This is where their argument falls down; they believe the hype, not their ears.
Beresford DAC
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This is where their argument falls down; they believe the hype, not their ears.
I'm having exactly the same issue, just got hold of an Audio Alchemy Dac-in-the-box to replace my creative external usb soundcard and i'm wondering what to think at the moment. The sound is a lot brighter as you said, with the benefits of a more clinical and detailed sound, but it just doesn't sound as 'full' as the external usb was.
Man of Honour
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It'll have to be pretty damn good to beat the Primare I heard the other day
Same was with the Monica2 dac that is also raved about on forums... even modded mine a bit, and got the switch mode optional power supply... And what do you know, my 15 year old Linn Karik CD whooped it !! And that was using the Karik as a transport for it !!!
The forums were saying use it in a 20k system....yeah right what ever !!!
Soldato
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I'm having exactly the same issue, just got hold of an Audio Alchemy Dac-in-the-box to replace my creative external usb soundcard and i'm wondering what to think at the moment. The sound is a lot brighter as you said, with the benefits of a more clinical and detailed sound, but it just doesn't sound as 'full' as the external usb was.
I think you misunderstood me, my audigy sounds brighter than the DAC. I think this might be fooling me into thinking the sound is clearer as the vocal is more defined. I think I can detect very slightly more clarity in the highs through the DAC but as I say the vocal is weakened by it. Im not sure if this is giving me a more accurate reproduction of what was intended, a more balanced playback, but the audigy sound is just better to my ears.
At the moment I am using a 3.5mm jack to dual phono connection from the audigy. Would it change anything to use a mono cable?
Try this....
Do A-A-B demo, play one of them twice, about 20 -30 seconds of the same track, then play the same 30 second on the other set-up/DAC.
Which one was it easier to sing along to and follow the tune of the music, which one makes you tap you foot to.... The one that does this better, is the better sound/DAC.
Soldato
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I have now swapped out the audigy and put in an emu 0404, a supposedly far superior card for music. The results are quite interesting.
The brightness I'd experienced from the audigy analogue outputs is now gone from both the digital and analogue on the emu. I think this might be something to do with the audigys selling point...games...where brightness might be preferable.
The digital and analogue connections on the emu are extremely similar, far fewer obvious differences in tone than on the audigy. HOWEVER the digital out on the emu is clearer, its highs are more defined and the bass is less muddy. So it seems the DAC difference between the emu outputs is much more marked.
I can only account for this by guessing the digital out on the audigy is inferior to that of the emu card.*
I just did your listening test 9designs and the DAC solution does seem slightly better. I really dont know if its my ears or my wallet to blame though.
The confusing thing for me is that the sound quality goes Emu Digital > Audigy Analogue > Emu Analogue > Audigy Digital. Gonna bring my dvd player upstairs later and see if that makes any difference thru the DAC as a transport to my pc cd drive.
Another possible thing to try would be the DVD player using the EMU as a DAC. That should be weaker but given my findings I'm not sure it will be!
*I know digital outputs really shouldn't show any difference and people tend to snigger when people say they can tell the difference. I think I have some justification with the audigy though. As it uses a 3.5mm jack which doesnt fit in the socket too well I cant help but feel the connection isnt as good. There also has to be a reason why phono is used over 3.5mm in most other apps.
The brightness I'd experienced from the audigy analogue outputs is now gone from both the digital and analogue on the emu. I think this might be something to do with the audigys selling point...games...where brightness might be preferable.
The digital and analogue connections on the emu are extremely similar, far fewer obvious differences in tone than on the audigy. HOWEVER the digital out on the emu is clearer, its highs are more defined and the bass is less muddy. So it seems the DAC difference between the emu outputs is much more marked.
I can only account for this by guessing the digital out on the audigy is inferior to that of the emu card.*
I just did your listening test 9designs and the DAC solution does seem slightly better. I really dont know if its my ears or my wallet to blame though.
The confusing thing for me is that the sound quality goes Emu Digital > Audigy Analogue > Emu Analogue > Audigy Digital. Gonna bring my dvd player upstairs later and see if that makes any difference thru the DAC as a transport to my pc cd drive.
Another possible thing to try would be the DVD player using the EMU as a DAC. That should be weaker but given my findings I'm not sure it will be!
*I know digital outputs really shouldn't show any difference and people tend to snigger when people say they can tell the difference. I think I have some justification with the audigy though. As it uses a 3.5mm jack which doesnt fit in the socket too well I cant help but feel the connection isnt as good. There also has to be a reason why phono is used over 3.5mm in most other apps.
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I have a Quad 77 Cd player (15 years old) and integrated amp driving some pretty expensive loudspeakers.
When I bought an Audigy card 4 or 5 years ago I copied a CD and did an A-B test between the Quad Cd player and the PC+Aidigy drive the Quad amp.
I thought the Audigy better than the Quad CD player - 10 years between them, but the Quad costing 10 times as much.
I think ripping to flac gives an even clearer performance through the Audigy.
So now I want to see how much better I can get it without spending £1000 on a DAC.
If I was starting from scratch I might easily take the AVI Digital Speaker route, but my Quad amplification and expensive loudspeakers still perform extremely well.
When I bought an Audigy card 4 or 5 years ago I copied a CD and did an A-B test between the Quad Cd player and the PC+Aidigy drive the Quad amp.
I thought the Audigy better than the Quad CD player - 10 years between them, but the Quad costing 10 times as much.
I think ripping to flac gives an even clearer performance through the Audigy.
So now I want to see how much better I can get it without spending £1000 on a DAC.
If I was starting from scratch I might easily take the AVI Digital Speaker route, but my Quad amplification and expensive loudspeakers still perform extremely well.
The triumph of RCA Phono plugs in the HiFi world is a mystery. A plug that connects the signal before the screen is seriously flawed. A jack (1/4 inch or miniature does it the right way round, and can cope with a stereo signal. The 3 and 5 pin DIN plugs had their advantages, but none of these won over the phono plug.
And a balanced signal lead is always to be preferred. The phono won through an accident of history - RCA (Radio Corporation of America) with the Japanese selling hard into the US market. Nothing else stood a chance.