[Uninen]

Hi, I'm pretty new to this forum. I've been reading it from time to time but now I just can't find the answers I'm looking for.

So currently I'm using a crappy integrated AC97 sound card (MB: Abit NF7-S2). My speakers are ESI Near05. I don't have headphones yet, but I'm buying them at the same time with the new sound card. Budget for this sound card, headphones and volume control -thingy is around 350€ but less is always good.

The biggest problem currently is that I don't even know how good sound I want. I think I don't even want to hear the flaws in mp3s for example. Is some sound blaster and AKG K81DJ good enough. Actually I think those headphones would be good enough but I've heard that they are a bit bassy but I don't know... The better "main" option is M-Audio Audiophile USB and Senneheiser HD595.

Thing that makes it hard to choose the sound card is, that I would like to get an external volume control. So the main sound card options I've been thinking are the following:

1. M-Audio Audiophile USB (145€)
2. Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 NX (~100€)
3. X-Fi XtremeMusic (~70€) Need a solution for the volume control! Cheap mixer, software?
4. Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit External (~50€) Too crappy?
5. Cheap amp and/or something?
6. ESI U46. What's this? Soundcard?

7. Tell me

PCI sound card would suit me fine, but I would like to find a bit better way to adjust the volume than only software. As far as I've understood, speakers like my Nears are supposed to be almost at their maximum volume (the volume controls in the speakers) and with software volume control I can only keep them around 1/3 of the max volume. Or am I completely wrong? Does it matter at all? If it doesn't I could think about keeping the volume adjusting only in software. I would like this option because it would be cheap

.

How good the headphones/speakers have to be that it is possible to notice a difference between X-Fi XtremeMusic, Audiophile USB and SB Live! 24 External for example? Can I hear the difference with K81DJs? What about with HD595?

Use will be like 30% games (mostly older ones = no surround sounds) and the rest 70% for music. I haven't watched one whole movie with my comp for 4 years even though I have around 100 movies in my shelf

. The music I listen is mostly rock and metal (System of a Down, In Flames, Bullet For My Valentine, Skunk Anansie, Smashing Pumpkins) but I also listen lots of something lighter like The Cardigans, Tori Amos, Björk and Alicia Keys. Sometimes I also listen to some melodical rap/hiphop or pop. I listen to pretty much everything

.

All kind of solutions are welcome. Thanks in advance.

PS. Sorry for the messy post

 

[Uninen]

Come on people, there must be someone who knows something related to my post....

The main question could be the sound card & phone quality. Can I hear difference between M-Audio Audiophile USB and X-Fi when using K81DJ's or even some cheaper phones, like Koss Porta Pro or Sennheisers PX-100?

And if I would buy the X-Fi, would the HD595 be too "good" phone for the sound card?

How good or crappy the external sound blasters are? I haven't found any info about them that would really help me, so someone, please help me!

Again, thanks in advance

 

[)v(ajin_R_]

Hi

I don't think I can answer all of your question but I can that sound blaster live cards at least the one I have aren't good. I haven't read that many good things about audigy either. So I think would be best sticking with x-fi or the m-audio (which I can't compare between) as well other options.

You might want to also look at the total bithead (€150), you can plug it into your computer and run your headphones through that as well its also a portable amp. But I don't know how it will compare to a soundcard, maybe some else can comment here?

As for headphones, a fairly good soundcard should be able to drive the low impedance HD-595 well. You should be able to hear a difference between any headphones if you plug them into different cards.

 

[pedxing]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uninen The biggest problem currently is that I don't even know how good sound I want. I think I don't even want to hear the flaws in mp3s for example. Is some sound blaster and AKG K81DJ good enough. Actually I think those headphones would be good enough but I've heard that they are a bit bassy but I don't know... The better "main" option is M-Audio Audiophile USB and Senneheiser HD595.

I wouldn't worry about exposing mp3 flaws. If ripped and encoded properly, most people cannot tell a difference.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uninen Thing that makes it hard to choose the sound card is, that I would like to get an external volume control.

Headphone amps are good at doing this. I suggest buying a headphone amp and an external soundcard/DAC. This will give you the flexibility to swap/match parts later. I think its more important to focus on the DAC. I usually find the changes from a headphone amp to be more subtle.


Quote:

Originally Posted by Uninen PCI sound card would suit me fine, but I would like to find a bit better way to adjust the volume than only software. As far as I've understood, speakers like my Nears are supposed to be almost at their maximum volume (the volume controls in the speakers) and with software volume control I can only keep them around 1/3 of the max volume. Or am I completely wrong? Does it matter at all? If it doesn't I could think about keeping the volume adjusting only in software. I would like this option because it would be cheap .

Most computer speakers don't like to be driven so hard because they are usually of low power - succeptible to distortion. Usually you have to find a sweet spot with your soundcard and your speakers. Some soundcards distort with their analogs set to maximum. Other soundcards are designed to operate at the maximum level with no problems. Again, I suggest you get an external amp for adjusting the volume.

 

[skudmunky]

I just upgraded from my Soundblaster Live to the X-Fi Xtreme music and the difference is pretty big. I'm loving the additional detail and clarity, especially with my SR225. I picked it up for us$70 at Circuit City too, so I got a pretty good deal.

