Got my Prelude....First Impressions! :)

[Kobalt]

maybe I should have been more clear, I spend more more time at AVSForum because I prefer speakers over headphones. As comfortable as Senns are, I still do not like wearing things on my ears for extended amounts of time. Don't get me wrong, I love the way they sound, but speakers are my current thing

My receiver is strictly Analog, no digital inputs. It is a very good receiver from Sony's older ES lines. A bit dated (13 years old), but it has surprisingly clean and neutral sound, and plenty of power. It got high marks from Stereophile in 95' aparently for one of the best sounding stereo receivers. Gotta love handmedowns

Speakers are way too expensive for me. To get the quality you can get with a 400$ headphone setup you have to spend like $8,000.

[JAG87]

maybe I should have been more clear, I spend more more time at AVSForum because I prefer speakers over headphones. As comfortable as Senns are, I still do not like wearing things on my ears for extended amounts of time. Don't get me wrong, I love the way they sound, but speakers are my current thing

My receiver is strictly Analog, no digital inputs. It is a very good receiver from Sony's older ES lines. A bit dated (13 years old), but it has surprisingly clean and neutral sound, and plenty of power. It got high marks from Stereophile in 95' aparently for one of the best sounding stereo receivers. Gotta love handmedowns

I beat you. My Technics is exactly 20 years old. class 1987. Best sounding analog receiver I have heard to date. Honestly, with analog stuff, the older the better it seems.

About your right mark results, it matters A LOT what male to male cable you use. If its a cheap one, or a well built one. Chances are your cable was better than XS's. What also matters is the amount of interference and EMI there is in the test room. Ideally a Faraday cage should be used for these kind of tests.

[Miwo]

Speakers are way too expensive for me. To get the quality you can get with a 400$ headphone setup you have to spend like $8,000.

typical head-fi'er ........
On a related note.... I ran a lot of rightmark tests and put up some comparison links. Check em out!

[Miwo]

I beat you. My Technics is exactly 20 years old. class 1987. Best sounding analog receiver I have heard to date. Honestly, with analog stuff, the older the better it seems.

About your right mark results, it matters A LOT what male to male cable you use. If its a cheap one, or a well built one. Chances are your cable was better than XS's. What also matters is the amount of interference and EMI there is in the test room. Ideally a Faraday cage should be used for these kind of tests.

lol

Vintage Solid State does sound very nice and is easy to find for cheap at garage sales. If you are lucky, you may catch a good deal! I also have a Harman Kardon HK430 Twin Receiver from the 70s, but I prefer the Sony as it does not color the sound as much. The folks over on the Klipsch boards rave about HK430 + Heresy combo nonstop though

[One_Hertz]

ok I added some Rightmark tests. My results are very different from the XSReviews findings

yeah yours are correct for a change

Great review overall, good to hear from someone NOT using 50 dollar headphones and claiming they see no difference between the prelude and the earlier XFis

[ROBSCIX]

@Miwo The X-fi Mode changer application works with this card. If that is what your referring to.

[jtf2]

damn,i missed the fedex man today-delivery tomorrow and i look forward to trying this new card out!!

[Donnie27]

I beat you. My Technics is exactly 20 years old. class 1987. Best sounding analog receiver I have heard to date. Honestly, with analog stuff, the older the better it seems.

About your right mark results, it matters A LOT what male to male cable you use. If its a cheap one, or a well built one. Chances are your cable was better than XS's. What also matters is the amount of interference and EMI there is in the test room. Ideally a Faraday cage should be used for these kind of tests.

Sure, I got you beat, I have a restored set of Optimus Mach 1's downstairs in my Den. In fact, the Infinity's in my computer room is from 1987 as well LOL! Learn how to "Re Balance and Re-Foam" speakers. I'm also learning how to re-cone them.

If I could only get the sound of that frackin' Harmon Kardon AVS 247 out of my head before I buy one, that's one of the reason the Prelude can wait.

