[kin0kin]

My New Year mission is to find a much better card than my modded 0404. I need something that has much more detail than the 0404. Sound card has higher priority, so lets avoid DAC at the moment.

The last time I posted a thread searching fot a soundcard was all about emu 1212m/1820m. some said that it's a sidestep from 0404, some said that it's an upgrade

which gave me some hard time deciding whether to get the card or not.

Now, is there a card that everybody can agree on that's > the 1212m? I did a search on the rme and there was some arguments about the rme not sounding as good as the 1212m but on one of the meets, many people agreed that the stock rme sounded as good as the modded emu1212.....so is that really true?

and how does it fair against dedicated cdp? and on what level is the card at?

I'm actually looking for something that has plenty of detail, a more refined sound than the 0404.....something that would squeeze more juice out of my phones

btw, <1k if possible....I'm pretty much broke now

 

[Hello]

The rme hdsp 9632 is reputed to be better than a modded emu-0404. And the lynx l22 is reputed to be better than a modded rme hdsp.

 

[kin0kin]

i dunno much about their sound characteristic, haven't read much about them. the lynx is really close to dac-1's price, would it be still worth the bucks if the dac-1 is brought in?

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

Well, the HDSP is the best sounding card I've heard, stock or modded (but I've never used a Lynx), and it is a step up from the EMU's. However, I think you would get better bang for your buck by going to an external DAC. The HDSP will set you back $600 or so, which is a lot compared to what you could get from a DAC at that price point (not to mention the increased portability/flexibility). If you have to stick with a soundcard, I'd think the 9632 and Lynx L22 are the best options.

 

[haclongba]

RME 9632 is a great card,I also owned DAC1 but I live RME over DAC1(maybe only me here

) DAC1 has more detail but RME is warmer,sweeter and give me feel "happy listening" I remember from AVS forums : RME pad 96/8 is better than Lynx and equal theta DAC that cost 7K UK pounds And 9632 is better than 96/8 pad

 

[lan]

I can't imagine stock anything besting a modded unit of some other type. Well at least if the mods truly enhance the power section. The power in the computer is crazy.

Once you go mod, you just can't go back to stock.

 

[crazyfrenchman27]

When you are looking for something significantly better than the EMU1212, it is time to purchase an external DAC.

-Matt

 

[halcyon]

And even when purchasing an external DAC, you want to ask the question:

- does it have a volume pot in the analog out line (decreasing sound quality)?
- does it re-clock input signal or async resample it (well done reclock better than async resample in theory at least)
- is it load tolerant (can it drive an amp or headphone regardless of expected load)?
- opamps in the signal path (some/none/which?)
- I/V conversion done how well
- accuracy of internal clock circuitry
- power filtering (how well done)

With a new sound card, you'll have hard time getting some of the above right, unless some really serious (and bulky) modding is done to the card.

And the most important of all, you need to judge:

- how does it sound like to YOUR ears

 

[kin0kin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haclongba RME 9632 is a great card,I also owned DAC1 but I live RME over DAC1(maybe only me here ) DAC1 has more detail but RME is warmer,sweeter and give me feel "happy listening" I remember from AVS forums : RME pad 96/8 is better than Lynx and equal theta DAC that cost 7K UK pounds And 9632 is better than 96/8 pad

and the DAC has more detail, and lets say "better" than the 9632 should make it cost > 7k GBP. now 900bucks is a real bargain!

actually when I said <$1k I was hoping for something around $500+/- if I had to pay around 700+ for the card, I'd probably get a dac around 1k (dac-1, grace 902.....and etc) but I am not ready to fork out 1k for a dac yet.

how does the 9632 fair against cdps and dacs around 1k? and what are some DACs that sounds just as good if not better than the 9632? Thanks.