[JamesL]

So I'm a newbie in this field, and although I'm not a true audiophile, I appreciate good sound, enough to pay for a decent soundcard. I really don't think I'm picky enough to degrade sound on the basis of EMI noise inside a pc case, so I decided I want an internal solution, just to keep my desk clean.

So on a soundcard, are the basics... the processor, several DAC's, ADC, opamps, capacitors... and other small deviations in design implementation, right?

Processor - I know a 3.0ghz AMD processor performs differently then a 3.0GHz intel processor... but in the end, speed is what matters..
Does this affect the sound at all? Or is it there purely to take the load off of the cpu?

Opamp - I'm under the impression that these are important to the sound...
Do all sound cards feature opamps, or is it only the quality of the opamps that differ? What does it do exactly? Does it affect the use of a headphone amp?


So the auzentech meridian, sondigo inferno, htomega claro, htomega claro+, bluegears enspirer all share the cmi8788 audio processor, and AK4396 DAC's for their stereo analog output.
What else is there to know?
The sondigo and bluegears card both use the same reference design, so they ought to sound the same, right?


I'm also taking recommendations
I've looked at the emu, e-si, m-audio ones.. but most of their products look like they're intended for people that know what the heck they're doing.

In the end, I'll only be using the stereo analog-out for my headphones, and want something that sounds good with my k271 and mini^3's.

edit - more questions that come to mind.. does using a front-panel connector degrade the sound-quality significantly?
Also, is audio-processor the same thing as the DSP?

 

[Apocalypsee]

Processor- I don't think different CPU (AMD vs Intel) affect sound quality at all

Opamp - Some soundcard have them, some have none. And yes opamp does makes a soundcard sounds good or not, it acts like a preamp/buffer before sending the signal to your speaker

About different soundcard uses same DSP and DAC will produce same sound, I don't think so. Different capacitor, PCB layout, driver etc. can makes it sounds different

Those soundcard manufacturer you mentioned are professional ones, if you afraid you might get into trouble, look for Audiotrak card. I uses one and it's safe to say its an easy card to use

My recommendation to you is buy Audiotrak Prodigy HD2, it have main stereo via RCA and uses fully differential output with 3x socketed opamp, and it have integrated headphone amp that can drive 600ohm impedance headphones via 3.5mm jack. These soundcard is quite clean too

I never use any front panel audio, so I can't comment on that. And yes audio processor is DSP (Digital Signal Processor) on the card

 

[JamesL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apocalypsee /img/forum/go_quote.gif Processor- I don't think different CPU (AMD vs Intel) affect sound quality at all

That was just a analogy.. What I meant was.. will different audio-processors sound different? (ie.. VIA Envy vs C-media oxygen)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apocalypsee /img/forum/go_quote.gif About different soundcard uses same DSP and DAC will produce same sound, I don't think so. Different capacitor, PCB layout, driver etc. can makes it sounds different

Well.. they both use c-media's drivers, and follow the same reference design w/ the same pcb layout, and the capacitors look the same as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Apocolypsee /img/forum/go_quote.gif My recommendation to you is buy Audiotrak Prodigy HD2, it have main stereo via RCA and uses fully differential output with 3x socketed opamp, and it have integrated headphone amp that can drive 600ohm impedance headphones via 3.5mm jack. These soundcard is quite clean too

Thanks! Looks like just what I was looking for!

... but why does it look so ugly?

 

[Apocalypsee]

It's inside the PC, why do you care about it looks? As long as it sounds great, I'm not complaining how it looks