[P.F. Jo]

Hey guys..

I was wondering about your opinion - I Have a Portable player like most of us do, a Zen Vision M.

I also have a computer, again as most of us do, With an onboard sound card.

Now, I Really don't feel like buying a sound card as the 100-200$ Ones just not worth it [drivers are usually bad and stuff like this], and the ones above this price tag are just a too big investment in my opinion...

However today I thought about this idea; simply plug the USB cable from my ZVM into my PC for fast transferring of songs on the fly[Like you could do with your winamp or foobar] and also so it won't run out of battery [it doesn't charge it only powers it once the battery is full], and plug my ZVM into the receiver I've got instead of the PC using its line out...

Technically, it should sound better than my onboard sound card or not? I will probably attempt to do head-to-head comparsion tomorrow... this just seems like a pretty good idea for those of us who doesn't have a high-end sound card and doesn't want to invest much in one.

Thanks.

 

[lini]

Quote:

Originally Posted by P.F. Jo /img/forum/go_quote.gif (...) Technically, it should sound better than my onboard sound card or not? (...)

Why would it? A lot of portables measure and sound even worse than your usual onboard sound implementation. Of course, it's still worth a try whether your portable sounds better than the onboard sound of your computer - but I wouldn't place high bets on it, if I was you...

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[P.F. Jo]

Well, I supposed it should because its a small device made mainly for audio playing.... and its not exactly a low budget gadget either, much less than my onboard sound card that is

.

Thanks

-Jo

 

[Penchum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by P.F. Jo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well, I supposed it should because its a small device made mainly for audio playing.... and its not exactly a low budget gadget either, much less than my onboard sound card that is . Thanks -Jo

If you computer has built-in audio like the old AC97 types, then your ZVM will smoke it for sure. There are so many possiblities for built-in audio, you are going to need to test them anyway. I have a Creative X-FI extrememusic sound card in my PC. They are getting cheap these days! Anyway, it sounds pretty good through my stereo system. It would be a fairly inexpensive upgrade to get one yourself. Newegg has X-FI extreme audio's for $65.
Have a good one!

 

[P.F. Jo]

Well as I am a not a US Resident Newegg is not an option.

Also, I've had many creative soundcards and their drivers gave me a whole lot of troubles and sometimes it wouldn't even recognize the cards so no more creative, M-Audio was my next option as their revolution 5.1 isn't so exp but really I didn't want to go through all the troubles of installing an external soundcard just for audio..

The whole idea of this thread is to get to the point whether a portable device for audio like the ZVM, or Ipod with IMod or Rockbox [or whatever mods you people do to your ipods] sounds better than the popular AC97' [realteks HD soundcards etc too] soundcards, and just use them as a dedicated source of audio instead of the PC [which is probably the more popular audio source for the lot]

Regards,

-Jo

 

[oicdn]

Don't buy a "soundcard" Get something external, like an external DAC. Even though this is essentially an external SC, you don't have to fidget with anything,a nd it'll sound MUCH MUCH better.

 

[P.F. Jo]

and it will cost... much much more

this whole idea was just to point out a cheaper alternative for a high-end soundcard, as most of us have usually do have a good portable player..

-Jo

 

[P.F. Jo]

Just an update:

I've tried running a head to head comparsion of my pc vs my zvm however its hard as memory is not my strong side and I have to connect/disconnect each device as they are both being connected to the same reciever with the same cable [If I knew where to get or how to make a double ended cable (two 3.5mm jacks on one side, and on the other a plain regular RCA) it would've been easier.


Anyhow, from what I can notice, the ZVM sounds better on some songs, the highs are clearer and the soundstage is less muffled [Background instruments like snares become sharper somewhat] - I cannot tell you by how many %'s though, not yet anyhow. - oh on the other side it seems [and it makes sense after all] that the PC's lineout has a bit of a louder signal, by a few dBs at most however...

I've tried songs with 320KB/ps VBR and 192KB/ps CBR [the most popular nowdays in our portable players] - I'll try FLAC (PC) VS Decompressed FLAC [WAV] on my Zen and tell you how it comes through.

If anyone else would like to try and share his thoughts that'd be pretty great

-Jo

 

[khbaur330162]

My Macbook smokes my H320 in all regards. The iRiver sounds muffled and undetailed after direct comparison, not to mention the Macbook can drive my ATH-2's with a lot more authority (although not much in regards to, say, my Beta22).

 

[P.F. Jo]

Hmm.. Well I was mainly talking about the source [Line out, Not headphone jack] + some amp [or receiver for speakers and not headphones, Like I use right now] - an internal amplifier of a portable player is never really great.....

Its obvious that the computer has better output compared to a headphone jack of a portable, however if you use both as line outs for external amplifier/receiver then the portable might prove as a better source, this is what this thread is about

.

However thanks for your feedback =)

Do share your thoughts people