[Jay B]

This is my first post

. I recently stumbled across this forum and think its just fantastic. People are really knowledgeable and helpful. And its all about Headphones, which I'm really into, so its great. Anyways, on with the post!

I currently own this USB sound card, Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit External. It has 5.1 speaker outputs and coax and optical digital out. The digital out can be at 44.1kHz or 48kHz and at 16-bit or 24-bit. I went with it because I like to have my headphones plugged into the front speaker connection and my computer speakers plugged into the rear speaker jack. That way if i want to have music through my speakers, I can. Plus it has digital outputs so I can add a DAC on later.

This is my current setup:
SB Live! USB -> Musical Fidelity X-Can V3 -> Sennheiser HD 650s

But in the future it will be:
SB Live! USB -> DAC -> MF X-Can V3 -> HD 650's

I just got the 650's and am pretty happy with them. It's great to hear all the details of the music. My previous headphone was the HD 280 Pro's, which were great too, but the 650's are a good step above.

My question is, is the DIGITAL OUT portion of this sound card any good? Right now I have my X-Can plugged into the speaker outputs of the sound card, which is good enough for now because I'm planning on getting a DAC in the future. So all I really care is that the digital out is good.

This leads to another question. If you are coming from a digital out, does it really matter what the hardware is? Implying that any two sound cards digital out should produce the same digital signal. Is this the case? Or does it matter what hardware you have?

Also, what output setting do you think I should run the digital out at. My options are 44.1 or 48kHz, and 16-bit or 24 bit. My guess is 44.1kHz and 24-bit. 44.1 because thats what most files will be encoded at, and 24-bit for the extra resolution, which I'm guessing would produce a 'smoother' sound. It also supports 96kHz, but only in 2-channel mode. I'd assume that 96kHz wouldn't have the anti-aliasing problems (or something like that) that 48kHz would have and that 96 would be the best choice. But I'd like to know what's better between 44.1 and 48.

Thanks for reading!

 

[psyllium]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay B /img/forum/go_quote.gif My question is, is the DIGITAL OUT portion of this sound card any good? Right now I have my X-Can plugged into the speaker outputs of the sound card, which is good enough for now because I'm planning on getting a DAC in the future. So all I really care is that the digital out is good.

I can't tell you if that digital output is any good. But the fact that you can select a variety of sample rates on the output is a good sign. You would want to test the sound card going to something that will accept the digital signal *and* tell you what the sample rate is (e.g. a home theatre receiver). If it's not always stuck on 48khz (as sometimes is the case), then you are in the clear.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay B /img/forum/go_quote.gif This leads to another question. If you are coming from a digital out, does it really matter what the hardware is? Implying that any two sound cards digital out should produce the same digital signal. Is this the case? Or does it matter what hardware you have?

They should give the same output so long as they are outputting in the same format. Some people will talk to you about jitter of digital signals, but it's another one of those things you have to listen *really* closely for (if it does exist? - I haven't picked it up yet).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay B /img/forum/go_quote.gif Also, what output setting do you think I should run the digital out at. My options are 44.1 or 48kHz, and 16-bit or 24 bit. My guess is 44.1kHz and 24-bit. 44.1 because thats what most files will be encoded at, and 24-bit for the extra resolution, which I'm guessing would produce a 'smoother' sound. It also supports 96kHz, but only in 2-channel mode. I'd assume that 96kHz wouldn't have the anti-aliasing problems (or something like that) that 48kHz would have and that 96 would be the best choice. But I'd like to know what's better between 44.1 and 48.

Definitely keep it at 44.1kHz if that is what your source files are. You could 'upsample' to 96kHz but I don't think you'd hear much difference.

What I can suggest is using kernel streaming or ASIO output in order to get bit perfect output (usually people do this at 16-bit because that is what their source files are at*). It basically means the software driven volume controls will no longer work in the operating system, resulting in a cleaner signal going to your soundcard (and then, in the future, to your DAC). Have a google on some of these: ASIO4ALL, Kernel Streaming, Foobar 2000

(* If your source files are mp3, they don't have an inherent bit resolution, and you *may* benefit from 24 bit output if used with the right software. But I would suggest ripping your music into a lossless file format, e.g. FLAC, if you are getting serious about quality.)

 

[Jay B]

Great that was really informative. I will check to see if the output is stuck at 48kHz. Hopefully not.

I'll Google those things, thanks! I've downloaded Foobar music player, but just haven't gotten around to installing it yet. Although, I'm pretty stuck on Winamp, it will take a lot to pull me away from it. We'll see, maybe sound quality can convince me

.

This is for another thread, but is winamp really all that bad?

 

[psyllium]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay B /img/forum/go_quote.gif Great that was really informative. I will check to see if the output is stuck at 48kHz. Hopefully not. I'll Google those things, thanks! I've downloaded Foobar music player, but just haven't gotten around to installing it yet. Although, I'm pretty stuck on Winamp, it will take a lot to pull me away from it. We'll see, maybe sound quality can convince me . This is for another thread, but is winamp really all that bad?

Winamp isn't too bad so long as you use either the ASIO output plugin or the Kernel Streaming one.