[xnor]

Thank you for this incredibly worthless post, anwaypasible. It's always a pleasure.
You really should read a book, or two.

 

[anwaypasible]

what..?!
 
i didnt say your cousin - the xonar was bad specifically..@!
 
i said that MAYBE the amplifier cannot provide that voltage faster than the audigy.
and i said that it is very possible that the headphones simply cannot play the soundwaves as fast as the amplifier spits 'em out.
 
i have taken both sides here

 

[xnor]

I don't care about "sides". I was talking about your explanations and assumptions, they are not helpful imo.

 

[anwaypasible]

these people wont become hypnotized by stellar sound without 'em .

 

[hoglum]

I've done some testing now and considering how much this card has been praised and how big of a difference most people seem to get when the gain is increased, I'm back to the idea of a faulty card.
 
I used audacity to compare a couple of songs (in flames - come clarity, metallica - sabbra cadabra, a perfect circle - the package, massive attack - angel) with normal and high gain setting. I decreased the gain on the track in audacity to compensate for the increased volume when changing from normal to high gain in the essence audio center, so the difference in volume was removed.
 
When the volume was the same, I could tell no difference at all between normal and high gain (in essence audio center) and I also had a friend do a blind test - he couldn't either. Decreasing the gain in audacity shouldn't negate any improvement in sound by the amp, right?
 
The sound is great, really, but I don't think the amp is doing its job.
 
So I'm thinking, either this card has a lousy amp that only increases the volume without actually changing the sound, or there's something wrong with my card. Probably the latter since people have reported such huge improvements with higher gain.
 
I mean, it couldn't all be just a massive placebo effect, right...?

 

[ROBSCIX]

If you do not hear any difference between the Gain settings then you have a faulty card. 
If you are using the headphones amplifer there should be a clear difference between the various gain ranges.

 

[anwaypasible]

dont take this as sarcasm..
have you double checked to and sure the headphones are plugged in completely?
 
and does that soundcard have a seperate line-out jack from the headphone amp jack?
 
i'd like to hope that this person is just not accepting the quality of the hardware he/she has, and that the quality is there - but the owner refuses to settle for what is there.
 
although.. listening to some 'club banger' track should really have enough bass to prove an improvement in amplification.
but more voltage doesnt necessarily mean more ability to pass along details to the headphones.
 
certainly bring the soundcard back before the return policy is up.

 

[xnor]

Quote:

[...] considering how much this card has been praised and how big of a difference most people seem to get when the gain is increased, [...]

This is head-fi, after all, so I'm not surprised.
 
 
If you have a loopback cable just connect headphone out with line in and run RMAA, a free tool to measure the performance of the card.

 

[hoglum]

Yeah I've checked the cables. The card has a separate line-out jack, yes, but I've been using the headphone jack. Personally I was kind of hoping for the soundcard being faulty, since the solution to that is the cheapest and most rewarding one. Better that than having wasted ~200 euros.
 
I'm pretty convinced the card is faulty now, since I've ruled out the cans. Considering the fact that many people with the same cans as me have been amazed and blown away by how this card sounds with the higher gain settings, it would be strange not to hear any difference at all between them. This can't possibly be what it's suppose to sound like, pretty nice sound but very far from any kind of nirvana or jaw-dropping effect.
 
Wierd though, that it seems to work fine apart from the gain setting. Or maybe there's even more I'm missing.

 
I'm gonna do one final test (put the card in a different computer), and then return it.

 

[hoglum]

Quote:

This is head-fi, after all, so I'm not surprised.
 
 
If you have a loopback cable just connect headphone out with line in and run RMAA, a free tool to measure the performance of the card.

I've seen it on other forums too though .
 
And the loopback cable sounds like a great idea, but unfortunately I don't have one. Or wait.. would a cable from a guitar work for that too? I mean the cable that connects the guitar to an amp.

 

[maarek99]

Look its this simple. There is NO difference in sound quality between the gain settings. There never will be. It's just gain. It will only boost the volume. I don't know where you guys come up with this stuff.
 
I wasn't blown away by the card with the hd650 either so you know...different strokes.

 

[shimm]

Just a gain, right.... Ok, if gain is 0dB you may listen 44/16 sources as is. And what happen if you will decrease gain? I mean what happen with bit-depth in this case?

 

[Chaos84Camaro]

The only time volume affects performance is in a digital format (Computers/DAC on Pre-Amp) because of the uneven results of equations. By which I mean, when you lower the volume it uses an equation to "simulate" dropping the volume, unfortunately, it doesn't always come out to a whole number and can cause distortion. What does this mean in your case? It means you cannot fully grasp the quality difference unless you had an actual, analog amplifier because you are forced to use a more flawed system.

 

[dex85]

i'm not sure what are you referring to but i think you're confusing amplifier gain with digital volume attentuation. the former has no effect on bit depth, while the latter indeed decrease the bit depth.
Quote:

Just a gain, right.... Ok, if gain is 0dB you may listen 44/16 sources as is. And what happen if you will decrease gain? I mean what happen with bit-depth in this case?

 

[shimm]

 
Originally Posted by dex85 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 

i'm not sure what are you referring to but i think you're confusing amplifier gain with digital volume attentuation.  

ok, lets see who's confusing here

Originally Posted by hoglum /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 

I used audacity to compare a couple of songs (in flames - come clarity, metallica - sabbra cadabra, a perfect circle - the package, massive attack - angel) with normal and high gain setting. I decreased the gain on the track in audacity to compensate for the increased volume when changing from normal to high gain in the essence audio center, so the difference in volume was removed.