[SumB]

Quote:

Originally posted by Orpheus load? i don't understand. do you mean as opposed to something faster like firewire (if we're talking USB 1)?--or as opposed to a "card" housed in the computer case? well, either way it wouldn't really matter. USB is plenty fast to handle 2-channel audio. You will very likely get higher performance out of a USB breakout box.... it's just a better way to do things. there are no high-performance "sound cards" i know of that are real "sound cards." they are all break-out boxes connected via firewire, usb, or by proprietory means.

What he means is the cpu usage will be too high. Digital audio through the USB bus requires considerable processor time, and when you couple that with another intensive program vying for time (such as games in this guys case) the audio will cut-out as the bus is squeezed of cpu cycles. Not that you'd want to anyway. It's not currently possible to send a processed 3d audio stream through a digital output.

All this guy needs to do is plug his headphones straight into the soundcard and then fine-tune the software controls until the hiss is gone. I wouldn't be surprised if the amplifier was picking up EMI through the cables.

 

[Orpheus]

is this "load" even a consideration on modern computers? i've never heard of such a problem. i run a 10/10 in/out firewire interface with no problems... plugins and all. perhaps there is more overhead associated with usb compared to firewire, but i cannot imagine it being that inefficient to cause dropout on 2 channel audio.

anyway... cheap consumer cards like soundblaster stuff is noisy. he can fine tune all he wants, it will still be noisier than a good external interface.

 

[stallion11msu]

I just put a Revolution 7.1 into my system, and from the analog outputs there is essentially ZERO hiss. Just an FYI.

 

[dd3mon]

Okay - not that I'm defending Creative products, but I'm tired of hearing these arguments about removing hiss. ALL new Creative cards (Live, Audigy 1, Audigy 2) can be made totally noiseless if done properly. I detailed the process once before, I'll link to it again:

Scroll down to my post (last one), entitled: THE way to remove ANY hiss/hum/noise from a Creative SoundCard

This will make any Creative card 100% silent. Max volume + max treble boost + low impedence phones == totally silent (ultimate test IMO). Just as quiet as my Revolution (although I didn't have to go through this process with my Revo, it was silent to begin with, with all the inputs enabled).

This process will probably make most other cards on the market 100% silent as well. The key here is that YOU CANT SEE all the inputs/outputs your card has active, you have to enable them, then mute them.

-dd3mon

 

[lini]

SumB: Thanks for jumping in and explaining!

Orpheus: Demanding 3D-games are really the main problem with USB sound solutions. The framerate decrease with an Extigy for example can be critical compared to PCI soundcards - at least for hardcore gamers.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[XtremeD]

Quote:

max treble boost

Are you crazy? COMPLETELY CRAZY I TELL YOU - i have DT770pros which are sibilant with treble at medium, if i go any higher the frequencies that come out of this headphone are immense and hurts my ears like hell. That would deafen me tbh.

I've decided to go for the SBaudigy 2 with kXproject drivers - but this time learn how to use the drivers.

 

[aos]

I have Revo 7.1 and Audigy 1 Platinum and have done some measurements with RMAA (specturm analyzer software). This cand has superb recording path and also very low noise at the output. I got about -102dB noise and almost as much dynamic range - this is very low noise floor, even below what you can get with 16 bit encoding (measurements were done at 24/96). Distortion was about 0.001-0.002%, IMD at 0.0067% and channel separation was about -100dB. Audigy 1 on the other hand has similarly low output stage so it's quiet, however its recording path is nowhere as good as Revo - much more noise and it can't do 24/96. Audigy 2 is probably better in this respect, but Revo can certainly be considered for semi-professional recording. Anyway, I posted results of Revo on Headwize a week or two ago.

 

[lini]

On the other hand you could still additionaly spend ~ 50 Euro for a Griffin iMic and try this for more serious listening, keeping the Audigy 2 for gaming purposes.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[XtremeD]

Nah i've decided to spend my £50 on my Xbox instead and get house of the dead III with a light gun Beretta 92 replica. I got my music on now and hardly hear the hiss in the background so I aint complaining.

