[Chrysoberyl]

...what happens to the sound if you use other settings in xfi for headphones other than 2.1 or "Headphones"?(like 5.1 and so on) I've tried and I think I notice a change in the soundstage,but I have no idea.

 

[obobskivich]

what do you mean what happens?

it alters how the card is outputting or processing data

if you've got CMSS enabled and you're feeding a stereo source into it, and select 5.1, its going to be playing with reverb and other effects to try and emulate surround material over surround speakers (sounds like a claxon in a box canyon to me though)

however if you're feeding a stereo source into it, and aren't enabling any upsampling (in other words its going to play things natively, stereo to stereo, regardless of how much stuff its got connected to output, and what its told to use), you're just going to get stereo back, in other words 5.1 will not increase soundstaging

now, the back and forth between 2.1/2.0 and headphones WILL change things, depending on how you've got your system connected

if you're going straight out from the card, headphones mode will increase gain a bit, while if you're using an amp, 2.1/2.0 mode will be the better choice (as it isn't applying increased gain to try and drive hp's directly, it assumes its driving a stereo amplifier)

 

[apatN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrysoberyl /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...what happens to the sound if you use other settings in xfi for headphones other than 2.1 or "Headphones"?(like 5.1 and so on) I've tried and I think I notice a change in the soundstage,but I have no idea.

What you really want to do is set up bit-perfect output. There are a lot of guides here!

 

[Chrysoberyl]

Thanks,it's bit perfect already(I think!) What intrigues me is the incredible amount of different "flavors" that I get when I play with the channels in the wave multichannel column,when you use the musical creation mode.Some voices come immediately nearer or further away,depending on what you check or leave unchecked.And then when you change from,say,2/2.1 to 4/4.1,there's a big drop in volume but it sounds "wider",so you raise the volume with the digital knob and it gets equally loud but sounds different,more spacious(and a bit less focused too).Maybe I'm making a fool out of myself with these descriptions,but that's what I hear!

 

[obobskivich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by apatN /img/forum/go_quote.gif What you really want to do is set up bit-perfect output. There are a lot of guides here!

this only matters if you're going digital out into an external D/A mind you...

 

[Chrysoberyl]

Anybody else?

 

[iriverdude]

Make sure you also use ASIO plugin for your media player. I've got a X-Fi and notice increase in sound quality when switching from directsound to Creative ASIO in winamp. Make sure it's in audio creation mode, 2 speakers, everything disabled.

 

[obobskivich]

I'm gonna contest what you're saying iriver, as ASIO's improvement on sound quality is subjective (i.e: you can't prove it), and the "has to be in audio creation mode, two speakers" is potentially half wrong and the other half is also subjective

two speakers is only if he's got an amp, or VERY easy to drive hp's (like Grado's), he hasn't mentioned either way, so thats why I'm not pushing one on him (let him make a decision based on the facts, eh?)

the audio creation mode setting being of benefit or not is also very subjective, per specs it changes nothing about the playback character of the card, does not lock out any DSP effects (you can have EAX, CMSS, Crystalizer, SVM, etc enabled in all three modes, with the same effect), etc, again meaning its a subjective change (and you can't prove that it does anything as a result)

 

[Chrysoberyl]

I'm using an HD600 and no amp with the xfi,with Kernel streaming in Foobar.I also have an EMU 0404 USB,but I'm really not so sure that it sounds any better than the xfi,very often I have thought that it sounds more "compressed".

 

[obobskivich]

using the hp amp or main out from the 0404 USB?

generally with your setup you wanna use headphone mode on the x-fi, to increase gain, but the real "benefit" would be an amplifier (its not that you aren't getting "best potential" or any other mumbo jumbo, its that the HD600 is a hard load for most soundcards to drive straight into)

 

[sonci]

When you clik "bit matched playback" in Audio Creation Mode, every DSP is disabled, there's no point using asio without bit matched playback enabled.

You can use whatever config you like, you can find tons of dsp plugins, surround sound or whatever, however my personal choice is that music is made to be played in 2 channels, bit perfect with no equalizers.

 

[obobskivich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonci /img/forum/go_quote.gif When you clik "bit matched playback" in Audio Creation Mode, every DSP is disabled, there's no point using asio without bit matched playback enabled. You can use whatever config you like, you can find tons of dsp plugins, surround sound or whatever, however my personal choice is that music is made to be played in 2 channels, bit perfect with no equalizers.

its "click"

and bit perfect just changes bus routing (it removes most things from the equation, however theres still "DSP effects" running for volume, balance, and tone control, its not like "Pure Direct" or "Direct Amp" where tone control is entirely bypassed on some older integrated amps)

it also doesn't matter one little bit in his case, as he's going analog out into his hp's (so bit perfect means nothing, because all it influences is S/PDIF output)

as far as "music is made to be played in 2 channels, bit perfect with no equalizers", what about analog sources? multichannel mixes? bridged centers? room adjustment via EQ? etc

everything has a place, in some way or another

 

[sonci]

Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich /img/forum/go_quote.gif what about analog sources? multichannel mixes? bridged centers? room adjustment via EQ? etc everything has a place, in some way or another

Yes I agree
I still like Vinyl sound over CD, but imagine if "CD stereo" wasn't invented...

 

[obobskivich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonci /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes I agree I still like Vinyl sound over CD, but imagine if "CD stereo" wasn't invented...

you mean if engineers didn't just decide that .05 dB dynamic headroom was sufficient, and music didn't become mass market controlled by advertisers, and was still produced with some semblance of high quality, mastered with dynamic range, and enjoyed only by those with the patience and means to put a phono system together?

I suspect it would probably have had massive influence on the 21st century, and we would live in a utopian society not dominated by the image of loose women, free flowing alcohol, and reckless spending

oh, and we'd all be listening to higher quality audio

 

[Chrysoberyl]

Anybody else had the same experiences with EMU 0404 and X-fi?