Jay B
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2007
- Posts
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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!
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!