Dj ötzi pwns!

 

[dd3mon]

Quote:

Originally posted by XtremeD Are you crazy? COMPLETELY CRAZY I TELL YOU - i have DT770pros which are sibilant with treble at medium, if i go any higher the frequencies that come out of this headphone are immense and hurts my ears like hell. That would deafen me tbh. I've decided to go for the SBaudigy 2 with kXproject drivers - but this time learn how to use the drivers.

I would never use this setting for listening, I only use it for "hiss detection" since it tends to highlight any hiss that may be present. I was using it as an example of how these cards can be made silent even under worst of conditions (max volume+max treble boost+low impedence headphones).

EDIT: actually I would never use ANY setting for listening because my Audigy is currently sitting on top of my desk, not in my computer (Revo is in there now

)

-dd3mon

 

[Mik]

I've been using an SB Audigy and just got a M-Audio Revolution. I never found the audigy to be that noisy except when I pumped up my amp to very high levels. The Revolution has far superior sound quality to the audigy. Bass is way more defined (not boomy, just clearer). Overall the sound is far less muffled. The difference is quite dramatic on my setup. MPCs sound really good.

Unfortunately game performance absolutely blows on the revolution. I only use 2 speakers and always try to disable any 3d audio whenever possible. Playing any new games with the revolution really cuts into the frame rate. I haven't benchmarked it or anything but the difference is clearly visible in a taxing game like EVE. It's smooth with an audigy and choppy with a revolution. I listen to music more than I play games so I'm keeping the revolution. Hopefully they'll improve game performance with future driver updates but there's only so much they can do without actual hardware acceleration

 

[aos]

The noise on both cards is low but I do remember faint hiss from Audigy even when using it's digital out and an external dac (!). Muting all inputs would help but there would usually be a bit of it left. It was very faint and only present at extreme volumes but the fact that it existed even in digital out (which should never ever happen when nothing is played) was showing that something was screwy in the digital processing. This was Audigy 1 mind you.
I agree with Mik about gaming performance of Revolution. And not just that, I am not too thrilled with driver quality in general. Quite often the sound goes completely crazy - i.e. very loud noise is present alongside the sound, in fact noise much louder than the signal itself. It seems to be related to changing sampling and/or bit rate. For simple playback and recording it certainly performs admirably though, but the sudden noise (which I only can get rid of by changing the sampling rate) is very annoying. I bought the card for measurements and potentially recording so I'm happy. But Audigy (2) is far more appealing from a consumer's standpoint (more hardware and driver features, and functionality). Though its drivers are far from perfect, e.g. every now and then they cause reboot if I try to adjust the volume at the wrong time.

 

[Orpheus]

Quote:

The noise on both cards is low but I do remember faint hiss from Audigy even when using it's digital out and an external dac (!). Muting all inputs would help but there would usually be a bit of it left. It was very faint and only present at extreme volumes but the fact that it existed even in digital out (which should never ever happen when nothing is played) was showing that something was screwy in the digital processing.

more likely is that your DAC is noisy, NOT the digital out. i'd have to hear it to say for sure.... but it is very unlikely your digital out is generating the noise.

edit:

actually.... now that i think about it..... i suppose it is possible, depending on the structure of your card. you might have a small amount of leakage from your muted channels going into the ADC. even the best analog stuff out there has channel leakage.... on my mackie 32x8 mixer, even when a channel is muted, you can hear an infinitely small amount of it with the boost turned all the way up. anyway.... so, your digital out is outputing some on the analog noise that was generated before the digital conversion.

 

[chkelly]

i have a sb live value. How much better is the audigy 2 for games, music, etc? Is it worth the purchase? I do music and games so it has to be decent for both, revolution sounds far too one sided for me (music)

 

[dd3mon]

The Audigy/Live/Audigy 2 cards WILL hiss even if you mute all the sources. The key is that you have to enable like 5 more sources that they don't even show you by default (giving you a full bar of like 10+ volume controls). After you enable these, mute them and the hiss will be 100% gone. That was the point of my linked post earlier in this thread (first page) - no one seems to get it.

-dd3mon