Soldato
You aren’t getting a merc for £100are you trying to say kia is better than merc?
Sound card or DAC?
- Thread starter j4ska
- Start date
sorry I was talking about cxa60
Man of Honour
I'd say EAX isn't necessary in modern games, they do hifi audio so well it's not something I've missed since having Soundblasters then moving onto the STX then ditching sound cards entirely and going USB DAC/amp and enjoying even better quality and immersive audio in music/games. Would never look back.
The Topping would be excellent for basically everything.
The Topping would be excellent for basically everything.
Do you mean getting Topping on top what I've got already or sell my amp and get this instead?
Man of Honour
This will be a personal preference thing but I've never been a fan of how Cambridge Audio amps present their sound, always felt a bit artificial/digital if that makes sense to my ears. Many like them though. If it were me I'd sell the amp and get the Topping and plug what you have into that and use the USB connection from PC to it. It's a shame you don't have optical out on your mobo, that would have saved a whole lot of faff and bypassed the onboard audio processing due to being an optical signal as your CA has optical in.
Zeos Reviews has covered the Topping models in the past and rated them very well, though it looks like the MX3 is no longer sold unless you can find on in stock somewhere, the MX5 has replaced it but is also more costly at over £200.
You could simplify your setup by selling the Cambridge, getting an MX5 and calling it a day. More desk space freed up as well whilst still having great clean sound.
Zeos Reviews has covered the Topping models in the past and rated them very well, though it looks like the MX3 is no longer sold unless you can find on in stock somewhere, the MX5 has replaced it but is also more costly at over £200.
You could simplify your setup by selling the Cambridge, getting an MX5 and calling it a day. More desk space freed up as well whilst still having great clean sound.
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Hmm might consider getting MX5 to try it out and compare to CA but looking at spec it's slight downgrade imho.
20Hz-20kHz on mx5 against <5Hz– 60kHz on CA
2x42W @ 8ohm on mx5 against 2x60W @ 8ohm
My speakers are 62 - 21,000 and thinking of getting sub @ 19-20Hz
Roomwise - I've added shelves for amp on my desk to suit amp and speakers and if you want me to be honest - i preffer normal size amps
20Hz-20kHz on mx5 against <5Hz– 60kHz on CA
2x42W @ 8ohm on mx5 against 2x60W @ 8ohm
My speakers are 62 - 21,000 and thinking of getting sub @ 19-20Hz
Roomwise - I've added shelves for amp on my desk to suit amp and speakers and if you want me to be honest - i preffer normal size amps
Man of Honour
You will not notice the wattage difference at all, note the Zeos review where he talks about "real" watts, there are companies that produce tube amps that are 1 watt, and are more than loud enough lol.
As for the frequency range, it has no subwoofer output iirc, so naturally won't go down as low to cover that range. Again not something you will encounter given the speakers you have. 20-20Khz range is broader than what the human ear can hear as well.
Essentially both differences are non issues and the decision should be made based on how the sound is presented, the features required and overall scope of use etc. I'd trust Zeos on this one, he's super picky with anything audio, so something getting his thumbs up is a sure solid bet.
As for the frequency range, it has no subwoofer output iirc, so naturally won't go down as low to cover that range. Again not something you will encounter given the speakers you have. 20-20Khz range is broader than what the human ear can hear as well.
Essentially both differences are non issues and the decision should be made based on how the sound is presented, the features required and overall scope of use etc. I'd trust Zeos on this one, he's super picky with anything audio, so something getting his thumbs up is a sure solid bet.
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Oh didn't notice it hasn't got sub out - it's no good then.
Man of Honour
Flipping bassheads everywhere these days 
Soldato
I used to have some good sound equipment, but it's some time since I bothered.
I would say definitely just use the optical out on your motherboard and use an external DAC. The difference between cheap sound and expensive sound has somewhat blurred in modern times, because quality has all-round improved, but there has always been an undefinable element to sound that has little to do with quality. I always remember a quirky little amplifier I had at one point, a Solen B-50 Tiger, it was bizarre piece of junk, really, but it was wonderfully musical. There are some things that are good quality but others that just sound better. Anyway, with internal you are fixed, with external you can try other products.
If you are going to go with a PC card then you can get a lot worse than a xonar. I used to have a xonar STX and they are great cards. I had two variants I think. It was good fun changing the amplifiers because the ones it comes with are pretty poor and there certainly are much better ones around.
I would say definitely just use the optical out on your motherboard and use an external DAC. The difference between cheap sound and expensive sound has somewhat blurred in modern times, because quality has all-round improved, but there has always been an undefinable element to sound that has little to do with quality. I always remember a quirky little amplifier I had at one point, a Solen B-50 Tiger, it was bizarre piece of junk, really, but it was wonderfully musical. There are some things that are good quality but others that just sound better. Anyway, with internal you are fixed, with external you can try other products.
If you are going to go with a PC card then you can get a lot worse than a xonar. I used to have a xonar STX and they are great cards. I had two variants I think. It was good fun changing the amplifiers because the ones it comes with are pretty poor and there certainly are much better ones around.
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