It marks the point of negative return, after which a more pure/proper (aka insane) level of audiophilia begins.
 
Mar 26, 2005 at 1:29 AM Post #25 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by Distroyed
ACtually, the Dac-1's headphone amp is well respected on this site by its owners. Iron Dreamer, Nealpeart, Edwood, et al can attest to this.

I ditched my Dac 1 because I didnt find the extra 5% improvement to be worth the $1000 price tag. I also tried the balanced XLR output with my 650's. Well many rave about how it brings that line of cans alive - which it does - it does so with a decrease of clarity and a near complete loss of control of the bass. I can understand how the bass wouldnt be a complaint on say rock or pop music, but for more complex music that demands the accuracy, that mod destroys it.

Bottom line, the 0404 is probably the best $90 anyone can spend on a source. It marks the point of negative return, after which a more pure/proper (aka insane) level of audiophilia begins.


Thats interesting, some seem to really like the balanced XLR outputs. I agree, the e-mu soundcards are amazing source value, spending $1000 is a big difference, 10x the price for 5% improvement is not worth it to many. We will all come to a point where we want to improve our gear but the cost becaomes astronomical to get a good increase in SQ. As far as the headphone output on the dac1, I read it was regarded as on par or slightly worse than your average PPA headphone amplifier, which is certainly no slouch for a headphone amp, but not really considered high end.

Oh well, I still recommend a headphone amp for any soundcard, just adds more control and focus to the music, not just about volume.
 
Mar 26, 2005 at 3:09 AM Post #26 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by Orthogonal
One last question about the 1212m.
It appears that you can't connect heaphones to them directly. Do you need to have it go to an external DAC or have some other sort of converter so you can use a stereo jack? Thanks


I suppose you could connect it directly getting the right mix of adapters. Somehow you'd have to go from the Emu's two mono 1/4" female outs to a single stereo 1/4". It can be done. I confess I haven't done it. I go to an amp. Someone on this thread said that it sounded fine without an amp. I'll get another adapter and try it as I am skeptical that it would sound okay, but it can be done.
 
Mar 26, 2005 at 3:02 PM Post #27 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by Asmo
The second card plugs into a free pci slot, but does not actually plug into the motherboard, it must be one slot lower than the other card, they connect to each other via a short ide cable.


If your careful with the cable, you can fit the daughter card above the main card - it's how I'm doing it at the moment.
 
Mar 26, 2005 at 6:14 PM Post #28 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by DevilDog
I suppose you could connect it directly getting the right mix of adapters. Somehow you'd have to go from the Emu's two mono 1/4" female outs to a single stereo 1/4". It can be done. I confess I haven't done it. I go to an amp. Someone on this thread said that it sounded fine without an amp. I'll get another adapter and try it as I am skeptical that it would sound okay, but it can be done.


So, something like this?

http://www.audiogear.com/cgi-bin/sho...&preadd=action
 
Mar 26, 2005 at 7:38 PM Post #29 of 33
Quote:

Originally Posted by Orthogonal
So, something like this?


You're on the right track but I believe that is a mono adapter. You want stereo, mono RCA to stereo 1/4".
 
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