[jtf2]

Sure, I got you beat, I have a restored set of Optimus Mach 1's downstairs in my Den. In fact, the Infinity's in my computer room is from 1987 as well LOL! Learn how to "Re Balance and Re-Foam" speakers. I'm also learning how to re-cone them.

If I could only get the sound of that frackin' Harmon Kardon AVS 247 out of my head before I buy one, that's one of the reason the Prelude can wait.

optimus mach 1`s was that not a brand of speakers radio shack used to sell?,
back in the 80`s!!

[lochabar]

On your modded X-Fi, was it just the replaced opamp or did you also change the power filter cap?

would someone mind posting a link to somewhere i can look into these mods for the X-Fi?

[Donnie27]

optimus mach 1`s was that not a brand of speakers radio shack used to sell?,
back in the 80`s!!

Yes, Radio Shack sold them, I mentioned this in a another thread. They are old school sealed with tight but deep bass, killer super tweeter and a wide dispersion Midrange Horn. A winning EBay bid on a set was $580.
I got mine for the cost refoaming the woofer surrounds and new Grill cloth. Paid nothing for them.

I tried these in my computer room but they were too frackin' Loud and my wife complained, hehehehe! It's not that these are ear splitting loud but the Room is too small for them.

[jtf2]

well my 1st impressions on the card are WOW & WOW again.a very noticeable improvement in sound quality across the board,music wise .not sure how much an improvement the opamp upgrade will yield?
have not delved into the gaming aspect yet,but i will tonight after i am done pounding my klipsch 5.1 ultra`s!!

[Donnie27]

well my 1st impressions on the card are WOW & WOW again.a very noticeable improvement in sound quality across the board,music wise .not sure how much an improvement the opamp upgrade will yield?
have not delved into the gaming aspect yet,but i will tonight after i am done pounding my klipsch 5.1 ultra`s!!

Glad you like, hurry up and give us some Game sounds reviews?

[Donnie27]

would someone mind posting a link to somewhere i can look into these mods for the X-Fi?

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=229350

[Miwo]

well my 1st impressions on the card are WOW & WOW again.a very noticeable improvement in sound quality across the board,music wise .not sure how much an improvement the opamp upgrade will yield?
have not delved into the gaming aspect yet,but i will tonight after i am done pounding my klipsch 5.1 ultra`s!!

very cool that you are hearing lots of improvements even on PC speakers!

[Sparrows78]

I havn't heard any snap crackle popping yet. I had a similar issue as well with my XtremeMusic. If my Master Volume was set too high, I got very bad staticy sounds. My solution was to lower Master Volume to about 45%, but occasionally I would still get crackling/popping (it almost sounds like its clipping) in some games including the Bioshock demo at times where the volume would increase a lot (like during a scripted event).

Happy to say I have not come across any of these issues with the Prelude yet. I've left the Master Volume at 50%. No sound artifacts in Bioshock either

This crackling problem is my biggest issue with my x-fi XtremeMusic. I've got crackling with two different cards and on two different systems! (and I have tried EVERY solution out there...) This is a major problem for thousands of x-fi users and it is adressed in a sticky-thread at Creatives own forum, with over 900 posts:
http://forums.creative.com/creativel...ssage.id=71962

So needless to say, your review is VERY interesting - if this new Prelude card is free from crackle, I'm buying it a.s.a.p! The best way to see if the card does'nt crackle is to try it out with Battlefield 2142, gaming mode, Ultra High quality, CMSS 3D on, EAX on and enjoy the artillery falling from the sky - this is where most people get the problem - if it doesn't crackle then, it'll never crackle!

