amp or computer speakers

-Ad- · 18 Jun 2006 at 21:19

I use ibuds as speakers and the RAWK !!!!!1111

cokecan · 19 Jun 2006 at 11:55

the x-mystique is a great card, that can encode any sound into dolby digital on the fly, if your connectin it to your amp via optical or coax then id imagine there will be little difference between any sound card. as far as i kno the analogue outputs are pretty decent too, though hardly ever use them on mine.

playing games in dolby digital just pwns IMO

Eliot · 19 Jun 2006 at 22:55

so are these em 0404 and the x-mystique ma-giggys good for games as well, if so why dont all gamers get them? is it just a case of marketing?

cokecan · 19 Jun 2006 at 23:56

as far as i know the 0404 and the x-mystique only supports up to eax2, where as all the recent creative cards support up to eax4, which i guess most people prefere in games for 3d environmental and directional sounds etc??

id say their still both great at games though

Raymond Lin · 20 Jun 2006 at 00:22

Phaser said:
For £60 im well happy!

Bargain ,but i suggest you get them further apart, being that close really limits them.

As to the OP's Question, a seperates will always beat any PC speakers.

Here is mine, now and again i plug my PC into it. It's not how i arrange it in the room now but its still the same set up.

jbloggs · 20 Jun 2006 at 08:54

The separates combination is a great improvement over 2:1 or 5:1 computers speakers, especially for music.

I have a Terratec DMX6 Fire 24/96 soundcard feeding a Cambridge Audio A5 amp (£119 new) and Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 speakers (£159). The Terrattec has has a breakout box, so no DAC was required. The sound is good, to say the least.

I also have a set of Logitech Z680 5:1 speakers connected to this soundcard as well, so very easy to compare quality of sound between the 2 setups. For (especially) music, films, streamed radio the amp + speaker is quite superior to the Logitech system.

The emu-0404 is a very good card, and for music is certainly far better that the X-FI. If you want to only play games go for the X-FI, is you want quality music, go the separates route, and the emu-0404 will certainly do very nicely for that.

Phil2008 · 20 Jun 2006 at 12:23

cokecan72 said:
the x-mystique is a great card, that can encode any sound into dolby digital on the fly, if your connectin it to your amp via optical or coax then id imagine there will be little difference between any sound card. as far as i kno the analogue outputs are pretty decent too, though hardly ever use them on mine.

playing games in dolby digital just pwns IMO

The sound quality of the HDA Digital X-Mystique is nothing to get excited about. I couldn't really tell much diff going from a sb live 5.1 card, and I have the logitech z-680 speakers. The only thing going for the X-Mystique is the dolby digital live, with coaxial and optical connection and it looks cool.

So Ive sold the card and ordered a x-fi card, it should be here tomorrow

cokecan · 20 Jun 2006 at 13:10

guess it just depends on how its connected to your speakers. via coax or optical its gonna sound pretty much the same with any sound card, but analogue is another story.
i've never really used analogue on any sound card, always used optical to conenct to my amp so wouldnt be able to tell the difference between analogue connections on diff cards if it hit me in the face

daz · 20 Jun 2006 at 13:57

Raymond Lin said:
Here is mine, now and again i plug my PC into it. It's not how i arrange it in the room now but its still the same set up.

Is that a musical fidelity headphone and pre-amp on the right hand side?

james.miller · 20 Jun 2006 at 15:26

speedy2004 said:
The sound quality of the HDA Digital X-Mystique is nothing to get excited about. I couldn't really tell much diff going from a sb live 5.1 card, and I have the logitech z-680 speakers. The only thing going for the X-Mystique is the dolby digital live, with coaxial and optical connection and it looks cool.

So Ive sold the card and ordered a x-fi card, it should be here tomorrow

^^^ dont worry. he's the only person who thought that

an x-fi wont be better in analogue for music. using pcm they will be the same. It'll be better for games if you dont mind using 3 pairs of rca's but for everybody else who doesnt have a pc sitting on top of their av amp (av amp, not little pc speakers - i thought we were talking about quality here) then the x-mystiques are a godsend when using a digital hookup

Raymond Lin · 20 Jun 2006 at 15:51

daz said:
Is that a musical fidelity headphone and pre-amp on the right hand side?

Its musical fidelity X-can V2 and the X-PSU. For my headphones, i also have a X-DAC around, and sold the X-Tone (pre-amp).

Phil2008 · 20 Jun 2006 at 16:43

james.miller said:
^^^ dont worry. he's the only person who thought that

an x-fi wont be better in analogue for music. using pcm they will be the same. It'll be better for games if you dont mind using 3 pairs of rca's but for everybody else who doesnt have a pc sitting on top of their av amp (av amp, not little pc speakers - i thought we were talking about quality here) then the x-mystiques are a godsend when using a digital hookup

Well When I used the x-mystique card, I couldn't tell any diff between analog and digital.. Whats so great about digital anyway? the only thing I can think of is that you just need 1 cable with digital connection.

The only thing good about the x-mystique card is the 5.1 decoding in digital connection :confused:

james.miller · 20 Jun 2006 at 16:46

speedy2004 said:
Well When I used the x-mystique card, I couldn't tell any diff between analog and digital.. Whats so great about digital anyway? the only thing I can think of is that you just need 1 cable. The only thing good about the x-mystique card is the 5.1 decoding in digital connection

believe it or not that's the point of the card. come on surely you understand this? if you cant tell the difference between analouge and digital on the x-mystique, your speakers arent good enough. The x-mystique was never a good performance in analogue with the standard opamps and the difference is quite noticable

like i said

for everybody else who doesnt have a pc sitting on top of their av amp ... the x-mystiques are a godsend when using a digital hookup

Unless you want to spec me some decent 10metre rca leads.

Deonilin · 20 Jun 2006 at 22:45

thanks you lot have been great one last question tho when looking at the soundcards i was woundering if there are any there which offer the red and white phono connection from the back instead of the front as i cant stand having them coming out the front, or would coax or a 3.5mm to 2 phono splitter cable be better. Connecting the two is really an area i have no idea.

fish99 · 20 Jun 2006 at 22:50

M-Audio 24/96 has phono outputs. If you're going with a stereo amp that's the easiest way to connect things up. One exception would be the t-amp which has 3.5 mm input.

Rambaud · 21 Jun 2006 at 08:14

fish99 said:
M-Audio 24/96 has phono outputs. If you're going with a stereo amp that's the easiest way to connect things up. One exception would be the t-amp which has 3.5 mm input.

I have a T-Amp. It's easy to get a phono to mini adapter, or a phono to mini cable. I have both, but tend to use the cable option.