 

[Corrupt^]

Doesn't the XFi Platinium have an external bay, well I mean, it has this thing you can place in the front of your pc with knobs on it

 

[Uninen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pedxing Headphone amps are good at doing this. I suggest buying a headphone amp and an external soundcard/DAC. This will give you the flexibility to swap/match parts later. I think its more important to focus on the DAC. I usually find the changes from a headphone amp to be more subtle.

But I'll probrably still use my speakers more than my headphones, so I still need the volume control. Can I use the headphone amp with my active speakers?

I don't even know what DAC really means or does even though I've read about them

. I've already wasted too much time thinking what to buy so I really wouldn't want to start reading reviews of 2 more parts

. Or can you suggest some good/cheap options. My budget is still around 350EUR max.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pedxing Most computer speakers don't like to be driven so hard because they are usually of low power - succeptible to distortion. Usually you have to find a sweet spot with your soundcard and your speakers. Some soundcards distort with their analogs set to maximum. Other soundcards are designed to operate at the maximum level with no problems. Again, I suggest you get an external amp for adjusting the volume.

Ok, but I think I read from somewhere that these many studio monitors would like to be driven hard... But about the amp. Is it possible to get a cheap amp and drive my active speakers through it without ampening so I would only adjust volume from it. If it's possible, would this weaken the sound quality? I mean that can I only somehow "pass" the signal through the amp without doing anything to it? Or can they still be amped even when they are active speakers? Or should I think about small mixer instead? But I don't really know anything about mixers also... Darn

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corrupt^ Doesn't the XFi Platinium have an external bay, well I mean, it has this thing you can place in the front of your pc with knobs on it

The more expensive models have, but those models already cost the same as the M-Audio Audiophile USB and I think it would be better than X-Fi, but I don't really know.... I would love to hear some comments about their difference in music and gaming.

The main choise currently is probably the Audiophile (145€) and HD595 (1555€). Other (a bit cheaper) option would be X-Fi XtremeMusic (70€) and HD595 or Grado SR60 (99€ in sale currently) with software volume adjust. But I'm so darn confused about the Audiophile USB also because someone in this forum said, that it is extremely unmusical in his opinion and then some other guy said that he's got exactly opposite opinion

. And my music taste is pretty heavy and some people seem to say that the HD595's aren't the best possible phones for music like that. Would the Grados suit me better then even though they are a bit expensive?

Again, thanks in advance.

 

[Uninen]

Come on, someone must know what I should do!

The options pretty much are X-Fi XM or Audiophile USB and the phones would probably be HD 595. But with X-Fi I should find a easier way to swithc between my speakers and headphones than crawling under my desk, behing the comp. With Audiophile I could just plug it to the card sitting in my desk. I think I'm leaning a bit more towards the Audiophile now.

But I'm still not sure how well it will do in games. I still play some. And I've also read that there's been some problems with the drivers at least with the Audiophile 2496.

 

[jiiteepee]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uninen Come on, someone must know what I should do! The options pretty much are X-Fi XM or Audiophile USB and the phones would probably be HD 595. But with X-Fi I should find a easier way to swithc between my speakers and headphones than crawling under my desk, behing the comp. With Audiophile I could just plug it to the card sitting in my desk. I think I'm leaning a bit more towards the Audiophile now. But I'm still not sure how well it will do in games. I still play some. And I've also read that there's been some problems with the drivers at least with the Audiophile 2496.

Low budged USB devices are not as good as PCI cards @ same price. X-Fi (other rhan elite pro) are 'bout the same w/ Audigy 2&4 (by converters/opamps). I would rather get
a PCI card like;
Audiophile 192 (175US$), Juli@ (135US$), ECHO MIA (130US$), E-MU 0404 (100US$) or E-MU 1212M (150US$), etc. + HeadphoneAmp (~30-100US$)
or
USB audio device like;
E-MU 0202 (~150US$),E-MU 0404 USB (~ 200US$), etc
or
FireWire audio device like;
Presonus Inspire (~199US$), M-Audio Audiophile FW (~199US$), ECHO AudioFire 2 (195US$), etc.

+ Headphones (~150-200US$)

jiitee

 

[Uninen]

Because I will be playing quite a bit, I think I the X-Fi would be good. And reading the comments here, I'm beginning to think that it has good enough sound quality. But I'll only buy the X-Fi XM if I get a small mixer with what I can adjust the speaker volume and I can also plug the phones to it.

But now I would like to know that is it usually possible to connect the soundcard digitally to the mixer? Do the cheap mixers have DACs at all? If I have to connect all analogically, does the mixer thingy weaken the sound quality?

Now I've narrowed it to two choises:

1. X-Fi XtremeMusic -> mixer (something like this?) -> HD 595 (The K81DJ's wouldn't be available if I'd buy this)
2. M-Audio Audiophile USB -> AKG K81DJ (HD 595 also a possibility)

Still would like to hear comments about the Audiophiles drivers and using it in games. Does it use more resources (CPU and/or memory) than X-Fi? I don't need the 5.1 sounds, stereo is good enough for me.

 

[florinbaiduc]

I have the SE 150 and it sounds very good (it should, considering the quality of it's components - it has more caps than a motherboard...)