[ChaosMinionX]

Just got the prelude today.....Im in love with it

[Miwo]

This crackling problem is my biggest issue with my x-fi XtremeMusic. I've got crackling with two different cards and on two different systems! (and I have tried EVERY solution out there...) This is a major problem for thousands of x-fi users and it is adressed in a sticky-thread at Creatives own forum, with over 900 posts:
http://forums.creative.com/creativel...ssage.id=71962

So needless to say, your review is VERY interesting - if this new Prelude card is free from crackle, I'm buying it a.s.a.p! The best way to see if the card does'nt crackle is to try it out with Battlefield 2142, gaming mode, Ultra High quality, CMSS 3D on, EAX on and enjoy the artillery falling from the sky - this is where most people get the problem - if it doesn't crackle then, it'll never crackle!

right, the Artillery strikes result in a HUGE volume spike, which I think causes the X-Fi to start clipping/distorting like crazy. I still have BF2142 installed, so I will be sure to try this out hopefully sometime today when I get home from work. I am very confident that the Prelude won't crackle, since I havn't heard the slightest hint of it even when playing Bioshock. On my XtremeMusic, the crackling was a mess, and i had to lower in-game volumes + master volume to get it sounding right

[Miwo]

Just got the prelude today.....Im in love with it

nice . I'd love to hear your thoughts on the card, please be sure to post....especially if you can hear a difference using your z2300s. The z2300s are crossed pretty high, so not sure if you will see a lot of bass extention - but you may be able to hear some improvements in the midrange and seperation amongst other things

[Donnie27]

I should get the item either Friday or Monday that caused me not to get the Prelude. Gaming in Analog will have to do and I still listen to music in the Digital Domain. I could only get the Harmon Kardon AVR-247 but I came real close to getting a Pioneer 1017, very close. Even the Denon 887 was the other choice. That stripped my budget so no Prelude for now

I kind of hope the lady buying the Technics from me enjoys it as much as I have Clearly not audiophile stuff but it did a very good job with DVD 5.1 sound, especially DTS 5.1.

I'll still get a Prelude or something similar when I have some cash on hand or a trade with one of my Buds I'd love to have a Prelude still.

[ChaosMinionX]

nice . I'd love to hear your thoughts on the card, please be sure to post....especially if you can hear a difference using your z2300s. The z2300s are crossed pretty high, so not sure if you will see a lot of bass extention - but you may be able to hear some improvements in the midrange and seperation amongst other things

Certainly, also using my Ultimate Ears SuperFi5 Pro's

[nfm]

@Miwo

Do you have a pic on how you plugged in analog cables from prelude into your receiver? I'm looking for a receiver that will accept 5.1 channel analog signals.

[Sparrows78]

right, the Artillery strikes result in a HUGE volume spike, which I think causes the X-Fi to start clipping/distorting like crazy. I still have BF2142 installed, so I will be sure to try this out hopefully sometime today when I get home from work. I am very confident that the Prelude won't crackle, since I havn't heard the slightest hint of it even when playing Bioshock. On my XtremeMusic, the crackling was a mess, and i had to lower in-game volumes + master volume to get it sounding right

Sounds promising I must say Have you had the time to do the torturetest yet? As I said, I'm very excited - if the prelude is crackling-free I'll say goodbye to creative forever, no more headaches and gray hairs...

[Donnie27]

Sounds promising I must say Have you had the time to do the torturetest yet? As I said, I'm very excited - if the prelude is crackling-free I'll say goodbye to creative forever, no more headaches and gray hairs...

You'd not be free of Creative with the Prelude. Whatever or whomever made you think that? I too hope there are no SCP with the Prelude but I wouldn't bet on there not being similar problems. If Prelude works, you'll still have Creative LOL!

[Miwo]

@Miwo

Do you have a pic on how you plugged in analog cables from prelude into your receiver? I'm looking for a receiver that will accept 5.1 channel analog signals.

Nearly all modern day receivers support this feature. Its called Multichannel Input, or 6CH input. To connect any PC sound card to a receiver using Analog inputs, you need a 1/8 mini (3.5mm) to Dual RCA audio cable. The mini jack(1/8) goes to the sound card, and the Dual RCAs go to the receiver. You need three cables for Fronts, Rears, Center/Sub

A cable like this: http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...t=1#largeimage