[Corak]

Recently I purchased the HD590 from Sennheiser. I can return them within the next 12 days for a full refund so I need to make a decision rather quickly.
I'm mainly interested in Sennheiser since I can get them rather cheap in Germany.
I'm using these with my Creative Audigy (Line-Out set to 2 speakers) in the PC. Main areas of interest: Games, mp3, DVD. Comfort is a major issue of course.

Before these I had the old Sony MDR-CD470.

The HD590 might need a little more burn-in to improve but so far I have big trouble hearing difference between the old Sony and these new 590. These sure are nice phones but this sole upgrade certainly didn't provide me with night&day differences.
My old phones obviously were "good enough" for my source.
I did let others audition both phones on my system and they couldn't make out much difference either. The biggest difference I notice is the open design of the HD590 which I like a lot.
I like the volume set to a level where I can still talk to others comfortably.

My upgrade goal: reach sound quality on the PC that old bad encoded mp3s are not bearable to hear anymore (= good encoded mp3s should improve a lot). I'd like to be able to hear the difference for once in a big way. I don't need the ultimate in sound experience but I'd like to reach a very high level.

I'm pretty sure my computer is the bottleneck here (source). I will try to audition both phones on higher-quality hi-fi systems if I get the chance.
I don't want to spend money when the difference is only subtle.

I'm now wondering what single other upgrade would benefit me most?

A) Swap audigy for e.g. a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz? I know I will lose game sound functionality here. I'm of course reluctant to do so but will do so if the music difference is really worth it (not subtle!).
I read in this forum the HD590 would work great with the Cruz without an amp. If the HD590 + Cruz combo gives me the quality I'm looking for... great!

I could of course try to simply add the Cruz or maybe an Audiophile2496 additonally to the Audigy and then use the Audigy for Games and the other card for all the rest.

B) Get an amp like e.g. Porta Corda or try to build one (zero experience here however) like the cmoy-amp. I only wonder if it's worth to amplify the signal of the audigy?
If I were to purchase an amp I think it might be a good idea to upgrade to the HD600. I don't mind the price difference between the HD590 and HD600 much.

C) Buy a DAC like ART DI/O DAC to improve the Audigy

D) combine any of the above


Thanks for any input!

 

[Audio-Me]

Get an Audiophile 2496, keep the Audigy if you MUST have dumb 3D sound API.

 

[Corak]

Quote:

Originally posted by Audio&Me Get an Audiophile 2496, keep the Audigy if you MUST have dumb 3D sound API.

I found the Audiophile locally for $229 here. So it's more expensive than the HD590.

This might really be a good solution though. If I can use the HD590 with the audiophile without the need for an amp that is. I will have to research this better but it seems I can even digitally connect the Audigy to the Audiophile which would also increase it's sound by leveraging it's superior DAC.

This could be the perfect setup for a game/music/dvd PC.

 

[Audio-Me]

crap, forgot to mention you need an amp for use with the Audiophile 2496. Contact JMT for a CHA-47 or CMOY, they're dirt cheap, much under $100.

 

[r4z0r]

Or you could try Terratec's DMX 6 Fire 24/96 which gives you Audiophile 2496 (if not slightly better) sound quality, plus you get support for 3D gaming APIs (EAX, D3D, etc). The card comes with a headphone amp built into the break out box although nobody seem to have had any experience with it.

 

[Corak]

Quote:

Originally posted by r4z0r Or you could try Terratec's DMX 6 Fire 24/96 which gives you Audiophile 2496 (if not slightly better) sound quality, plus you get support for 3D gaming APIs (EAX, D3D, etc). The card comes with a headphone amp built into the break out box although nobody seem to have had any experience with it.

I have never heard of this card before. I could get this card even cheaper than the Audiophile 2496 for ~$196.
Does it come with SPDIF connectors? I would still prefer to keep the Audigy for games since I have no good experiences with games and Terratec in the past.
What are the differences to the Audiophile2496? You make it sound as if this card has only advantages.

Audiophile2496+Amp+GameCompatibility=DMX 6 Fire 24/96 sounds almost too good to be true.

 

[Audio-Me]

keiso had some driver issues with winXP but thought it sounded great. grinch has one, but too big of a bum to install it. The 6Fire has similar design and parts as the sound card I use, Terratec EWS88 MT. Yes it comes with both toslink and coaxial spdif i/o.

 

[r4z0r]

Corak, here is a link to the DMX 6 fire. Check it out if you want more info on the card.

Btw, you mentioned that you could get the card for under $200, where did you get this price?

 

[Corak]

Quote:

Originally posted by r4z0r Corak, here is a link to the DMX 6 fire. Check it out if you want more info on the card. Btw, you mentioned that you could get the card for under $200, where did you get this price?

Thanks. Hmm 60mW headphone output should be enough to drive the HD590 to their full potential I guess.
I really wonder how many mW are needed to drive them to their full potential anyway.

This is converted from Euro. I just checked some local shop:
http://www.nb-computer.de/ (It's located in Germany, Munich)

I'm only a bit worried about Terratec future driver support. Terratec is not really known for being good in this. I however only want to use this 2nd card for mp3, cdaudio and DVD. I will continue to use the Audigy for Games.

If I connect the Audigy to this DMX Fire 6 I guess I would still benefit from the better DAC even when using the Audigy for games? (same applied to the Audiophile2496).

So if I want to go this route I can either:
A) get Audiophile2496 + Amp (at least $350)
B) get Terratec DMX 6 Fire ($200)

Seems option B) is the better deal. If only there were more reviews on this card.

 

[r4z0r]

I wish there are more reviews on the DMX 6 Fire as well. Seems like Tom's Hardware is the only place with a detailed review right now.

 

[Audio-Me]

I think you should get Terratec EWX 24/96 with JMT CMOY or CHA-47 and Outlaw cables.

 

[Corak]

Quote:

Originally posted by Audio&Me I think you should get Terratec EWX 24/96 with JMT CMOY or CHA-47 and Outlaw cables.

Hmm another choice. The EWX 24/96 is a lot cheaper than the DMX 6 Fire. It's about ~$150 here.

This is not very encouraging for the DMX 6 Fire:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=dm...l.ac.uk&rnum=2

The EWX seems to make more sense for me because I have no interest in recording anything so I won't need that big tray with tons of connectors which comes with the DMX 6 Fire.

But yeah it seems I will need an amp again with the EWX.
Is there any cheap amp out there which can connect to a external power supply? I don't need anything portable. I'd like to avoid to buy new batteries every couple of days.
But would the EWX drive the HD590 in the same way the Audigy does? Only buying the EWX for now should make a big difference then?

 

[Audio-Me]

audigy sucks, i vote you burn that thing. EWX should be huge improvement.
JMT can put in a wallwart input (you can use radioshack ac-dc adapter) into one of his amps.

 

[Corak]

Anyone ever heard anything about this card?

http://www.marian.de/english/marc2.htm

I'm very reluctant to buy Terratec because their driver support sucks. I heard only good stuff about the Marc 2 so far. It's a little bit more expensive as the EWX but noch much it seems.

I also heard that the output has very low Ohm values so it might be suited very well for direct connect of a Sennheiser like the HD590.

Oh soo many choices. But I'm really only interested in a music only card to accompany my Audigy.

 

[Audio-Me]

3d api sucks, trash that pos audigy, stick with hi-fi stereo instead of turd pseudo surround

i've had no driver issues with my terratec. I recommend you not use XP, XP ****ing blows IMO.