PC with good sound card better than HiFi's

poltergeist666 · 24 May 2006 at 08:10

ashmanq said:
Im thinking Hifis give much better sound than sound cards, especially a bang and olufsen hifis

B & O ..... hmmmmmmmm!

Either the irony was lost on me, or you like style over substance.

squiffy · 24 May 2006 at 12:25

Nothing great with B&O, overpriced, underperforming gear.

Mundu · 24 May 2006 at 13:55

I've got my amp hooked up to my EMU0404 and and it sound's great to me. Now all I need is a CD player.

-Ad- · 24 May 2006 at 15:09

poltergeist666 said:
B & O ..... hmmmmmmmm!

Either the irony was lost on me, or you like style over substance.

Lol i rank B&O in the same league as BOSE:

Overpriced tat. I think ashmanq would take back that comment after hearing flac. files played through something like an emu0404 hooked up to a benchmark 1 DAC, sweet amp and and some nice standmounts. Hell i think the tones coming from my mobile sound better than B&O's gear. But as it doesn't look as good as their 'stylish lifestyle gear' then it must sound worse :rolleyes:

Mundu, glad you enjoy your emu. It really is great value for money. But you should try and modify it, as it's very simple if you have basic soldering skills. Makes a noticable difference.

Mundu · 24 May 2006 at 16:26

adfinni said:
Mundu, glad you enjoy your emu. It really is great value for money. But you should try and modify it, as it's very simple if you have basic soldering skills. Makes a noticable difference.

I really should get a solder iron as I might aswell use all those soldering skills I learnt all those years ago at school!

I really need to listen to other Hifi systems though as I'm ashamed to say I bought mine blind from reviews and partly because I got my amp half price plus I couldn't get out of the house at the time but if only I ha waited a bit longer I probably wouldn't of bought my Wharfedale speakers.

At first I have to say I wasn't instantly shocked but as soon as I would hear a car stereo or other peoples PC speakers and mini hifis I was shocked at the sound quality!!!

fish99 · 24 May 2006 at 17:02

Which Wharfedales?

-Ad- · 24 May 2006 at 19:45

Mundu said:
I really should get a solder iron as I might aswell use all those soldering skills I learnt all those years ago at school!

I really need to listen to other Hifi systems though as I'm ashamed to say I bought mine blind from reviews and partly because I got my amp half price plus I couldn't get out of the house at the time but if only I ha waited a bit longer I probably wouldn't of bought my Wharfedale speakers

Same with me. I bought my arcam amp because i loved the sound of my dads very very old A60 which was the first amp they produced (i think). I demod my speakers with entry level arcam gear, as i felt it was very impotant to get the correct speakers. I purchased my cdp only because it is very highly regarded after it has been extensively modified. And it sounds lush

Mundu said:
At first I have to say I wasn't instantly shocked but as soon as I would hear a car stereo or other peoples PC speakers and mini hifis I was shocked at the sound quality!!!

Same with me, and i used to think my logitech z5500's were the bee's knee's.

HighlandeR · 24 May 2006 at 20:32

This thread will open pandaros box im telling ya...

Ive tried dozens of awful sound cards before im talking about the £5 oem white box ones and couldnt even tell the difference between that any my Audigys... turns out since it was being routed to a H-fi seperate, it the was seperate AV amplifier that was channeling the sound and making it sound rich/crisp....

Course can go 1 step further and get a decent pair of headphones, in fact a lot of audiophiles out there especially head-fiers will tell you they have gone from 5.1/2 spker systems and ditched them for a pair of high quality headphones...... Headphone Amps are a whole other subject.

Suffice to say if u do get Amp/AV/Stereo Amps/Headphone Amps/Grado+Senn+AKG+ £100+ headphones your gonna realise the music u were listening to before and then after your wallet will be purged forever...

Mundu · 24 May 2006 at 20:55

fish99 said:
Which Wharfedales?

