out of date with sound cards ..

[§k¥¥ |{£øúÐz]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

Jesus, what the hell do you do with $1000 worth of audio equipment?

music/games. spoiled myself with last headphones. just didn't like the lack of bass on the 595's so i upgraded. sadly, it's a slippery slope, and the 650 needs a pretty beefy amp to drive it. plus i decided it's a good opportunity to get a dac since my soundcard isn't compatible (lack of pci) with my new computer. it's a little overboard for a lot of people but i really enjoy my high quality audio. it's delicious.

[Tomek]

Originally Posted by Orac

the one thing your all forgetting to mention here, unless the card, onboard or what ever else your using is hooked up to a quality speaker setup, then you iwll never tell the difference. noisy amps are a prime example of that, amp with 100dp snr will completely negate any gain you would have between a sound with an snr of 10db or onboard with 40db (figure just for example and most likely no where near real life)

With ya there re: good amp / speakers. Take heed w/ specs though...

Never actually heard and noisy amp due to the SNR spec..

Colour of sound (balance), power / handling, damping, separation, and imaging, are more important in my books.

Always test drive before you buy is very important in my books.

After all, it's me that has to be listening to the bloody gear,

and many manufacturer's have "loose" specs, which do not always translate to the anticipated results.

Bring CDs w/ material you are very familiar with, and test which gear sounds best to you.

Specs are often just a marketing tool.

Cheers, T

[Orac]

everything that amps and/or produces audio will have snr. the chances that the average amp will have an audiable snr before its load anough to deafen you is pretty slim tho.

as for specs i have to agree, along with testing too.

[Sephiroth]

Originally Posted by §k¥¥ |{£øúÐz

music/games. spoiled myself with last headphones. just didn't like the lack of bass on the 595's so i upgraded. sadly, it's a slippery slope, and the 650 needs a pretty beefy amp to drive it. plus i decided it's a good opportunity to get a dac since my soundcard isn't compatible (lack of pci) with my new computer. it's a little overboard for a lot of people but i really enjoy my high quality audio. it's delicious.

I suppose I don't have a lot of room to complain, I spent $400 between my sound card and headphones.. Just a little shocked that it could get so much more expensive lol.

[Tomek]

ohhh... maybe we should start another "audio gear off" thread!

[K31TH3R]

The only reason you should be absolutely set on an internal sound card is if you're someone like me who spends a lot of time making music.

You absolutely cannot beat the latency and fast processor of a good sound card in FL or any other beat sequencer with MIDI input.

USB dacs will add TONS of latency, digital out to a receiver will add latency albeit less, onboard sound does not add latency but then you're stuck without a dedicated sound processor which will eventually lead to buffer saturation which means LATENCY.

If you're just watching movies, listening to music, and playing games, digital out from onboard to a nice receiver is the way to go.

If you're into audio production and creation, an internal sound card is the ONLY way to go if you're serious about what you do.

[§k¥¥ |{£øúÐz]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

I suppose I don't have a lot of room to complain, I spent $400 between my sound card and headphones.. Just a little shocked that it could get so much more expensive lol.

lol yeah, if it weren't for the 650's needing more power to drive them, and the fact that i didn't have pci slots in my new motherboard, lead me to needing a dac AND amp, it would've been A LOT cheaper lol, so i decided to get dac/amp worthy of the 650's. well worth the money though for anyone who's on their computer for several hours every day.

[moosteve]

Originally Posted by §k¥¥ |{£øúÐz

Old setup:
HT Omega Claro
Little Dot II++
HD595

New Setup:
Schiit Bifrost DAC
Schiit Asgard Amp
HD650

An expensive adventure that happened due to my z77 mobo not having a PCI slot lol

old set up:
HT Omega Striker
Bose 3 Companion

new set up:
Matrix Mini DAC
Acurus A250 250 w/ch
Acurus RL-11 pre amp
Polk Audio RTA 11T
and i just have some Sony MDR-v6 for now.....

unfortunately i hate the headphone amp in the Matrix, and the Acurus equipment has no headphone section. how do you find the Asgard? i have been looking at that for a while, trying to pull the trigger. it either that or Keces possibly.....

[Tomek]

Useful info for peeps getting into audio there K31TH3R!

To add to it, there are high end firewire and USB solutions which have good latency,

but never as good as PCI. It's getting to the point where you're spitting hairs.

For example I run my RME Fireface 400 at 48 samples buffer (48k/24bit) 99% of the time.

My FF400 is firewire, but I've read the newer USB variant is close (if not equal?) in performance.

I run the fireface into a soundscraft compact4 mixer (for analog volume control),

which then runs into my active Tannoy Reveal 2.1 setup. It's all a balanced signal path in and out.

I bought the Tannoys from a bud for a good price, so that's main reason I'm running them.

Good for mixing, and you would not believe the **** kicking they've taken over the 10 years! LOL

VERY durable speakers...

NOT recommend for listening enjoyment though, as they reveal how crappy most mixes are.

GREAT for material which is produced properly though!

PS - my PC is in the basement so I don't have to hear it.

I run 20' USB, DVI, and firewire up to the living room (my control / recording) room.

My monitor is the USB hub which I plug DVDR, and keyboard, etc.. in..

I had my friend build the top level and pull out tray for the desk to spec. Works quite nicely...

(please excuse the mess! hehe)

[§k¥¥ |{£øúÐz]

Originally Posted by moosteve

old set up:
HT Omega Striker
Bose 3 Companion

new set up:
Matrix Mini DAC
Acurus A250 250 w/ch
Acurus RL-11 pre amp
Polk Audio RTA 11T
and i just have some Sony MDR-v6 for now.....

unfortunately i hate the headphone amp in the Matrix, and the Acurus equipment has no headphone section. how do you find the Asgard? i have been looking at that for a while, trying to pull the trigger. it either that or Keces possibly.....

It's hard to beat for that price. I hear their hybrid amp, the schiit lyr, is a better amp if you can afford it though but I guess it depends on what sound you're going for because their amps aren't flat.

[K31TH3R]

Originally Posted by Tomek

Useful info for peeps getting into audio there K31TH3R!

Excellent looking setup Tomek, really digging all the toys!

I don't know too much about those higher end Firewire and USB options, but it sounds like you have a good thing going there


If you ever want to do some collab work lemme know, I'm at the point where I almost know just about everything you need to know to get down and dirty in FL and some of my latest tracks are starting to sound pretty professional.

[Odanez]

Thank you for spamming with eocf. Your days are numbered.

[Tomek]

Dare I ask what that's all about? Probably shouldn't lol.

Sure shot me a PM if you're out of ideas.

T

[Odanez]

A spammer created an account and spammed a lot of threads including this one, his post was deleted which is why my post makes no sense in this context anymore.

[Tomek]

good to know! LOL Thanks OD