What soundcard?

jedi1234

jedi1234

jedi1234

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Joined
12 Aug 2009
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3
Hello.

I am so lost and confused about what sound card to get.

I am buying a new amp Marantz PM6006, I have some Tannoy speakers.

What I want to use my pc is for music and watching bluerays.

I will never use more than 2 speakers, since the lack of room.

I looked at soundcards, they have like 7.1 and that seems pointless that I will only ever use 2 speakers.

My budget for a soundcard is £200.

I am looking for a like a stereo sound card, with can produce really good quality sound with just 2 speakers.

Any advice would be great.
 
I have an slightly old but still going strong Marantz PM6003 (looks identical) with Q-Acoustic bookshelves with BeyerDynamic dt770 headphones attached to the amp. The amp is connected to the sound on the motherboard.

Before changing to Ryzen I used an Asus D2 soundcard which I was more than happy with. Music especially high bitrate sounded fantastic as did any media I played. Unfortunately I have no PCI slots and can't use it.

It maybe my so called high end board but the sound is flat despite how I change the equalizer. When I had the soundcard I would have it on the 'source direct' button. Now I have to use loudness to try and simulate some sort of punchiness/life.

I was looking at a soundcard last week for the exact reasons you are and nearly bought a creative Z card. I read forums to seek opinions. A lot of opinions are of those claiming onboard sound is as good but I would argue the point. The views I took from what I read were if you had to buy a card then something like the Creative audigy or to something higher ended like the Asus Xonar STXs if you can find them.

Problem with me is that they all appear to be built (promoted) on having a headphone amp which I dont need or 7.1 sound that I will most likely never use.

I know I have babbled on a bit sorry but I think I am going to go the way of a cheaper card maybe the ~£30 Audigy or at the most the ~£60 Creative Z. I would hope they at least equal the sound I got from my older card and if they dont then its the distance selling act for it.
 
Thanks for the reply Chris74, I too read that soundcards was like 33% better than built in ones on a motherboard, that's why its so confusing to try and get a modern stereo only soundcard :(
 
Just get yourself an external DAC such as the Schiit Modi 2 and feed it via USB, bypassing the onboard audio completely. You then connect the DAC to your amp using RCA cables, giving you a pure, high quality stereo signal with none of the added "stuff".
 
Much better than the Modi and not much more expensive is the audioquest dragonfly. Pick up an audioquest TRS to RCA cable for it and you're in business. The Dragonfly beats some DACs that are double the price and is very much an excellent DAC. You will not match its sound quality with any soundcard. Not even close. And it's only Stereo.

If you want to buy British, and spend a bit more, buy an ARCAM rPAC. It's about double the price, doesn't particularly sound better, but is smoother, which is either good or bad depending on your tastes. Given the inherent smoothness of the entry level Marantz amps I'm not sure the rPac is the best pairing.

Regardless of what you end up buying, you want a USB DAC. Not a soundcard. And you want decent cables. (read: not 400 pound cables, but not 8 pound cables either) For RCA or TRS to RCA I suggest Audioquest Evergreen and for USB I suggest the SUPRA usb cables that are made specifically for audio transfer. Both are reasonably priced, are not snake oil, and sound very good for the money. The Dragonfly plugs directly into a USB port negating the need for a USB cable. This also makes for cleaner sound as even the best USB cable is worse for your signal than a direct port to port connection.
 
The Dragonfly is not "much better" than the Modi 2, it just uses a different DAC chip (ESS Sabre 9010/9016) that sounds drier (extremely detailed but not as musical) than the one in the Modi (AK4490) - the AK4490 and ESS99016 are both top of the line, with the ESS slightly below
 
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