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Post by preproman on Dec 23, 2010 20:50:02 GMT -5
What would be a good high end soud card to ues with the XDA-1 in a Windows 7 PC. Also what software is being used?
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Post by bobbyt on Dec 23, 2010 22:29:33 GMT -5
The XDA-1 is a sound card as far as the computer's concerned. A sound card is a DAC/preamp.
If you connect the XDA via USB, it's going to show up as a sound card and work just like one. If you have onboard S/PDIF (my motherboard has coax, for instance), same scenario.
You could get a sound card with digital outs to run to the XDA, but then the sound card isn't acting like a sound card, just passing the same digital signal through (or applying processing to it, which you probably don't want).
The only reason I see for having a sound card is if you want an output not otherwise available--optical for instance, which I haven't seen on a motherboard before.
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Post by preproman on Dec 23, 2010 23:47:49 GMT -5
The XDA-1 is a sound card as far as the computer's concerned. A sound card is a DAC/preamp. If you connect the XDA via USB, it's going to show up as a sound card and work just like one. If you have onboard S/PDIF (my motherboard has coax, for instance), same scenario. You could get a sound card with digital outs to run to the XDA, but then the sound card isn't acting like a sound card, just passing the same digital signal through (or applying processing to it, which you probably don't want). The only reason I see for having a sound card is if you want an output not otherwise available--optical for instance, which I haven't seen on a motherboard before. Yes, you hit the nail on the head. I'm looking for the optical out connection. How does that compare to the USB connection? So are you saying that any ole sound card would do? |
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Post by Mischief on Dec 23, 2010 23:53:28 GMT -5
The best I have ever heard is the Asus Xonar STX, It is a great sound card.
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Post by bobbyt on Dec 24, 2010 1:35:38 GMT -5
I'm sure higher end cards try to take extra special care of the signal, but you're really asking a "bits is bits, right?" question. The sound card *shouldn't* do a single thing to the signal, just use the incoming PCM pulses to fire an LED at your optical cable.
But I'm not up on sound card tech. I remember reading a while back that Creative started upsampling 44.1khz to 48 by default, with less than ideal results.
S/PDIF vs USB has been discussed to death, with the consensus being that depending on your hardware each can be better suited. In an ideal setup asynchronous USB should eliminate most of the jitter coax has, but in most setups they end up being about the same.
At the very least I'd give USB (and ideally coax if your motherboard has it) before buying an entire sound card just to bypass it to get an optical output. That's what I'm planning on, and I doubt the better of the two will leave me disappointed.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2010 7:06:02 GMT -5
I have the Asus Xonar Essence STX and listen to my Sennheiser HD600s with it. Wonderful card and headphones. It drives me nuts when people refer to motherboard sound circuitry as a "card." Just use the XDA then, so was said anyway, you don't need further sound circuitry. I find the onboard sound circuitry, Realtek 889a, to be horrendous.
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Post by dragonhd95 on Dec 24, 2010 9:29:14 GMT -5
I agree with bobbyt, you don't need another higher end cards if you plan to use XDA-1. If your motherboard has Optical S/PDIF use it. For software, I am not sure maybe some one will recommend in here.
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Post by Mischief on Dec 24, 2010 10:34:37 GMT -5
I'm sure higher end cards try to take extra special care of the signal, but you're really asking a "bits is bits, right?" question. The sound card *shouldn't* do a single thing to the signal, just use the incoming PCM pulses to fire an LED at your optical cable. But I'm not up on sound card tech. I remember reading a while back that Creative started upsampling 44.1khz to 48 by default, with less than ideal results. S/PDIF vs USB has been discussed to death, with the consensus being that depending on your hardware each can be better suited. In an ideal setup asynchronous USB should eliminate most of the jitter coax has, but in most setups they end up being about the same. At the very least I'd give USB (and ideally coax if your motherboard has it) before buying an entire sound card just to bypass it to get an optical output. That's what I'm planning on, and I doubt the better of the two will leave me disappointed. When you are talking about bits coming from a computer sound card you are not getting a bit is a bit. The Windows system will tweak the sound to its liking without the proper card and drivers. The computer itself is an audio nightmare of interference and does have a detrimental effect on SQ. Some cards like the STX take steps to limit interference. They also upsample to 24/192 and cards vary greatly in their ability to do so. Just like a CD player can add jitter and effect the SQ of bit for bit a computer can wreck even greater havoc. |
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Post by oppman99 on Dec 24, 2010 11:03:44 GMT -5
What program are you using to play your music from your computer? If you use Winamp, Mediamonkey or Foobar there is a plugin for kernel streaming. It was a free sound quality improvement for me when I was using USB with a Cambridge Dacmagic. Another option is to look into a USB to spdif converter like the HiFace ( www.m2tech.biz/hiFace.asp) if the XDA isn't asynchronus (I don't know if it is or isn't). Might be more than you want to spend, but is probably about the same price as a new high end sound card. |
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Post by Mischief on Dec 24, 2010 11:05:25 GMT -5
Many sound cards will work with an ASIO driver which bypasses Windows and its evil audio altering ways  |
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tomrc
Sensei
Please don't dominate the rap Jack, if you've got nuthin new to say. GD
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Post by tomrc on Dec 24, 2010 23:21:57 GMT -5
But do you need a soundcard that processes a 24bit/192khz signal or just one that outputs through a optical or coax digital output?
