[linsta2001]

Hello,

I just got a X-Can v3 as a present

, all i can say is WoW,
everything sound so much better even with my crap source

i'm using a Soundblaster Audigy right now, my question is whether installing a Chaintech AV710 going have a significant improvement over my current card? what else should i consider?

p.s. the only reason i think of the AV710 first is because i'm going to buy a DAC eventually, so i don't want to spend too much money on a new card

any suggestion will be appreciated

Thx

 

[MikeW]

Eh.. it may be a bit better but I would not expect miracles. The AV710 is popular for it's effective SPDIF output, not it's analog out. I'd spend the extra 65$ and get an Emu 404.

 

[linsta2001]

from reading the forum, i got the impression that AV710 has a decent DAC, better than the Soundblaster Audigy LS maybe? If i buy a DAC soon, wouldn't the 0404 be a waste?

p.s. i live in canada so buying an Emu 0404 will be a pain, the price on Ebay is horrible, and the shipping and custom is going to push the price close to C$150

 

[que]

If a DAC has a USB connection, I hear that one would not need 0404 only as a transport. I think AV710 can serve that purpose as well like the other poster mentioned.

I guess 0404 can also be used to hook up to speakers. I agree the price is rather high. It's around the same as what entry level X-Fi is going for. AV710 on the other hand goes for a mere 30 dollars.

 

[MikeW]

The dac in the a7v is nothing special, the advantage it has over the audigy is it does not resample, and I beleive the rear jacks don't have an op-amp, making them cleaner. The audigy resampling is pretty easy to fix though with foobar. (resample to 48khz) Rather the 0404 is a waste or not is up for debate, it's a better card, period. Regardless of you having a dac or not. In theory spdif should be spdif, but I think i've read people who have upgraded from AV710 to Emu claiming to get less jitter with it. Not to mention if you ever hook up speakers they are going to sound better. The 0404 also sounds better then X-fi. That's why I recomended it instead.

 

[linsta2001]

the motherboard i got, got spdif out, so theoratically i don't need a soundcard as a transport when i get the dac?

 

[jagorev]

I suggest skipping internal soundcards with all their RF interference altogether. Get a USB soundcard/DAC like the M-Audio Transit or Sonica instead. Costs around $100 or so, and will have fewer issues than internal cards (you don't even need the internal card as a "transport"). Also has digital/coaxial outs should you want to connect to a more high-end DAC later.

 

[MikeW]

only problem with that solution jag is it sucks for gaming, and any modern well built, soundcard have very little/none/unmeasurable RF interferance. That's a thing of the past, it used to be a big issues in the 90's and some isolated, but well documented incidents in early 2000, but it's pretty much history. The issue here is, most soundcards are simply built cheap as hell with terrible OP-amps. Which these external devices are certainly not immune to (unfortunatly)

Regards,
Mike

 

[Behemot]

If you use PC just as a source for music playback or some DSP in stereo 0404 is a safe bet. For sound in games and multichannel support you better off getting X-Fi even the lowest Xtreme Music. It does not resample audio, as well.

 

[linsta2001]

i do play game
here is the deal, i will buy a DAC but not within 6 month, need to make more money

, and my audigy is having some issue with my motherboard, so i need a soundcard with OK analog output and optical/spdif out for the future

there is a thread in the forum about AV710 analog output, so anybody actually use AV710 and have experience with the analog output, how good is it?

 

[jagorev]

Quote:

Originally Posted by linsta2001 i do play game here is the deal, i will buy a DAC but not within 6 month, need to make more money , and my audigy is having some issue with my motherboard, so i need a soundcard with OK analog output and optical/spdif out for the future there is a thread in the forum about AV710 analog output, so anybody actually use AV710 and have experience with the analog output, how good is it?

You probably don't need optical/spdif for the future when you buy a good DAC. Several DACs I'm aware of (headroom, apogee, etc.) all can connect via USB and act as a standard USB soundcard, bypassing the internal soundcard altogether..