Revo or Audiophile?
Feb 22, 2004 at 8:08 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 16

Jigglybootch

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Given that I have very little money to work with, and won't be getting more any time soon, as far as my sound card upgrade is concerned, I'm looking at either the Revolution 7.1 or the Audiophile USB. Now, let's bear in mind, I'm upgrading from an Audigy 2 ZS. How much of an upgrade would either of these be from the aforementioned Audigy 2? Also, is there any significant difference between the sound quality of the Revo and the Audiophile?
 
Feb 22, 2004 at 9:33 PM Post #2 of 16
Not speaking from experience but only relaying what others have said, both of those should be better than your Audigy 2 ZS, and the Audiophile USB is supposed to be better than the Revo.

Have you also considered Sonica, Sonica Theater, Delta 410, Audiophile 2496, and the Terratec EWX?
 
Feb 22, 2004 at 10:06 PM Post #3 of 16
I haven't considered any of those, and frankly I'd care not to, because the more options I consider, the harder it's going to be to choose, and it'll get to the point where I'll never actually upgrade, but just perpetually consider my upgrade path.

The Revo got my consideration because I've heard so many good things about it from so many different sources. The Audiophile USB gets my consideration because it's external and not made by Creative Labs.

One question, though. I've seen the firewire version Audiophile in recent days, and I was wondering if there's any real difference between them other than the interface that they use to connect to the PC.

580smile.gif
 
Feb 22, 2004 at 10:33 PM Post #6 of 16
Quote:

Originally posted by Jigglybootch
One question, though. I've seen the firewire version Audiophile in recent days, and I was wondering if there's any real difference between them other than the interface that they use to connect to the PC.


Firewire has more bandwidth so you'll be able to use more channels at once. I don't know if the insides are that much different.

--Lan
 
Feb 23, 2004 at 12:33 AM Post #8 of 16
Quote:

Originally posted by Jigglybootch
One question, though. I've seen the firewire version Audiophile in recent days, and I was wondering if there's any real difference between them other than the interface that they use to connect to the PC.

580smile.gif


If you do choose to go with the Audiophile, I would steer clear of the firewire version unless you have a Mac. This isn't because I think firewire is bad, but the product is brand new (meaning there will probably be driver issues) and is clearly targetting Mac owners (check out the software for the device).

If you have a PC, go with USB, at the very least because the USB Audiophile product (and more importantly, its drivers) is already well-tested by its user base.

I have a Delta 1010 and am quite happy with it, but haven't heard any of these other products, so I defer to others on the comparison. I can tell you that from the time I bought my Delta to the time the drivers were stable was many many months. I'm not saying that M-Audio has this lag now (or that it is so uncommon), but it was a problem for me.

Cheers!
 
Feb 23, 2004 at 12:48 AM Post #9 of 16
I have the Audiophile USB and revo.

If those are your only two options, get the Audiophile USB + Stancor Sta-5790 power supply and don't look back. This combination is _much_ better than the revo (not to mention the ease of use allowed by RCA jacks + a 1/4" headphone jack and an external housing). More power, more definition across the board, assuming you're using decent headphones. No comparison at all to the audigy1/kx i've listened to, though I haven't heard the 2.

With the Stancor, even the headphone out on the Audiophile sounds very good (for a built-in headphone out). Works like a dream with my 240s. Very punchy and clean (again, this is relative of course) with the AKG's.

For what little it may be worth, I far and away prefer the AP USB/Stancor (but definately not the revo) to my Rotel RCD950 with the same format/cable/amp/headphone combination. But then, I like the sound of m-audio cards quite a bit.
 
Feb 23, 2004 at 12:55 AM Post #10 of 16
Quote:

Originally posted by Jigglybootch
I haven't considered any of those, and frankly I'd care not to, because the more options I consider, the harder it's going to be to choose, and it'll get to the point where I'll never actually upgrade, but just perpetually consider my upgrade path.

The Revo got my consideration because I've heard so many good things about it from so many different sources. The Audiophile USB gets my consideration because it's external and not made by Creative Labs.


Well, none of the ones I mentioned are made by Creative labs, and things like the Sonica and Sonica Theatre are also external, as well as much cheaper than the audiophile USB. Basically, the stuff I listed is all $60 - $100, so if budget is important to you, something like the Terratec EWX at $99 street (JDSound) will be "better" than the audiophile USB because it's comparable in terms of sound but noticeably cheaper. And better than the Revo at the same price.
 
Feb 23, 2004 at 1:25 AM Post #11 of 16
Quote:

Originally posted by pkasting
will be "better" than the audiophile USB because it's comparable in terms of sound but noticeably cheaper.


Isn't it sacrilege on this site to qualify the term "better" with price/performance?
wink.gif


Shame on you!
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Feb 23, 2004 at 3:31 AM Post #13 of 16
only place i could find it was Allied Electronics.

EDIT: the 5790's stock# on Allied is 928-9919, if ya need it.

mind you, it is not a "plug and play" solution. the plug from the stock PSU must be spliced with that of the Stancor supply. I soldered mine, then just put electrical tape over the two connections...took like 5 minutes, tops. You could always just twist the wires together then tape over them if you don't want to solder.

unfortunately, i modded the PSU right away and didn't listen to the stock AP USB first. my only comparisons have been to the revo.

for more info on the stancor/AP usb, run a search. BlessingX and one or two others who did this well before me have posted thoughts on the sound before and after, if you're curious.
 
Feb 23, 2004 at 3:42 AM Post #15 of 16

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