[skoiboy]

I have been running a Soundblaster Extigy and recently got an all out Meta to run my Beyer 770s. Today my sonica arrived. I expected a little change in clarity...BUT my god! This thing sounds sooooo amazing.

So now I'm screwed, I've raised my listening to this level and now my car stereo sound horrible to me, and so do most of the speakers I hear...

skoiboy

 

[kpfeifle]

Your heading down the slippery slope now skoiboy!

 

[NEO]

skoiboy, are you using sonica with laptop and which model? Can you describe the improvement and where did you buy it?
NEO

 

[skoiboy]

I'm using the regular sonica through an inspiron 8200. I bought it for $59 shipped from newegg.com on Tuesday and it already got here today!

When using my extigy i could turn the volume way up and always here a small hum, which I have been used to when turning speakers way up with nothing playing. Anyway, not only is that gone, but everything just sounds extremely clear...even my 128k mp3s. It sounds as if each instrument is its only seperate entity instead of one big sound moving together.

Its great, but the volume doesn't go as high as my extigy did, even with the newest drivers. But thats ok, because I don't want to kill my ears, but it does not go high enough to let me try to distort the sound, which I could do on the extigy.

Anyway, great solution...I'm just wondering what an unmodded ART DI/O might do to this setup now...

skoiboy

 

[skoiboy]

I'm also using some Straightwire RCA to Mini Cables I got from headroom.

 

[NEO]

I also have Dell Latitide and i plug every headphone directly into the headphone jack. No amp since it's useless to invest on it until i have improved my source. The soundcard on my laptop is SoundBlaster 16 bit--so so with some noise but at lease it's not too bad when you plug a good headphone into it.

What soundcard does Inspiron 8200 use and how good is it? I can't believe you still need to invest on Extigy and Sonica. I don't mean they are not good but i am expeectig Inspiron 8200 to have a premium soundcard..hopefully not a normal SoundBlaster 16 bit like mine. Because Inspiron 8100/8200 are designed to be the multimedia ready laptop. I know 8200 has a very good vdo card and Harman Kardon speaker but don't know what is the spec for the soundcard.

BTW,why do you need that cable from Headroom? You use headphone amp with sonica? Does the Sonica pick up any noise in the system?

NEO

 

[wChen]

The sound card on Inspiron laptops is nothing to write home about. For me, the Sonica was a huge improvement. So much so that upgrading amps from a porta corda to an HA-2 made an immediate difference (but then, I'm not planning on using my laptop as my main source).

From looking around on the internet, it looks like only IBM produces laptops with sound that rivals a Sonica.

edit: I forgot to add that I have an inspiron 8000 laptop (basically the same as the 8200, I think).

 

[JahJahBinks]

I just ordered a Sonica and I should received by the end of next week if not sooner. I also have a IBM T22 laptop, look for my impression thread a week from today.

 

[skoiboy]

In the simplist of terms, the Sonica is a true 24-bit/96 kHz audio product. No laptop soundcard that I know of can claim that. Neither can the extigy, which is why I upgraded. (well creative does claim that, but the sound gets downsampled before it gets to the line out).

Comparing the line out on my Dell to the sonica is a bad comparison to make, because Dell wasn't trying to make a great sounding soundcard, just as they didn't try to make great speakers on laptops. Its about size and quality in other components. My dell is FULLY decked out, but the option to upgrade the sound card...I believe isn't even an option.

 

[lan]

Welcome to club M-Audio

I have the Sonica also and I love it.

I also have the M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 and Revolution 7.1 and they're also sweet.

I think there's limited volume because it's afterall USB bus powered.

 

[skoiboy]

I wish I had a desktop so I could pick up the revolution...

 

[Mcrmouse30]

Quote:

Originally posted by lan Welcome to club M-Audio I have the Sonica also and I love it. I also have the M-Audio Audiophile 24/96 and Revolution 7.1 and they're also sweet. I think there's limited volume because it's afterall USB bus powered.

I am thinking about getting the Sonica for my desktop. Do you think it is worth saving up the extra money and buying the 7.1 over the Sonica? Does the 7.1 get interference from inside the comp? BTW this will be only for headphone use.

 

[coho66]

i'm using a live and i noticed that regardles of which version of windows i used there was hum and background noise. I noticed that if you mute EVERYTHING but the wav and main volume controls it will eliminate this problem. this was nice for me because i don't do any recording and only listen to mp3's and/or cd's on my computer. if you use your computer for anything more in terms of audio you must remember to turn the mute off of whatever slider you need for your task at that time. give it a shot.