[BenW]

This is for some HD600's I will be using. I was just curious as to your thoughts on if a sound card can deliver decent amplification. I'm currently using a SB Live 5.1 and it has Mic and LineOut jacks.

This is also a 2 part question, whats a decently inexpensive amp I could use with these, that will work for years and be durable enough for constant transportation?

Thanks in advance, this msg board is a godsend!!!

Ben West

 

[jessica00]

turtle beach santa cruz has a DECENT power output. youll still need an amp , even with any prosumer sound cards available.

 

[DarkWolf]

If you want the best from the 600s, you should really have an amp of some sort. You should however, get a better sound card as well, but don't worry so much about it's amplification abilities. You should get a lower end prosummer card. At the minimum, get a Santa Cruz, and I'd probably stay away from creative. I have a DMX 6-Fire and it really is a lot better than my SB Live in every way. (Ok, so I haven't got sound to work in a few of my really old school games yet, but that's not such a big deal.) M-Audio is another popular brand for this purpouse.

 

[Howie]

Being a gamer I'm always hesitant to believe in the "stay away from Creative" talk because it's just not worth it. In the past, cards like the Santa Cruz have been recommended but their lack of new drivers (for the newest EAX support for eg) but them back. It's just too much trouble to stay away from Creative and you're a gamer.

And I haven't really seen proof that Creative cards are worse sounding than others. There are creative lovers and creative haters. But I haven't seen too many fair reviews that judged on the basis of sound. Of course most reviews these days are either HTPC performance related or games related so it's hard to get reviews on music alone.

 

[jessica00]

audigy 2 is creatives only decent card since the original soundblaser. anything in between is buggy, glitchy, and noisy (fire winamp up, play something, hit pause, and litsten for a hiss)
TBSC has NO hiss. and supports most commonly used gaming sound things. the new stuff can probably do fine on CPU time anyhow, if yer a gamer you probably have more than 1.4 ghz. PLENTY of space for an audio DSP.

 

[BenW]

I don't think I'll be upgrading the sound hardware. I will probably go with a nice semi-portable amp. I know this (now) belongs in the "Amplifier questions" forum, but do any of the Airhead/Total Airhead products get along with PC cards? Also, I am using the headphone jack on my SBLive 5.1, but how do I make sound come out of the "Line Out" jack?

 

[ooheadsoo]

There's a straight line out on the live 5.1? Which jack is it? I also have a live 5.1 but I'm not sure which jack you are talking about.

 

[kenchi1983]

I am wondering why people are disliking creative, i own a soundblaster live. old generation model, i think. with that emu10k chip.

and it is sounding good, i just pushed paused on the music im playing and i dont hear any hiss what so ever on my grado sr80.

There is the hiss only if you enable the cd-audio sound, plus its always muted, so no hiss at all.


the only thing i wish for is, grado is still uncomfortable. the pressure points get worse after one hour of use.

 

[BenW]

I thought I had line out, but I read it wrong, it's line in.

But if I I'm reading right, amps can work off the signal from the headphone jack too, correct?

 

[ooheadsoo]

Oh...if this is the live 5.1 we're talking about with standard color coding, the black jack is the rear speaker output.

I don't remember the order, but there is a green front speaker out, black rear speaker out, and a center channel out. There is also a mic/line in, and a minijack optical output for speakers like my megaworks 510d. Only 5 jacks?

 

[BenW]

that sounds right. Mine has a black, green, red, orange, and blue. Not necessarily in that order!

 

[ooheadsoo]

Do you have your manual handy? Maybe if you set the soundcard to 2 speaker mode the rear outputs will function as a lineout. Who knows? I never read the manual

 

[BenW]

Nope I don't have a manual, I bought the card OEM so it was just the hardware inside a static bag. I'm sure creative has it on their website, but I am on dialup here at home and its pathetically slow (lots of graphics).

 

[fujimi442]

do a search on google, there is a whole slew of creative haters out there. I dont mind the sound of them so much, but once you try and install/reinstall the drivers and software for the audigy you will want to burn creative to the ground. I some how lost my cd with the drivers on it and they dont have the drivers on their site, only updates, I went through hell to get that think working in win 2000. OHHHHHHH, and dont get me started on windows 2000, I ended up buying a mac after that whole ordeal

 

[Luvya]

Quote:

Originally posted by DarkWolf If you want the best from the 600s, you should really have an amp of some sort. You should however, get a better sound card as well, but don't worry so much about it's amplification abilities. You should get a lower end prosummer card. At the minimum, get a Santa Cruz, and I'd probably stay away from creative. I have a DMX 6-Fire and it really is a lot better than my SB Live in every way. (Ok, so I haven't got sound to work in a few of my really old school games yet, but that's not such a big deal.) M-Audio is another popular brand for this purpouse.

You see? I wouldn't really listen to DarkWolf if I were you. As I am aware of, he still hasn't taken a plunge into any headphone components yet. I believe that one's opinion should be based on one's own experience instead of others'. Nothing against him, and perhaps that he already took a plunge that I am not aware of. In which case, I do apologize for my ignorance.