9.1s

Nelly · 24 May 2006 at 22:04

Not wanting to enter this debate as such but I've just upgraded my 7 year old PC speakers to the Acoustic Energy Aego M 2.1 Speakers. The sound is absolutly amazing so many Tunes especially my old skool & disco house giving me that goose bump feeling!

I havent heared any expensive sound systems except when been clubbing etc, but surely the above has to be a decent set-up for £80 ??

The only bad thing about the above now is, its eating away at me to buy a decent separates system, I've got a Kenwood Hi-Fi cost me £600 about 11 years ago got nice bass etc but the clarity on my 2.1 setup is like. . . I cant believe I can get better than this. . . . :eek:

fish99 · 24 May 2006 at 22:20

Mundu said:
9.1s

You don't like the 9.1s then? They were one of the sets I was considering myself and they get such rave reviews that it's just a surprise so see someone regretting getting them. I've never heard them myself though. I'm curious to know what you didn't like about them, just for future reference.

I went for MS 902i's in the end - still waiting for them to be delivered :rolleyes:

Mundu · 24 May 2006 at 22:45

fish99 said:
You don't like the 9.1s then? They were one of the sets I was considering myself and they get such rave reviews that it's just a surprise so see someone regretting getting them. I've never heard them myself though. I'm curious to know what you didn't like about them, just for future reference.

I went for MS 902i's in the end - still waiting for them to be delivered

I'm not regretting them I actually think they sound sweet but I've never had the chance to listen to any other speakers. I wish I had listened to a selection of stuff before I bought them.

After I bought them I heard loads of people on various forums commenting on how those review from magazines were basically just paid for and basically saying the 9.1s were mediocre or average at best in there eyes. Although everyones ears are different which is why I had wished I had gone out a listened to the equipment before I bought it.

fish99 · 24 May 2006 at 23:34

I'm guilty of the same thing - I ordered my MS 902i speakers based mostly on a What Hi-Fi speaker roundup :rolleyes:

Hope they're good when they turn up.

Doesn't help that there's no hi-fi dealers in Doncaster. I probably should have made the effort to drive to Sevenoaks or RS in sheffield and audition some speakers though.

I've chosen all my hi-fi gear from a combination of reviews and recommendations from the folks at AV Forums so far, and it's worked out pretty well so far. My first system was - Eltax Monitor 3's, Marantz CD5000, Marantz PM66-SE, Atacama SE24 stands. I'm now in the process of replacing it all. So far I've bought a Marantz CD6000 OSE LE, ordered the MS speakers, and won a Rotel RA02 Amp off ebay a few days ago - can't wait to try it all together. With the exception of the MS speakers, it's all been used stuff. The savings with used stuff are great, but it does come at the cost of not being able to try before you buy.

I don't mind taking a few risks though, since I could never afford this sort of gear new (£350 for an new RA02 amp for instance when I got it for £150 used). Anyway, I'm just waffling now...

-Ad- · 24 May 2006 at 23:45

HighlandeR said:
Course can go 1 step further and get a decent pair of headphones, in fact a lot of audiophiles out there especially head-fiers will tell you they have gone from 5.1/2 spker systems and ditched them for a pair of high quality headphones...... Headphone Amps are a whole other subject.

Suffice to say if u do get Amp/AV/Stereo Amps/Headphone Amps/Grado+Senn+AKG+ £100+ headphones your gonna realise the music u were listening to before and then after your wallet will be purged forever...

Yup head-fi is killing my wallet.

I really want to send my grados to larry at headphile for the woodie treatment and nice new recable (£250), and i really really want to get a singlepower PPX SLAM tube amp, but that is £500. WIll probably get the headphones done as a 21st present as its something i will always kepp and never ever sell.

