[oca]

Ive just recently been wanting to buy (my first) sound card, since purchasing the ultrasone HFI-780

i currenty run windows vista and mainly play computer games

ive been reading up on the asus xonar d1 and it seems decent enough, but may consider purchasing the d2 if it is worth the extra money

are there any other considerations i should be thinking about? any other card tahts got bang for buck (in the pricerange of the above two cards?)

thank you for your time

 

[Brighten]

Any thoughts about an external DAC?

 

[oca]

im really new to this sorry, im not sure what that is :$

please enlighten

 

[obobskivich]

the "external DAC" solution he's probably talking about, is a USB streaming audio box with a built in hp amp (which is not part of the definition of a DAC, and no formal DAC includes such a feature), this seems to be the trendy, popular solution on head-fi, which I attribute to a "fear of the box" (people don't wanna open their computers and pop a card in, and will resort to all degrees of witch-hunt claims to support this)

personally, I wouldn't suggest this at all for your uses, as computer gaming can benefit massively from having a good audio card, I'd look at the following:

all-rounders:
Xonar D2
Xonar D2X
X-Fi Prelude

all-rounders with hp amps:
Xonar STX
X-Fi EP (this hp amp is probably not "audiophile" grade, but the card measures great, and can usually be had for a song if you find a rebate)

 

[apatN]

Exactly. Just get a sound card.
A DAC is nice and eliminates the noise found inside a computer. Unless you buy an amp however a DAC is useless and I guess your budget doesn't allow it.

 

[obobskivich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by apatN /img/forum/go_quote.gif Exactly. Just get a sound card. A DAC is nice and eliminates the noise found inside a computer. Unless you buy an amp however a DAC is useless and I guess your budget doesn't allow it.

the thing is, most soundcards don't suffer from "noise found inside a computer"

 

[oca]

why would a DAC be better than a sound card and vice versa?

and haha definition of hp?

so sorry and thanks for the time again

 

[apatN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich /img/forum/go_quote.gif the thing is, most soundcards don't suffer from "noise found inside a computer"

They don't all suffer from it but by getting a DAC your problem is already gone. In general the sound quality of a DAC and amp is better than that of a sound card.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oca /img/forum/go_quote.gif and haha definition of hp?

Headphone.

 

[oca]

how much of a difference does a headphone amp make taking into consideration the model of my head phones.

and thanks on the definition :$

wahts this noise inside the computer u speak of?

 

[Dat_Dude]

I am a newbie to the forum as well (at least as a poster). I don't have a huge budget, but already purchased a few things:
DT 880's for home
Grado SR-80 for work
Total BitHead for Travel/Work

That leaves my home rig to go with my Beyers. I am for sure looking for an amp and then either a DAC or a really good soundcard.

So say my budget is $750, would you recommend I go with a good soundcard and a good amp, or skip the sound card and get a DAC + Amp?

 

[Brighten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dat_Dude /img/forum/go_quote.gif I am a newbie to the forum as well (at least as a poster). I don't have a huge budget, but already purchased a few things: DT 880's for home Grado SR-80 for work Total BitHead for Travel/Work That leaves my home rig to go with my Beyers. I am for sure looking for an amp and then either a DAC or a really good soundcard. So say my budget is $750, would you recommend I go with a good soundcard and a good amp, or skip the sound card and get a DAC + Amp?

With that budget? Get an amp and DAC!

 

[oca]

thats a massive 'budget'...lol way out of my league

how does the xonar dx compare to the x-fi

 

[obobskivich]

honestly the claim that a "good external DAC is better than a soundcard" can't really be made, you can't compare the two directly, as a soundcard not only does D/A converison, but also signal processing, while the DAC is merely what it says it is, a D/A converter

to the guy with the $750 budget, I would get a good amplifier and soundcard, or a good amplifier, D/A, and soundcard, and there is no way around this (even a USB device, well, its got a rough equivalent to a soundcard, in the USB -> S/PDIF controller)


to oca (the OP)
which Xonar? which X-Fi? theres about 6 models of each
and what do you want to compare?

 

[dallan]

i'd say external dac and hp amp or combination of the two.

-Portable dac+amp usb inputs-> Pico or Preditor (aprox $500.)

-Home based dac- v-dac or dacmagic with a reasonable amp(research like crazy) is the way to go.

 

[obobskivich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dallan /img/forum/go_quote.gif i'd say external dac and hp amp or combination of the two. -Portable dac+amp usb inputs-> Pico or Preditor (aprox $500.) -Home based dac- v-dac or dacmagic with a reasonable amp(research like crazy) is the way to go.

which poster are you responding to?

the op is entirely not in the $500+ range, thats a different person in the thread