[soleblaze]

Hello, I've been reading archives of head-fi for about a week or two now looking ideas on how to get a headphone setup for my computer (Since I mainly trade live music..flac/shns online and play oggs from my computer I'd rather have my pc be the source and not something like a cdp or sacdp)

right now i'm looking at a pair of HD600s (stock cable, might upgrade in the future), Corda HA-1, and a stereo-link.. my question is .. does anyone here use the stereo-link and is it worth getting, or are there better sound cards/usb audio devices for PCs for under $200? thanks

- Kevin

 

[Wodgy]

I've owned the Stereo-Link, Xitel Hi-Fi Link, and Sonica. In my opinion, the Sonica has the best sound of the three. Though if you have a desktop PC, you might consider getting a card with an S/PDIF coaxial digital output and adding an audiophile quality DAC, such as the ART DI/O. If your computer already has a digital output, you don't need a new sound card, and the ART DI/O isn't really that expensive...

 

[soleblaze]

I have a SB Live! .. I heard it mucked with digital inputs, but not sure on the outputs.. Though I'm not sure how I would go about hooking up an SB Live to an ART DI/O .. I'll probably look for info on it tomorrow. any clue on where I would aquire an ART DI/O?

 

[soleblaze]

hm.. been reading specs and such on it and noticed there's not an RCA output.. does a phono-to-RCA connector decrease the sound quality enough to where I would notice with a carda ha-1 & hd600s?

 

[Wodgy]

There's a cheap add-on card for the SB Live! that gives it proper coaxial digital outs, see here:
http://www.minidisco.com/miniordermp3.html
Though to be honest you can almost buy a whole new sound card with proper coaxial digital outs for that price, so I'm not sure this specific device would be worth it.

The ART DI/O usually sells for around $130 at Full Compass, Musician's Friend, etc. There's a lot of information about it in these forums if you do a search.

Using adapters won't make any difference in sound.

 

[lan]

Definitly go for a PCI solution not a USB one if you can as there's more bandwidth there. Wait for the M-Audio Revolution 7.1. It will be $99 when it comes out and it will have awesome quality and features. It's not worth it upgrading the SBLive since it's soundquality is bad.

http://www.digitalconnection.com/Pro...revolution.asp

 

[Wodgy]

Bandwidth isn't an issue if you're listening to stereo audio; with USB 1.0, CD audio (16/44.1kHz) uses only 8.6% of the available bandwidth.

A more pressing issue with PCI devices is noise from inside your computer's chassis. USB devices have the potential to be quieter.

Of course, if you're listening to 7.1 audio, bandwidth does become an issue. The only common sources of this kind of audio are games, and you should definitely go with a PCI device if you're playing games. If you only listen to music, however, an external device will probably be your best bet.

 

[soleblaze]

yeah, this'll just be used for stereo listening.. I'll probably get the stereo-link for now and upgrade to another card + an art di/o .. I run linux so that's a factor with choosing a card..and linux's usb audio drivers are suposed to be good. Also I want two devices..one just for music to drive my headphones, and the other (my sb live) for pc sounds.. I'm not a gamer anymore so that doesn't matter that much (though I do watch some dvd's in 4.1 with my current computer speaker setup)