[Gonk]

Hi all,
 
I have a Xi-Fi HD and a pair of Grado SR80i. I love the sound of the Grados on my hi-fi seperates, but on the xi-fi HD, the sound is very electronic and the treble far, far too harsh. I am looking for a warmer sound for my FLAC rips.
 
I work in IT and was finding I am spending far too much time in front of my pc, meaning im not having as much time as i'd like in front the hi-fi. To attempt to remedy this, I did a bit of research on soundcards, and the Xi-FI HD came up as pretty good for music listening and games.
 
The problem I have is that I have had to use the built in Creative Equalizer to drop the 8khz channel to basically -12db due to the harshness of the treble. This annoys me as I feel it's a cardinal sin - I am messing with the intended product of the music artist.
 
My questions are:
 
1) Is it just the nature of PC soundcards that the sound is electronic (not so bad) and the high end treble very harsh (VERY annoying, makes me wince)?
 
2) Is 1) caused by the combination of my headphones and soundcard?
 
3) Are their warmer soundcards out there, or do I need to resort to swapping out this op-amp, which i really dont want to do, as I have just paid over £130 for a soundcard....i dont create music, and i dont see why Creative can't just get it right first time.
 
The reason i'm asking is because I KNOW the SR80i's are top notch, my Seperates show them as such. I am wondering whether I need to just swap the Xi-Fi HD for another card, or if i'm simply expecting too much from PC audio, despite only listening to FLAC.
 
Many thanks
 
(PS the SR80i are epic on a proper hi-fi!).

 

[NamelessPFG]

My understanding is that your "hi-fi" equipment is naturally warmer and treble-recessed, which counters the typical Grado treble-emphasized sound signature for a perceived neutral response in the end. If the X-Fi Titanium HD is a fairly neutral source, then you're hearing your SR-80i for what it really is instead of having the source and headphones counterbalance each other. (On the other hand, more experienced users say that the Titanium HD is warmer than the Xonar Essence STX, its biggest competitor...)
 
Personally, I don't think using EQ is a problem, and the one on the X-Fi cards seems to be pretty good (so long as it's not clipping; the lower the sound card volume is set, the more headroom you have when adjusting upwards).
 
You could try opamp rolling/swapping, but I'm not sure which ones I'd suggest.

 

[Gonk]

Quote:

My understanding is that your "hi-fi" equipment is naturally warmer and treble-recessed, which counters the typical Grado treble-emphasized sound signature for a perceived neutral response in the end. If the X-Fi Titanium HD is a fairly neutral source, then you're hearing your SR-80i for what it really is instead of having the source and headphones counterbalance each other. (On the other hand, more experienced users say that the Titanium HD is warmer than the Xonar Essence STX, its biggest competitor...)
 
Personally, I don't think using EQ is a problem, and the one on the X-Fi cards seems to be pretty good (so long as it's not clipping; the lower the sound card volume is set, the more headroom you have when adjusting upwards).
 
You could try opamp rolling/swapping, but I'm not sure which ones I'd suggest.
 

So you are saying the SR80i are Treble heavy and the Xi-Fi is neutral? i find this hard to believe......Is there any evidence to suggest that SR80i's are harsh on the treble, or more interestingly, that a XI-FI HD is "neutral"?
 

 

[germanium]

Many Grado's are known to have a bit of a hot top end. Many stereo setups have high frequency losses in the interconnects & poor coupling caps, consequently it is more likely the stereo componants editorializing than the computer soundcard. The soundcard is likely putting out a true balanced (uncolored) signal & therefor is revealing the Grado headphone for what it is. I have modded CD players, amps & powered speakers & can attest to the losses normally found in stereo equipment & I know how to get rid of those losses & they end up sounding very close to how my soundcard sounds when done.
 
A large part of the sound difference comes from an excessively high ouput impedance interacting with the interconnects most of which have a fair amount of capacitance. Due to the excessively high output impedance there is a huge mismatch to the cable impedance characteristic which is tipically 50-75 ohms. If one was to match the output impedance to the cable characteristic impedance almost all of your high frequency losses would disappear except that which belongs to low grade coupling caps. Improving the coupling caps or direct coupling in most cases will take you the rest of the way to total neutrality.
 
By the way the cabling losses that occure as a result of the impedance mismatch is due to capacitance. If cable characteristic is matched capactance has no effect at any audio frequence & very very little effect even at RF freqencies even to beyond 10MHz. Unfortunately hardly any stereo equipment manufacturer takes this into account when designing thier equipment. Most of the aftermarket cable industry would disappear if they did design to match the cable characteristic. 

 

[NamelessPFG]

 
Quote:

So you are saying the SR80i are Treble heavy and the Xi-Fi is neutral? i find this hard to believe......Is there any evidence to suggest that SR80i's are harsh on the treble, or more interestingly, that a XI-FI HD is "neutral"?

I can't say with certainty, but it is a possibility. I only have popular opinion here on Head-Fi to go by, without having the chance to sample every combination of headphone and source the world has to offer.
 
While I do have an X-Fi Titanium HD, I don't have any Grado model (much less the SR-80i specifically) and don't have critically trained audiophile ears, though I can easily tell which frequencies are emphasized or recessed to my ears with the help of SineGen. All I have experience with are an AD700 (which I no longer own), an HTF600, and a Stax Lambda, along with two other models not worth mentioning.
 
In terms of cables/interconnects used with hi-fi equipment...that's a can of worms I don't want to open, though I do need a couple of RCA cables to route from the Titanium HD to the receiver that drives my Stax SRD-7/SB, and in turn, the Lambda.