[jrisles]

Hi Guys

I have an Ori Zhaoulu DAC on its way & am researching what soundcard i should puchase to replace my Audigy 2 Soundcard (which i might add i thought sounded decent to me but it is amazing how technology "moves on" when u r busy doing other things, Audigy 2 is as they say ... "so yesterday). I do not currently own an external DAC & after doing my research on this forum i decided to give the Ori Zhaoulu a whirl.

From my readings on this forum it would appear that as long as the o/p of the sc is "bit perfect" then it really doesn't matter whether i purchase a X-Fi, E-UM1212 (or 0404) or a Juli@ other than the choice of interface or whether or not i play games due to the fact that the feed will be into an external DAC?

On that score i don't mind playing the occassional game so i am thinking that the X-Fi is probably a good way to go given that so many people on here mention that it is a great card for game players when compared to the other two? Is this logic correct or am i missing something here? It would seem that if i was not going to use an external DAC & indeed rely on the soundcards DAC to listen to music then this would be a different story? The type of card then becomes "more important"?

Anyone care to comment on this?

regards
Jeff

 

[oicdn]

It's like the debate "You can have a $5 CDP with a good DAC and it sounds the same as a any high end CDP..."

In theory, it's a digital signal, so when it gets converted, theoretically, there should be no difference in sound....

 

[kin0kin]

Unfortunately, in practical that is not the case. I have tested compared playing back a CD from a walmart DVDp Coax out -> benchmark DAC-1 VS direct play back from my pc dvdrom and sound card (1212m) and the result was the DVDP -> benchmark sounded like crap, so significant that anybody would be able to tell the difference.

 

[Ahriman4891]

IIRC some cheap(er) CDPs/soundcards alter the bitstream, so you don't actually get bit-perfect digital signal. AFAIK X-fi does bit-perfect output.

 

[ShadowVlican]

for transports, once you have BIT-PERFECT output... the only thing left for audiophiles to complain is JITTER

it's said a great DAC handles jitter better than a lesser DAC

 

[vYu223]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShadowVlican /img/forum/go_quote.gif for transports, once you have BIT-PERFECT output... the only thing left for audiophiles to complain is JITTER it's said a great DAC handles jitter better than a lesser DAC

What about the noise from the indunctance of a coaxial cable (if you're not using optic fiber)?

 

[pheonix991]

2 questions, I think are pretty on topic.

1. The Audigy zs2 is not bit perfect right?
2. Does fiber optic have jitter?

 

[ShadowVlican]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vYu223 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What about the noise from the indunctance of a coaxial cable (if you're not using optic fiber)?

gonna have to ask an engineer to answer that one

Quote:

Originally Posted by pheonix991 /img/forum/go_quote.gif 2 questions, I think are pretty on topic. 1. The Audigy zs2 is not bit perfect right? 2. Does fiber optic have jitter?

1. that's right, no bit-perfect
2. all digital connections are prone to jitter, though don't make too much of a deal about it

 

[nspindel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShadowVlican /img/forum/go_quote.gif gonna have to ask an engineer to answer that one 1. that's right, no bit-perfect 2. all digital connections are prone to jitter, though don't make too much of a deal about it

I have an Audigy ZS 2 PCMCIA for my laptop. I noticed that the Creative Audio Console software has a tab called 'Bit Accurate' with a check box that you can enable called 'Enable Bit Accurate Playback'. When I enable this checkbox and combine with Foobar Kernal Streaming, all volume control on the PC is disabled, and it also sounds a whole lot better.

Are you sure the ZS is not capable of bit perfect without any resampling?

 

[SayNoToPistons]

Belive me. I was in the same boat as you.

I brought a Zhaolu D2C a few months ago and i was using my Audigy 2 ZS' coaxial out. Sure it was better than coming straight from the AUdigy 2 zS, but i decided to blow some money for myself on a Emu-1212M. Well now i have great digital (a DIY Gepco 75 OHM TRIAXIAL cable) output and a good DAC. Sounds better than the Audigy 2 ZS -> Zhaolu D2C IMO. Just throwing it out there for ya.

 

[Solude]

All the bit perfect cards will sound different than the Audigy. Whether you prefer the technically truer performance is another question.

coax/triax/electrical connection is prone to switching noise transfer, optical/toslink has an increase in data jitter when compared to electrical transfer. So on a PC, optical, audiophile component rig... coax.

I miss anything?

 

[nspindel]

I'm actually taking a different route. I'd like to move away from the computer for my main loudspeaker rig, which is where I've been focussing attention these days. So I decided to go with a Squeezebox 3 feeding off my music server in another room. Squeezebox has optical and coax digital, and so does the Benchmark DAC1. So I'll try both and see what I think. I know the Benchmark has been reviewed to do some serious jitter reduction, so that may tip the scales back towards optical. We'll see which sounds better, I think it should arrive on Tuesday.

As much as I enjoy the convenience of having the media stored on the computer, I find it using the computer as a player to be a bit annoying. Too much to configure and worry about. Bit accurate sound cards, kernel streaming, not to mention all the girder pain if you want to use a remote. There's something to be said for having just a simple device with a remote - the convenience of a cd player combined with a lossless file system may just be the ultimate. Nice to be able to listen to music without worrying about a virus scan kicking off, etc....

I do something similar for video in the house. I've been using sage tv for a few years, sort of like a pc-based whole-house tivo. The nice thing is they sell a network device called a Media Extender, similar concept to the Squeezebox, which you can connect to any old tv with at least a composite video input, and it connects to your sage server and runs the sage software. Just hook it up to a tv, connect it to your network (wired or wireless) use the remote, done. I love it.