Is a soundcard needed when using an amp?

Converge · 3 Oct 2011 at 18:40

Hey guys,

I'm in the process of buying some B&W 685's and a Marantz PM6003 amp, and I was wondering if I should be skimping on the soundcard or not?

Surely the amp deals with it all?!!

Am I being a bit of a plonker and missing out on spending a bit in the soundcard department? I've currently got an Asus Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-Express. Will this suffice or should I be going for the Xonar Essence?

Thanks in advance!

Converge · 3 Oct 2011 at 20:34

I'm confused, MilanoChris, you say that digital is all well and good for digital receiving equipment, but analogue needs a good soundcard, from what I could understand. And Sin is saying that I don't need a soundcard.

Which is right? Am I misunderstanding something?

Converge · 3 Oct 2011 at 20:57

Righto, thanks

So, would I need a better quality soundcard than the Xonar DX 7.1? Or would that be sufficient for the B&W's?

Thanks for the help so far by the way!

Converge · 3 Oct 2011 at 21:02

Yeah I will be mate.

Converge · 3 Oct 2011 at 21:22

MilanoChris said:
No option to use SPDIF? If you use analogue, I think the sound card will do audio processing, rather than pass through.

Are the B&W's that much cop then?

Just bought a set of Edifier's, but have the option of getting B&Ws at Christmas.

From what I can tell, there are no coaxial or digital outputs from the Marantz 6300 amp. So no SPDIF as a result. Hmmm, if the sound card does the audio processing, doesn't that render the amp pretty pointless besides converting the sound?
Sheesh, I sound a little clueless!

The B&W's are immense. I've got edifiers myself at the moment, after having aego's previous to that. Definitely a case of B&W > Edifier > Aego in my opinion.

Converge · 3 Oct 2011 at 21:27

I could just use a 3.5mm-to-RCA stereo cable surely? Though still unsure about the soundcard, I'd rather my amp did the work!

Converge · 3 Oct 2011 at 21:31

titaniumx3 said:
The sound card only provides the audio signal, the amp will actually power the speakers. Soundcards are only capable of powering headphones, but even then people still use external headphone amps for demanding headphones.
Of course, you can have the best amp in the world, but it will still sound like **** if the audio signal is ****, hence why you need a good soundcard.

Alrighty, I think I'll be picking up an Essence ST/STX then!

Cheers for the help chaps, most kind