[soul05]

Hi guys, i'm a new member who wants to get into getting a good headphone system. i was looking into some beyerdynamics...mainly the dt770s. but i was wondering about my sound card. right now i am running on my mb's integrated sound, but i have a turtle beach santa cruz laying around. is it still a good card in todays standards? i was looking into one of the soundblaster x-fi cards, but i am kind of weary since my previous sb cards did not hold up too well.

 

[brainsalad]

check these threads out. Theres a lot more in here

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/la...o-i-do-281599/
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/ex...rd-dac-283015/

 

[soul05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brainsalad /img/forum/go_quote.gif check these threads out. Theres a lot more in here http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/la...o-i-do-281599/ http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/ex...rd-dac-283015/

? i just wanted to know if my sound card was still good....

 

[Zarathustra19]

Your card should be fine, but if you want to upgrade to the x-fi series, I can tell you from experience that the cards are fairly reliable. I've only had minor issues pertaining to ASIO malfunctions which I've subsequently fixed. I have an older card which is no longer produced in the US, the X-FI Platinum, and as far as I know the newer cards haven't experienced any of the problems I did when I had them.

 

[soul05]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zarathustra19 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Your card should be fine, but if you want to upgrade to the x-fi series, I can tell you from experience that the cards are fairly reliable. I've only had minor issues pertaining to ASIO malfunctions which I've subsequently fixed. I have an older card which is no longer produced in the US, the X-FI Platinum, and as far as I know the newer cards haven't experienced any of the problems I did when I had them.

thank you, your post was a lot more helpful

 

[joe_cool]

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz was about the best consumer card available when it was in production. IIRC the Santa Cruz has a 20-bit Crystal DAC which is very good for music.

 

[soul05]

thats good to hear. i mainly use my computer for music and games. from what i heard, tb sc is not good for gaming and there were some issues with it.
i dont think i will be purchasing the beyers anymore, but instead i picked up a pair of grado sr80s and looking to get some senn hd595 soon. hopefully those will satisfy my needs for good cans. i dont know too much about amps yet cuz ive only need lurking here for a few days, but from what i understand, they would only really be needed if i have headphones with high impendance.
right now, my current headphones (sony mdr-7502) make my music sound like there is no bass at all.

 

[joe_cool]

The MDR-7502 don't have much deep bass and the impedance is 24 ohms which will limit the bass when the sound card amplifier circuit uses an output coupling capacitor. I expect the TBSC to do a better job when directly driving a headphone as the output amps are a special type (CMOS IIRC).

 

[cerbie]

Getting something new ain't a bad option, but a free TBSC? That and a decent amp may get you by for some time for your music.

Much like the AV710, it's a card that was still awesome for the price as its availability dwindled.

 

[soul05]

sweet. i bought that card a long time ago for 25 bucks cuz i thought it was a steal since every other place sold it for more than double the price. i am glad it is still pretty good. i expect to receive my sr80s soon and i also bought some hd595s from a forum member today. i will see how my combo will sound before i pull the trigger on an amp.

 

[impressive]

i think your sound card should serve the purpose...
for the time being.. but you know as the technology advances...
new standards will be set...

 

[soul05]

i got my sr80s last week and WOW is all ive got to say. they blow my old phones out of the water and into tiny bits. it sounded great on the integrated sound. i put in the turtle beach last night...and the quality improved 10 fold. improved so much, that i could hear the imperfections in the tracks because of low bitrate. overall i am quite impressed with the sr80s and turtle beach. i will probably keep this setup until i upgrade grados. thanks to everyone who helped.