Digital quality

[JoeBar]

I upgraded my Creative Megaworks 550THX to Logitech's Z-5500 and i'm really satisfied with their performance as of yet.
However due to the digital output limitations of my X-Fi (plus other problems) i sold it and right now i'm using my mb's onborad audio which is based on Realtek's 882M chipset supporting Dolby Digital Live! (something that my 100€ X-Fi couldn't :stick: ). I've searched about alternative options and seems that they come down to two. X-Mystique (http://www.auzentech.com/products_xmystique.html)and X-Plosion (http://www.auzentech.com/products_xplosion.html).
My questions are:
1) Would the digital output quality of them would be better to justify their price or the gains from my onboard are minimal?
2) Out of these two, is DTS Connect all that better than DD Live? Or to make it simpler is X-Plosion an overall better card?
3) If the answer @ 2 is yes. Then should i wait for X-Purity?

Note that my soundacrds duty is basically heavy music listening, quite a lot of gaming (don't care about EAX :p: ) and a bit of movies.

[ripken204]

the xplosion is the best card by auzentech. i would definetly go for that.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829156001
good deal at newegg, ends in a couple of days.

[JoeBar]

Bump! :)

[dum]

http://www.auzentech.com/images/x-purity/index.htm if you can hold out, this is auzentechs new card

[ripken204]

ya i saw that about 2 weeks ago, should be out mid-september.

[andyisc00l]

I'm curious too does it offer an improvment over onboard optical out with dolby live/dts...is there gonna be a difference in quality cuz I'm either buying a ds3 with a x-purity or a Gigabyte DQ6 that also comes with dolby live and dts...if there is no improvment from the DQ6 dobly live/dts in compairson to the x-puritys live/dts..I'd rather get the DQ6 since it is a better board...ya?

[ripken204]

there is going to be a major difference. i would highly suggest gettin an auzentech over any onboard.

[BlackX]

Wait for X-purity for sure :cool:

[SlicerSV]

Auzentech needs to ditch C-media... after they've done that I might consider buying their cards. Hitch themselves to via instead, so that we can have all those features right now, plus PCI2.3 instead of PCI2.2, so that one can use an Auzentech on a newer mac, or any other board that uses PCI-X.

[JoeBar]

The bad thing with Auzentech cards is that they aren't available here so i need to order it for abroad and pay shipping.
However M-Audio cards are available. Is there any user info for them? Are they any good?

Edit: I meant M-Audio and not C-Media cards. :slapass:

[BlackX]

The bad thing with Auzentech cards is that they aren't available here so i need to order it for abroad and pay shipping.
However C-Media cards are available. Is there any user info for them? Are they any good?

Same here m8, and the shipping cost a lot :(

[dum]

what is up with europe you guys get hammered

[xenolith]

The bad thing with Auzentech cards is that they aren't available here so i need to order it for abroad and pay shipping.
However M-Audio cards are available. Is there any user info for them? Are they any good?

Edit: I meant M-Audio and not C-Media cards. :slapass:

I'm no expert, but from what I was able to gather from other people who are in the know, the M-Audio Revolution and Audiophile 192 are among some of the best discrete sound cards available.

[SlicerSV]

yes, M-Audio uses the Via Envy24HT and has all good hardware on the PCB. love. it's still not the GREATEST Envy-based card ever made, but the greatest ones seem to not be being produced anymore :(

[JoeBar]

I'm no expert, but from what I was able to gather from other people who are in the know, the M-Audio Revolution and Audiophile 192 are among some of the best discrete sound cards available.
Thanks for the info. :)
Do they have Dolby Digital Live or DTS Digital Surround?

[xenolith]

Thanks for the info. :)
Do they have Dolby Digital Live or DTS Digital Surround?

No. The Auzentech cards are the only discrete sound card that have DDL/DTS real-time encoders, that I know of.

IMO, if you're using your pc for music and movies, DD/DTS features aren't that important anyway. Using analog i/o with the Resolution and your speakers will sound just as great.

