X-Fi amped/unamped?

[Alucard]

I’m soon to get an A900LTD and consider buying a new soundcard along with it.
I use my computer for games so the X-Fi might be a good choice for me, with the EAX and everything. Now here comes my question.

Will the X-Fi XtremeMusic be able to run these cans any good (unamped)? As I've read that the A900 doesn't benefit much from an amp. If I do need an amp, how good will the card work/sound with it? Will it sound better than the AV-710?. Much worse than the E-MU 0404?

I've read that the X-Fi has bad DAC's, how will that effect the sound amped/unamped?

Sorry for so many questions. Consider me a n00b within this area

Edit: One more thing:
The X-Fi seems to share the the same output for microphone/digital-out. Is that really so, cause that would mean I won't be able to use a mic while amped?

 

[Sycraft]

I think you are a bit confused. DACs don't have anything to do with the need for an amp. You can have the finest DACs in the world and still need an amp, or you have have a POS soundcard with a good opamp that really doesn't need an amp.

In general, discreet amps always sound better. The X-fi has an opamp sufficient to do headphone out so you don't need an amp to make it work, but an amp will sound better.

Yes, the mic and digital port are shared so if you want to use an external DAC you cannot also use the mic in without getting a higher end X-Fi (the Platinum, Fatal1ty and Elite Pro all have more ins and outs). However an amp does not require an outboard DAC.

 

[Bones13]

The "multi-jack" provided digital out or microphone in. This is not where your headphones would plug in. You can have both microphone and headphones plugged right into the card on the back of your computer.

You could not use the microphone if you are using the multi-jack to output the digital (spdif) coax to an external DAC/AMP.

Although an external DAC/AMP is considered better sound, its a lot more expensive. Some less efficient headphones (like mine) need more amp power than comes from the back of the card. Sounds like yours might work fine.

The expansion chasis that comes with the XFi Platinum, and Fatal1ty has a separate amp in this section for the headphone plug in jack. I am sure the same is true for the external box that comes with the XFi Elite Pro. Certain portions of the card are upgraded for this version as I understand it. I am not sure how much of the "better" DAC and AMP portion of the Elite Pro is on the card, and how much resides in the external box.

I have an XFi Platinum (not using the expansion chasis currently) to run my speakers on my home unit. I found the XFi to be a very large upgrade to the older soundblaster cards.

 

[Alucard]

Great! Thanks for the replies. I think I'll maybe get an X-Fi then. But a platinum if I want to buy an amp later. How does the quality of the amp and the connections on the front panel compare to the one ones at the back of the card?

 

[K31TH3R]

as far as i can tell there is absolutely no quality loss going from the front to the back (that sounds really funny

) i prefer to use my front bay for audio out to my headphones, the extra juice gives my beyers a little more kick

 

[Alucard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by K31TH3R as far as i can tell there is absolutely no quality loss going from the front to the back (that sounds really funny ) i prefer to use my front bay for audio out to my headphones, the extra juice gives my beyers a little more kick

Thats good to know

I have an onboard soundcard now (AC97). And it has a mic-in on it. Have anyone tried using the microphone through one card and the speakers/headphones through another? In that way I'll be able to use both an amp and a mic at the same time, if I decide to buy the cheaper card.

 

[K31TH3R]

yeah that will work fine, lots of people do it that way.

if you're going from onboard sound to an X-Fi you're really going to appreciate the quality increase a LOT.

 

[Alucard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by K31TH3R yeah that will work fine, lots of people do it that way.

Good I thought that would work

Quote:

Originally Posted by K31TH3R if you're going from onboard sound to an X-Fi you're really going to appreciate the quality increase a LOT.

I think so to. Anything must be better than the soundcard I have now, even my parents 1st gen SB Live (>5 years old) sounds sooooooo much better than mine.

 

[Alucard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alucard I think so to. Anything must be better than the soundcard I have now, even my parents 1st gen SB Live (>5 years old) sounds sooooooo much better than mine.

My soundcard has absolutely NO bass whatsoever with my PortaPros even if I turn up the bass in the equalizer to the max. Or is that because the card doesn't have sufficient power to drive them? That would be weird cause the PortaPros are very easily driven.

Edit: I have a Realtec AC´97 onboard card

 

[]|[ GorE]

I am pretty sure that the x-fi's onboard amp. is as good as any cmoy.My Live! 24bits is.And if its true that the x-fi has an improved analog output stage,the builtin opamp will probably suffice.even for low impedance cans like mine.

Bottom line : Builtin JRC4556A opamp implementation = AS GOOD AS High quality component CMOY.