PC to Ascends...Best Setup?

**metalaaron** · 03-09-2005, 07:18 PM

cool, that looks like a solid I/O for the PC. i plan on doing a similar type of setup this year. i want to get back on track recording and playback via one device - my PC. these offerings just keep getting better each year.
EMU, MAudio, and SoundBlaster also make good devices. zzounds.com usually suits all of my music needs...except for speakers.

hope you enjoy the setup. can you come back and give some feedback?

**bikeman** · 03-09-2005, 07:42 PM

Shrub,
I know you bought an excellent bang for the buck receiver from all the rave reviews on AVS. I don't know anything about that soundcard but I'd like to hear your impressions. I may go in that direction later this year.

David

**S_rangeBrew** · 03-10-2005, 01:48 PM

Don't be sad about no replys. Most people don't know this forum is back up, and therefore, it's sparsely populated.

I think you have made a great decision. I also got the 1014tx and think it's a great deal. The wide array of options it has and the massive power (for it's price) put it over the top. I messed around with the MCACC with my 2.1 setup, and it really worked. I'm itching to try it out with my full 7.1 setup, but my house won't be up for a few more months.

I know it would take a little effort, but would you mind A/B'ing your sound card digital output vs. your motherboard's? I'm curious to know how much audible distortion a motherboard chipset makes vs. a good soundcard. I know the analog mini-din output from my motherboard sucks hard. Static, distortion, you name it. I'll be testing the digital coax output this weekend, and see if it sucks equally. If so, I'll have to buck up for a PCI sound card, so your review is important to me!

As for subwoofers... I guess it depends on your room and tastes what you get. If you have moderate DIY skills, it's one of those things you can save a lot of money on building yourself. I have a $150 Subwoofer I got at Best Buy. Can you say cheap? It has a 12" cone, and a 120watt amp (rated how, I don't know) It's model name is Sony SAW-M40. They were called "one of the only decent speakers Sony ever made"

It works for me, for now, but a Infinite Baffle basement sub is going to replace it as soon as possible.
A subwoofer adds so much to the music, as I'm sure you know. I guess I'm in the camp of "anything is better than nothing" when it comes to subwoofers. However, there are many people for which a sloppy subwoofer really detracts from the music. If you are one of those, a nice sealed sub or Infinite Baffle may be your thing. I'm sure once I get my IB sub fired up, the Sony will seem awful.

Have fun!

**metalaaron** · 03-10-2005, 04:36 PM

or, like me, i prefer the CBM170s in my pc/guitar/soon_to_be music studio w/o a sub.

the THD ratings on a lot of those cards are very low. a lot of the aftermarket PCI audio cards are very good, and definitely worth the money for critical I/O use. i know the MAudio audiophile card is extremely quiet.
that audiotrak looks very good as well. they have some good reviews through their site.

*edit*
M-Audio Audiophile 2496 is the model # in case anyone was curious.

**Shrubman** · 03-10-2005, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by S_rangeBrew

a few more months.

I know it would take a little effort, but would you mind A/B'ing your sound card digital output vs. your motherboard's? I'm curious to know how much audible distortion a motherboard chipset makes vs. a good soundcard. I know the analog mini-din output from my motherboard sucks hard. Static, distortion, you name it. I'll be testing the digital coax output this weekend, and see if it sucks equally. If so, I'll have to buck up for a PCI sound card, so your review is important to me!

I would love to help you out, but my motherboard, though "Soundstorm Equipped" is a non-deluxe model Asus A7N8X-X and lacks an s/pdif connector. In the past I simply tapped into the low-fi minijack on the back.

Thanks for all the words of wisdom!

**bikeman** · 03-10-2005, 05:55 PM

Does anyone have any experience with this unit?

http://www.xitel.com/product_phfl.htm

Thanks,
David

**sensibull** · 03-11-2005, 05:26 AM

Originally Posted by S_rangeBrew

I'm curious to know how much audible distortion a motherboard chipset makes vs. a good soundcard. I know the analog mini-din output from my motherboard sucks hard. Static, distortion, you name it. I'll be testing the digital coax output this weekend, and see if it sucks equally. If so, I'll have to buck up for a PCI sound card, so your review is important to me!

When I said "distortion" in my last post re: mobo digital out, I meant it in the generic sense of "changed" not the specific audio-vis sense of overblown or clipped sound. Assuming you set it to output only digital (many mobos have a setting to include analog from the spdif as well) you should be able to get a pretty clean signal. I have A/B'ed the digital out on my ASUS P4P800 Deluxe with both a USB M-Audio Sonica (very similar to the Xitel unit asked about, but now discontinued) and my new Chaintech AV-710 ($25 from NewEgg). Both of the latter two retain a CD's native 44.1hz, while the mobo resamples to 48hz, which changes the sound in ways that are not easy to describe. Extra emphasis in the low end and brighter highs are most obvious, but there are others. Basically, I wanted to be sure I was hearing the music as its creators intended, so I went with a card I could get bit-perfect output with. This is also important if you ever intend to send DD/DTS signals from you PC/HTPC to your receiver. Although most mobos with digi-out can do it with the proper drivers, it is often a headache to get it working. Better cards usually have better drivers (or in the case of the Chaintech, are compatible with a host of drivers and can even be "flashed" with other firmware and essentially become an Audiotrak Prodigy). That's why I had to ditch the Sonica...

According to this thread over as AVS, the Xitel's digital outs do resample (though the engineers claim with no audible difference). Apparently the analog ports do not.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...ighlight=xitel

Hope that helps.

**bikeman** · 03-11-2005, 06:19 AM

"Hope that helps"

It helps a lot. I've got some homework to do. Thanks, Sens.

David

**S_rangeBrew** · 03-11-2005, 09:14 AM

The Chaintech uses optical output, and all my optical inputs on my 1014tx are used up.

Thank you for all the great information!

**cestlavie** · 03-16-2005, 01:11 PM

Sorry for hijacking the thread for a second, but someone earlier was asking about the prodigy 7.1lt. I have the prodigy 7.1 no lt, and I love it. The sound of music through ASIO playback is great, and makes a night and day difference, everything is cleaner and such. But I think the debate in computer soundcards really comes down to games vs music, much like the HT debate of movies vs music. Generally cards are better at one then the other, and while I can rave about the prodigy for music, it really sucks with games. Seeing as how creative is the standard for games with it's EAX technology, the best the prodigy has is sensura's q-sound. If you are planning on games and music, the best thing to do is maybe wait for the currently super expensive creative audigy 4 to come down in price, as it supposedly has bitperfect playback as well, as confirmed in a review I read on it, and has the capability for next gen games. In regards to comp-> HT haven't tried it yet, but if it sounds anything like what it has done for my computer, well worth the money for music, pretty terrible for games (but maybe I just don't know how to configure everything right, direct wire is pretty confusing IMHO). Found my used on HardOCP for 50 bucks.

C'est

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