[Clutz]

Does anyone have any experience with these two sound cards? I know that one is internal and the other is external, and I don't mind at all. I have a very large desk so I'm not at all concerned about the size of the DP-U50 - just in terms of audio performance from the headphone out (not using an amp). The two devices are comparable in price so I'm only interested in analog out sound quality.

Cheers,
Clutz

 

[TheWayofWay]

I have the DP-U50 and had the M-Audio Revolution 7.1

Unfortunately, I can't really tell you what the analog out on the revo is like though, since I never ran headphones directly out. My impression of the DP-U50 out though...

When using it as a DAC, it really really sounds sterile and unengaging. It's not extremely detailed, but just extremely boring. However, using analog from the revo 7.1 really livened things up. It was as if the music was brought back to life. Also, I found the treble on the DP-U50 using USB a bit harsh. Not sure why that was, but it can get a bit annoying.

The DP-U50 makes an excellent input selector and I highly recommend it. Another nice thing you can do is connect it via USB and while using foobar kernel streaming (effectively cutting out other sounds), have the USB audio signal mix in with your digital. That means that your revo/emu/whatever could be outputting with kernel streaming, and you could set the USB audio to default and hear everything inside windows as well. Very convenient.

I feel that the DP-U50 is a worthy purchase and the out will satisfy you for a while. But save up for an E-Mu0404, as it's much better than the revo 5.1/7.1

Pairing the two together with an amp is great.

 

[Clutz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheWayofWay I feel that the DP-U50 is a worthy purchase and the out will satisfy you for a while. But save up for an E-Mu0404, as it's much better than the revo 5.1/7.1

I really appreciate your input. I don't have Windows (running on Mac exclusively), but perhaps I should consider just buying an E-Mu0404 right away instead. Someone posted a day or so ago that they were for sale at $87US + shipping.. I'd just need to get the breakout box too. Does the E-Mu require a headphone amp?

Cheers,
Clutz

 

[TheWayofWay]

Buy a breakout box? The E-MU0404 comes with the two breakout boxes already. If you're talking about custom ones... I think you have bigger things to use your dollar for than that!

It's really only 100 dollars brand new with everything. Most would say that a headphone amp is required... and I'd be inclined to agree but what headphones do you have? Also, I find that the DP-U50 is a good enough purchase by itself. If funds are limited and you have a chance to get a DP-U50, I'd say do it. You'll get that sterile sound, but on the plus side, you'll get the so-so power, input selector, and a way to mix USB audio with your digital or analog or whatever.

 

[Clutz]

Oh, I thought the E-Mu came without cables (I don't know why- I had just gathered that when people were having custom cables made I suppose). I am using Sennheiser HD590 headphones which are pretty easily driven by either my iPod or either of my PCDP to sufficiently loud levels.

If you were going to choose between the E-Mu and the DP-U50, and you were only going to get one or the other, you would get the DP-U50?

Thanks
Clutz

 

[TheWayofWay]

Well, no. I'd actually buy the DP-U50 first and then the E-MU when I had the funds. It serves great as an input selector as I said. The Dolby/DTS virtualization is quite good. I use my DVD player and my computers with it. I'm assuming that you're not going to stop just at this right?

If you were to go absolutely no further, then I'd recommend the E-MU for so und quality alone. But the DP-U50 can serve a number of tasks... it's like a swiss army knife as another member said. Getting both=good.

 

[Clutz]

I have no plans to use this with anything other than my work computer to listen to music through. I already have a DVD Player, CD-Changer, Receiver set up that I use at home and it will be a little while before I switch my primary audio source from my CDP to a compouter source (at least 6 months, probably closer to 10).

Cheers,
Brad

 

[Snoodge]

the DPU-50 is worth every penny if only to hook it up digitally and use the awesome 5.1 DTS/DD headphone modes that it has. set your software dvd player to SPDIF and let the yamaha decode the rest, sounds awesome.

 

[TheWayofWay]

A bit OT, but I'm curious Snoodge, doesn't the M-Audio Transit have a better DAC than the wolfson on the AV-710? I'm also curious as to why you don't put everything through the DP-U50 and connect it via preouts to your Perreaux.

VDD and DTS decoding didn't seem to work right when I plugged headphones directly in... but did after going through the preouts. Curious to know if you have the same experience.

 

[Snoodge]

The two systems are completely separate. The music listening comp is a dell laptop into M-Audio Transit 24/96 being fed by Foobar, the analog output from the Transit goes into the Perreaux and then directly from Perreaux to the HD600's...

The other system goes, AV-710 Optical output (because its the only way I can get 24/96 digital data outta my comp) into DP-U50, when I listen to foobar on that comp Foobar upsamples to 24/96 then passes it out the AV-710's optical out and the DP-U50's D/A's do the work and then amplify the signal internally for my HD-280's... I actually quite enjoy the sound from the DP-U50's D/A and amp section on my 280's so long as its being fed internally by Foobar and the AV-710. As you can imagine if i want to watch movies I just open PowerDVD and set it to SPDIF and the AV-710 will then pass the DD/DTS stream through optical to the DP-U50 also, which sounds amazing through the DP-U50's headphone mixing for surround.

to answer your question, why would I run the pre-outs from the yamaha into the perreaux? besides the fact that theyre across the room from eachother. Why would I introduce two (or three if you count the computer) different volume controls in the signal path and then try to set all the dials correctly to come out with an even sound?

 

[TheWayofWay]

Wouldn't you simply set all components to maximum except the final one? I find the M-Audio revolution or E-Mu 0404 DACs to be vastly superior to the dp-u50. Don't you find the sound a bit boring and cold? 24/96 seems to tighten the sound up and clean it up, definitely. Have you tried the transit vs. dp-u50 though?