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Post by Topend on Dec 25, 2010 15:18:02 GMT -5
I planned to use the USB connected to the XDA-1 to listen to 24/96 music. Problem is I can't get the USB to output any better than 24/48.
I now don't believe it can be done. I'm not sure if it's the XDA-1 or my W7 PC.
For this reason u am now looking at alternatives.
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Post by rogerwilco on Dec 25, 2010 18:01:58 GMT -5
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Post by magico309d on Dec 25, 2010 19:22:48 GMT -5
Xonar Essence STX (coaxial S/PDIF out) and J River are proven to perform well together according to computeraudiophile.com. That's what I'm planning for my media server to drive the XDA-1.
Check out that revew of the STX on that site, it includes instructions for 4 different Win 7 driver configurations with detailed set up instructions.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2010 21:34:39 GMT -5
The higher end M-Audio cards are pretty much the best "audiophile" cards that you can get on a pc.
The problem with them is, they are very expensive and although the drivers are fairly decent, they have quite a few compatibility issues with older hardware.
The xonar is a good card too though but is not a great card for gaming but thats not what your plan seems to be anyways.
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Post by jlafrenz on Dec 25, 2010 22:18:10 GMT -5
I don't see the need to spend the money on some of the cards like the Xonar to simply use SPDIF out. Many motherboards are capable of bit perfect via optical and there are plenty of other solutions. I have 3 cards. Audiotrak Prodigy HD2, M-Audio 2496, and Chaintech AV-710. All of which were under $100. The later 2 can be found used for under $50. I have actually been using USB as of late on a couple of my PC's and it works great. I am not listening to anything over 24/48 so drivers are not an issue for me.
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Post by haugesynsar on Dec 27, 2010 6:40:40 GMT -5
I planned to use the USB connected to the XDA-1 to listen to 24/96 music. Problem is I can't get the USB to output any better than 24/48. I now don't believe it can be done. I'm not sure if it's the XDA-1 or my W7 PC. For this reason u am now looking at alternatives. I have a Beresford caiman, from England, and we use it as a headpfone-amp and DAC. But I have hooked it up with a USB. To my knowlege USB can only "carry" 16-bit, not 24bit. It`s a hardware issue. I can not prove my statement, I have picked it up on another board, from a smart guy.  |
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Post by jackfish on Dec 27, 2010 11:38:35 GMT -5
The ultimate sound cards for laptops are the Digigram VXPocket 440 (multi-channel) and VXPocket v2 (stereo).
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Post by bobbyt on Dec 27, 2010 22:49:29 GMT -5
I have a Beresford caiman, from England, and we use it as a headpfone-amp and DAC. But I have hooked it up with a USB. To my knowlege USB can only "carry" 16-bit, not 24bit. It`s a hardware issue. I can not prove my statement, I have picked it up on another board, from a smart guy. USB can carry 24 bit, but not all DACs support it on the other end--some need drivers. |
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Post by srb on Dec 28, 2010 0:53:10 GMT -5
USB can carry 24 bit, but not all DACs support it on the other end--some need drivers. True, USB has enough bandwidth to support 24/192 stereo, but if the USB receiving chip is a 16-bit chip, all the drivers in the world won't change that. Steve |
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