Listening to a playlist with my grados atm, with a playlist full of nerina pallot, pendulum, and imogen heap

Sounds soo good through the emu

tom_nieto · 25 May 2006 at 10:11

I know a lot of people rave about headphones, and I'm not going to deny that they can sound very very good (My Senns, whilst not the best sound pretty decent), I just don't think that you can beat the feeling of sitting freely in your comfy chair having the bass gently vibrating your feet on the floor.

I also bought pretty much blind, probably not too sensible, but I did a lot of research. I'm glad I neded up with what I did as it suits my listening style pretty well. I did listen to some speakers, but it was in a shop with a poor layout. I got to listen to similar model to my current speakers, but wasn't instantly sold because they actually lacked any sort of bass weight, even though they were crystal clear in comparison to some Jamo speakers that I quite liked at the time in the same shop. Problem is, that it was hard to judge anything because they were situated in such different locations. Suffice to say I won't need to be upgrading for a little while, at least not until I have a proper job or a proper listening room.

When my amp started humming recently (it's fine now touch wood) my housemate said, it's ok, you can pick one up pretty cheaply from argos. I couldn't explain that there were huge differences between amps. He seems satisfied with his flashing light system, so I wasn't going to argue too much.

Mundu · 25 May 2006 at 10:23

tom_nieto said:
I know a lot of people rave about headphones, and I'm not going to deny that they can sound very very good (My Senns, whilst not the best sound pretty decent), I just don't think that you can beat the feeling of sitting freely in your comfy chair having the bass gently vibrating your feet on the floor.

I was going to say the same thing. I was looking at getting a headphone amp setup but I have my music on all the time, while I'm getting dressed ect. Sometimes if I'm in the mood I even ance about a bit. My Beyerdyamics do the latenight headphone duties though.

TooNice · 25 May 2006 at 12:05

Well, I have no doubt that speakers -can- sound very good. But what I appreciate about headphones is the level of details you get for their cost.
If headphone restricts your mobility (not a probablem for me 80% of the time), by the time you need to worry about speaker placement once you get to higher end speakers (which cost several time a good pair of headphones).

Anyway, right now I definitely use my headphones most of the time. My speakers just stay muted (probably more economical for me to just switch them off, but anyway) 80% of the time. When I need to clean the flat, dance around in the room, or do some exercise, I just press the mute button and I'll get the room shaking bass (which I can live without but is nice once in a while).

Still, I believe that there are people who pair the AKG K1000 with a quality subwoofer for a hybrid solution

tom_nieto · 25 May 2006 at 12:08

TooNice said:
Still, I believe that there are people who pair the AKG K1000 with a quality subwoofer for a hybrid solution

What a strange way to listen to music! Headphones do offer greater detail for the cash (smaller amounts of air to be moved I guess), but I think I'll be spending my cash on speakers, as I hardly use my headphones.

jbloggs · 25 May 2006 at 21:01

Just bought a Cambridge Audio 5 amplifier, Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 speakers, and some decent speaker cable. I am using this connected to a Terratec DMX 6Fire24/96 soundcard (via the breakout box). Playing CDs, FLACs & MP3s through it, the sound is, to say the least, very good.

I had been using the Terratec soundcard only with a set of Logitech Z680 5:1 speakers. I have to say that the quality of music with the Cambridge A5 + Wharfedale speakers is MUCH superior than with the Logitech setup.

So, to my ears, the difference is quite apparent.

Mundu · 25 May 2006 at 21:20

jbloggs said:
Just bought a Cambridge Audio 5 amplifier, Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 speakers, and some decent speaker cable. I am using this connected to a Terratec DMX 6Fire24/96 soundcard (via the breakout box). Playing CDs, FLACs & MP3s through it, the sound is, to say the least, very good.

I had been using the Terratec soundcard only with a set of Logitech Z680 5:1 speakers. I have to say that the quality of music with the Cambridge A5 + Wharfedale speakers is MUCH superior than with the Logitech setup.

So, to my ears, the difference is quite apparent.

OMG someone with the same speakers as me!