[ashish]

Which of these two is a better source for headphones ( Grado Sr 60 ), both in terms of quality as well as power ?

Also overall which is a better sound card of the two ?

And if the primary usage of the soundcard is for mp3 playback, is it justified to go for higher quality soundcards like Audiophile2496 or Terratec DMX 6Fire ?

 

[Masz]

If my experience with the Audiophile2496 is anything to go, there is a difference even if you use MP3 as your source. When using a lower end soundcard, I actually prefer the lower ripped MP3s. There was hardly any difference with the higher ripped MP3s. If anything the sound was less crispy and actually sounded a bit bland. With a higher end soundcard, there is a noticeable difference between those two MP3s. The lower ripped MP3s sounded more harsh but not much different when played from the lower end soundcard. The higher ripped MP3s on the other hand gain a very noticeable improvement. I am greatly impressed and it actually approach the quality of an actual CD.

Hope this helps. Again, these are my ears so others may hear differently.

 

[Audio-Me]

The Santa Cruz isn't much of an improvement over sound blaster live IMO, I'd give the upper edge to the GTXP. If all you're going to listen to are mp3s, I don't recommend using a pro sound card.

 

[andrzejpw]

Thing, the SC and the GTXP are the same card(same chipset). The SC has better driver support, but the GTXP has a breakout box. Your choice.

 

[Solude]

I actually had a GTXP before I got my Live! Plat. It was 100% garbage, awful sound quality, no digital mixing(all I wanted), poor driver suupport... By comparison the Live! was incredible. Given the Live! isn't incredible should give you an idea of just how bad the GTXP is. Never tried the SC though. Now the Midiman DiO2496 is something else at a cost of about $180US(300CAN) street.

Anyway since I bothered to install the Live! added software it's pretty good. It still performs the media conversion I need optioncal to coax, it still mixes my mega changers digital feed with the game sounds and now that I dug you can completely dettach the Live! from the signal and act as a pass through doing nothing more than media conversion and sending it on its way to the DAC at 44KHz.

Sounds pretty minor but it means that during email, internet... I can listen to music without the Live! acting on the signal(noticable increase in decay, less compression) but when playing games I can reenable the mix (upsample to 48KHz) for a slight loss in CD info but be able to play music while in game where a slight loss isn't really important since the main event is the game and its sounds.

Solude

 

[Satori]

I would suggest you check out http://www.3dsoundsurge.com

I've tried the Acoustic Edge, Audigy, CMI8738, Game Theater XP, and Santa Cruz, and I would have to say the Santa Cruz is my favorite. The Acoustic Edge probably sounded a little better but their driver support was horrible(pops and crackles occasionally). The Game Theater and Santa Cruz were about the same but the breakout box is pretty handy. The Audigy just plain sucked for music, only better than the onboard CMI 8738.

 

[Atomicarnage]

Definitly the Santa Cruz when it comes to headphone audio. That card has the best headphone capability of them all. Plus it's really cheap right now.

 

[Possum]

I felt the Santa Cruz _was_ a noticeable step up from the Live!. I used headphones about 95% of the time when I switched from a Live! to a Santa Cruz last winter, and I immediately noticed the Santa Cruz had better sound and noise levels.

 

[markjia]

I say the Audiophile 2496 is a substantial improvement over the Live, even for MP3s. I haven't heard the santa cruz, so I can't really comment there.