If you're gaming, it's another story, you'll lose the 3D/surround sound because the Resolution doesn't support it. Yeah, you'll get 3D/surround with the Auzentech cards, but it's going to be compressed a little to meet the EAX 2.0/Pro LogicII standard, so I hate to say it, you're better off going Audigy2/4/X-Fi with games. :(

LATE EDIT: Found this interesting while reseaching; Diamond XtremeSound (http://www.diamondmm.com/XS71DDL.php) which has DDL support. It can be had for only $41.80 here (http://www.techforless.com/cgi-bin/tech4less/XS71DDL?mv_pc=pricegrabber).

[ripken204]

but why would he want to use analog when his speakers use digital? its like using vga when you have a dvi monitor..? whats the point in that? with the auzentech you will have surround sound for everything: games,movies,music,etc.

[SlicerSV]

auzentech can't solve my sound card needs, though. i need PCI v2.3 AT LEAST. Auzentech, even their newest card, are all PCI v2.2... the Diamond card is also PCI v2.2...

Creative and Envy-based cards are the only ones that are PCI v2.3. and i'll sure as heck NOT get a Creative card. those things are made like crap. I'll get a card with good Analog and do my digital processing in software before i get a Creative card whose digital out's suck too.

[JoeBar]

Thanks guys for your opinions. :)

[xenolith]

but why would he want to use analog when his speakers use digital? its like using vga when you have a dvi monitor..? whats the point in that?

His speakers use analog i/o too you know. And your analogy is flawed, audio and video are apples and oranges, they're two entirely different types of data streams.

See, the audio signal will always be converted to analog, whether his sound card does the conversion or -- in the case of the Logitech Z-5500 -- the speakers via toslink or coax. IMO, I'd go with the DAC on the Revolution because it probably will do a better job, and hook the speakers up via analog, that's just me.


with the auzentech you will have surround sound for everything: games,movies,music,etc.

I didn't say he wouldn't. I just said the quality won't be as good in games when compared to X-Fi's more advanced hardware accelerated features.

[JoeBar]

If i uderstand what u're saying, a card with better DAC's will be the best solution for music/movies. Plus u would still connect z-5500's on analog?

[SlicerSV]

If i uderstand what u're saying, a card with better DAC's will be the best solution for music/movies. Plus u would still connect z-5500's on analog?


DTS® 96/24 support: Enjoy studio-quality sound thanks to the Z-5500's support for 96 kHz / 24-bit digital audio streams

if you want to take advantage of a 192kHz sound card, you'll want to use the card's DACs and analog cables. the logitech DAC's are only rated for 96kHz.

[xenolith]

Yup

IMO, about the only time digital i/o makes sense is if you're hooking your sound card up to a HT reciever or pre/pro. This may be the reason why you don't see many "digital" speakers for PC's available.

[ripken204]

im just wondering... why are you all against digital?

[Helmore]

Maybe because sound is analog so what's the point of digital.

[JoeBar]

That's a really informative discussion. :)

I've changed my m/b and cpu from a P5WD2-E (realtek 882M on digital using DD Live) to a P5B-Deluxe which utilizes ADI's 1988B audio :sick: and the sound quality was worst than i could tolerate. Plus it didn'n have any equalizer (not even bass/treble) controls. So i've decided that it was enough for my z-5500's.
I decided to go for the trusty analog way, of course the fact that x-plosion (the only descent digital card) isn't available here plus the better performance of Creative in games, made me go with an audigy4 (creative rules here). My decision was based on the fact that despite X-Fi being a nice card (i've used it in the past for 2 months with my previous Megaworks 550THX), i went with Audigy4 due to the better DAC's (X-Fi uses the ones on Audigy2/ZS).
I was amazed with the result. Wayyy better sound quality plus a lot louder and more clear. I've once more realized why i didn't like onboard sound solutions. Whether x-plosion may sound better or not i don't know it but for now i'm not worried... :p: