bdc Posted March 13, 2004 Share Posted March 13, 2004 Currently, I am using a computer to supply my music to my stereo, mainly because I have a LARGE amount of audio on it, and it would be rather inconvenient for me to use another medium at the time. I have the HK430 connected to my SB Live via an adapter cable purchased at radioshack. What ways do you think I can improve this setup? Should I buy a DAC and plug that into the Live's digital out? Or should I buy an M-Audio soundcard, which I've read was good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrPyro Posted March 13, 2004 Share Posted March 13, 2004 bdc- I have the M-Audio Revolution in my HTPC, however, its SOLELY used for DVDs. I wouldn't recomend this card for mp3s and CD playback, the primary reason is that the drivers don't work properly with asio streaming. As I understand it, ASIO and Kernal Streaming are techniques to pass the bitstream though windows without the resampling of the file to 48kHz by KMixer. This is most important for playing CDs and I believe mp3s. Until they fix their drivers (and I wouldn't hold my breath) I woudn't recomend the Revo. What are you unhappy about the preformance of the SB Live (besides really obnoxious drivers!)? Since its acting as a digital transport, the HK is doing the DACs, so depending on your other hardware, I wouldn't worry about the soundcard. -Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdc Posted March 13, 2004 Author Share Posted March 13, 2004 Well I'm not necessarily unhappy with my SB Live, I've had it for many years and it works well. However, I feel like it's the "weak link" in my system. I also know a lot of people here have high end cd players/turntables while I am using just a cheapo $50 soundcard from a computer. It somehow makes me think I'm missing something. Also, currently I have the audio going to the HK via analog out. I'm also pretty sure the HK430 does not have a DAC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted March 13, 2004 Share Posted March 13, 2004 ---------------- On 3/13/2004 1:47:33 PM bdc wrote: Currently, I am using a computer to supply my music to my stereo, mainly because I have a LARGE amount of audio on it, and it would be rather inconvenient for me to use another medium at the time. I have the HK430 connected to my SB Live via an adapter cable purchased at radioshack. What ways do you think I can improve this setup? Should I buy a DAC and plug that into the Live's digital out? Or should I buy an M-Audio soundcard, which I've read was good. ---------------- The Live does internal SRC on everything that passes through it - it can only process audio at 48Khz internally - so it converts (for example) CD audio from 44.1 to 48, then reconverts it to 44.1 on the way out. It's a piece of crap, really. There are a number of great soundcards out there - I use a Terratec EWS88D in my rig, but it's more of a recording-type card (ADAT optical connections) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorcilantro Posted March 14, 2004 Share Posted March 14, 2004 Terratec & M-Audio make great cards. I have owned the M-Audio 24/96 & the Delta 44. If you are looking for a good economic card...the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz or their newer model are both great cards. The Revolution is supposed to be great for audio playback. For gaming (some say dvd too) many recommend the Audigy etc. for EAX but the Revo is a great card. I was under the impression ASIO was more for low latency and thus monitoring recording and that the Revolution can accept up to 192kHz (w/o resampling) with or without the ASIO driver. "In order to create a more direct path to the hardware, and also make the hardware more responsive to the softwares needs, Steinberg of Germany (developer of the popular Cubase digital sequencer and Nuendo digital audio workstation) developed Audio Stream In/Out (ASIO) technology. ASIO has made its mark as the driver standard for delivering low-latency transfer of digital audio. This means that hardware supporting an ASIO driver is able to deliver low-latency recording and monitoring to hard disk." DC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Disc Posted March 14, 2004 Share Posted March 14, 2004 The absolutely best way (not cheapest) to take audio from your PC or Macintosh and drive it into your stereo equipment is a USB DAC. Using a USB DAC you can avoide the pitfalls of inducing jitter into the sound mix. http://www.wavelengthaudio.com/Cosecant.html or http://home.swbell.net/ronsuthe/ As I stated, neither of these solutions is cheap, but this is the best method I've seen to use your computer as the transport and have high-end sound quality. - tb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorcilantro Posted March 14, 2004 Share Posted March 14, 2004 Those devices look very nice but overated ....1600$!!!!! For what...the specs are lacking "cold rolled steel" LOL Have you ever used this device? DAC's on all sound cards are shielded first of all. I like tubes but that is ridiculous, just get small tube pre or integrated for a lot less cash. I mean seriously for 1600$ I would expect a lot more info and indepth specs on that site....really, I mean, are you joking? Who is this Sutherland model geared/marketed for??? Find an Antique Sound labs line or phono pre or even get a vintage integrated with and have brought up to spec. And...at least with PC's, the new Nforce chipsets do not like USB, there are workarounds, but headaches abound. For something realistic and really, great sound, a turtle beach card for 50$ is gonna blow this guy away. My 24/96 had rca's and the Delta has 1/4", the sound quality is excellent. Now would I hook up some 10K$ piece of gear to it...no, I might upgrade to better M-audio product, but for 99% of pc audio playback and MOST recording or archival needs there are many great cards. DC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted March 14, 2004 Share Posted March 14, 2004 wow, that's a bit high in price i think... M-Audio Audiophile 2496 PCI Digital Audio Card - $150 M-Audio Sonica USB Audio Output - $60 Edirol UA-1X USB Audio Interface - $80 Terratec Aureon 5.1 USB - $112 well that's enough for now and you can find more at www.musiciansfriend.com. Going the external route (which all of my suggestions so far have been) is really the best and easiest route. I personally use a motu 828mkII ($750) as my soundcard connected to the pc via firewire and i couldn't be happier. even MP3s sound better with the DAC outside the box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted March 14, 2004 Share Posted March 14, 2004 I had the M-Audio 2496 in my music server but I gave the PC to my Dad so the M-Audio is sitting Idle at the moment ! A very nice sounding card ! Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Disc Posted March 14, 2004 Share Posted March 14, 2004 Truth be told, I do not own either of those devices. Are they worth the prices they are offered at? I don't know. If your really curious ask those hard questions of the manufactures trying to market them. The Wavelenth USB DAC was shown at the recent CES show and had VERY positive comments posted about it. Both Gordon Rankin and Ron Sutherland are very well know and respected people in the audio industry, I don't belive they market crap. I would Imagine the ideal consumer of this device is someone who wanted A) Computer based music server Not willing to sacrifice any quality in doing so. As I said, they are expensive. More than I am willing to spend anyway. But they do present what the future of audio has in store for us IMHO. - tb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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