[Lunchbox2]

Hey guys, I've been lurking around here for a while but just registered (with new HD-595s and CMOY amp on the way...coincidence?) and I'm wondering about my computer audio setup. Right now I have the Soundblaster Live! 5.1 platnum (the model that came with the faceplate full of ports for the front drive bay) and I use the optical out to my receiver (Which is some middle-of-the-line Yamaha I bought on clearance a few years back). I'm wondering If its worth upgrading the sound card to something newer or different. I've had that card for a while and only bought it for the optical out, and I've been reading that some other ~$100 cards offer better or cleaner sound. I'm also not sure if It would be better to plug the headphones into the headphone jack on the soundblaster, or if I should wait until the receiver and plug it in there. I'm not sure if the CMOY will be of any use in that setup, I really got it for listening to my laptop and ipod. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tea]

If you only use the optical out than I won't recommend you waste the money to upgrade, the different is not that much.

 

[1UP]

The receiver's headphone out or a simple cmoy from the line out will for sure give better results than the SB Live's onboard headphone output, but you'll still be stuck with the butchering of the card's resampling - the issue with SB Lives is their native 48khz resampling of all material. This is a VERY BAD THING as it makes most music sound like crud.

Not sure if some modded driver package allows this to be defeated. It would be worth finding that out; otherwise, yeah, jack this card.

 

[Tea]

Yes the hacked driver can solve the 48Khz problem, but if for analog out I still recommend to change the sound card, the EMU USB 0404 seem to be a good choice.

 

[dd051]

are you looking to stay card based?

 

[Lunchbox2]

Hey everyone, thanks for the replies. I'm looking into the EMU USB 0404, and I've also looked at the bithead amp. I'm not sure what other options there are aside from card based...Are you talking about a usb sound card/dac (forgive me if I'm wrong with the DAC terminology) because I've seen those, and I do have a laptop, but I'd really rather avoid having to plug a USB soundcard into my laptop or my desktop/media PC. If its worth the hassle I'd consider it.

I store all of my music on my media PC, much of it stored in apple lossless or FLAC or ogg. I'd like to be able to get that music to my receiver (which I'll admit isn't a great one, but its not terrible either, its the Yamaha HTR 5650) in the best possible shape. I also have some of it on a filled up external I can use with my laptop, which is the situation in which I thought I'd be using a CMOY. Basically now I need help making sure the music I get at the headphone jack on my receiver is as good as possible, and figuring out how to use the CMOY effectively.

I'm going to look into using the hacked driver to get rid of the sampling issue on the SB live card. Anyone know where I can get it or what its called? I'll google search it. Thanks again for the input. Any other suggestions are certainly welcome.

 

[jenneth]

NCIXUS.com - CLARO halo.

And it's only $159 too.


Are you a gamer? If you are, then you might want to consider a different sound card like Auzentech Prelude:

NCIXUS.com - AuzenTech X-FI Prelude 7.1

 

[Lunchbox2]

not a gamer, just use the media pc for my movies and music

 

[jenneth]

Then Claro Halo would be perfect for ya. My roommate has that card, and he loves it.