sound card deal

[=98=]

Re: sound card deal

Preludes are very good, but the Xonar cards theoretically outpace them (according to statistics) although whether you notice the difference between the signal to noise ratios is a different matter!

It's really down to this. If you predominantly game, then the Prelude should be your choice. If you enjoy high quality music (i'm talking FLAC here, not mp3) and movies, then the Xonar is the place to be. The D2/D2X are great surround sound cards and the STX is a very, very good dedicated stereo card.

[theminx]

Re: sound card deal

wow, this is such a hard choice, and yea alex FLAC is what is up..that is no joke, and i hear a major diffrence in it..

myself i dont know what to do..i do like the ausentech ..lookin nice, and im leaning tward that also...
but im still undecided ..
thanks for all the feedback you guys are the best..

but then again you guys help out because you know i actuallybuy the ****, and use it, so lol..

http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-fi_hometheater_hd.php

anyone know how the hdmi works ???
i already got hdmi out from my 4870 graphic card???

[AlecJ32]

Re: sound card deal

It's really down to this. If you predominantly game, then the Prelude should be your choice. If you enjoy high quality music (i'm talking FLAC here, not mp3) and movies, then the Xonar is the place to be. The D2/D2X are great surround sound cards and the STX is a very, very good dedicated stereo card.

Using FLAC or .WAV for music files is for the most part pointless, since audio codecs like Mpeg Layer 3, Ogg Vorbis and Windows Media Audio are so efficient at compressing audio without noticeably reducing audio quality that most people can't even hear the difference between the files. The majority of data removed from the audio sample is noise that is not audible to humans. Considering this, it'd make much more sense to use a smaller format, like 128KB/s WMA, since it takes up much less space that FLAC files do.

Musicians, Audio Producers, and Sound Engineers use the highest possible recording quality not because it sounds better, but because any imperfections will impact the sound quality of the analog distortions, modulations, and compressors that they use, it sounds better when using digital effects, and higher quality audio signals work better when mixing and mastering your audio. Using the higher quality audio files for listening is really just pointless unless you're one of the few people who have ears good enough to hear the difference between lossless audio codecs like FLAC and high quality lossy codecs like Vorbis, MPEG and WMA.

[Busby, Paul (Bicci)]

Re: sound card deal

Most people can tell the difference between say 128kbps MP3 and a FLAC file as long as you have a decent sound circuit to listen to it with but when your pushing up towards 320kbps the losses are pretty minimal. FLAC is basically lossless codec so it sounds as close as possible to CD and I agree there is very little difference between high quality lossy codec and FLAC to 99% of people but i would hardly say its pointless.
If you wanted to convert an MP3 or whatever to another format you would encounter errors as you are sampling and quantizing already sampled and quantized material however with flac this is not really an issue.
As a general rule i prefer to keep at least one copy of music in its highest quality then if im transferring onto an MP3 player or whatever i will compress it to fit more on.

[=98=]

Re: sound card deal

I had my ears tested by the Army and i have a very good hearing range. I can tell the difference between 320kb/s MP3's and FLAC. I didn't honestly think i would, but there are so many notes that you just miss with MP3's!

[Busby, Paul (Bicci)]

Re: sound card deal

thats pretty impressive! I didnt really used to be able to tell much difference until i got my DT770s but with them i usually can. I think its more noticable with certian kinds of music such as electronical and acoustic but heavier music with distorted guitars and stuff it tends to become a little more difficult.

[megawhompertoo]

Re: sound card deal

Personally, and (DISCLAIMER) I have to note that I now hate creative due to their lack of OEM support, I'd pick anything but creative.

Have to apologize, because this is a religious disagreement, versus hardware opinion--they think they're god, and I disagree.

I now use the pci-e card (but still cpu-dependent) "sound board" that came with my asus P5E. It works ok once you figure out which plug goes where, and the stupid software interface.

I'd get the gamer card, just because that's all I use this pc for, but...well...like I said...I'm now religious against.

[=98=]

Re: sound card deal

Yes, electronic music tends to have a much greater frequency of notes. I do however notice a lot of difference between RATM MP3 and FLAC.

[Busby, Paul (Bicci)]

Re: sound card deal

Yes, electronic music tends to have a much greater frequency of notes

Got terminology mixed up a bit here mate, notes are frequencies :p

Try getting Bonobo - thats electonic mixed with intruments and sounds fantastic lossless in comparison to MP3.

Amon Tobin is another one (if you havent heard of him, Top Gear use his tracks loads and hes liek a god to me )

Iv not tried rage yet actually but i do still have their CDs about somewhere from back in my 'mosher' days :laugh:

[AlecJ32]

Re: sound card deal

I think its more noticable with certian kinds of music such as electronical and acoustic but heavier music with distorted guitars and stuff it tends to become a little more difficult.

I think it varies more from artist to artist than it does genre to genre. Distorted guitars may actually work against that and be more noticeable under higher playback qualities, though it depends on the type of distortion.

Distortion is created by running the analog guitar signal through an electrical circuit that adds gain to the signal. With that gain comes clipping, which creates that distorted sound. Different types of distortion have different amounts of clipping, and a heavily clipped signal would probably show less difference under lossy and lossless tracks. Simple fuzz distortion pedals like the old Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face pedal would probably result in less of a difference. However, high gain distortion can also bring out warm, underlying harmonics that might not be heard without the distortion/overdrive, meaning a more robust sound that might show more difference between lossy and lossless encoding.

Some artists will also use tube compressors or compression sustainers with their distorted guitars, which also amplify the harmonic frequencies of the guitar's sound.

Similarly, techno can be complex and robust, while it can also be simple and bland.

[Flt. Sgt. Powderhound]

Re: sound card deal

I just play it safe and have everything uncompressed... gotta justify that 750GB HDD somehow.

[Busby, Paul (Bicci)]

Re: sound card deal

yeah audio aint too massive when its lossless anyway... its when you get lossless video that it gets heavy. The P2 cameras i have been filming with recently use 0.9-1.5GB per minute! :o
Ouchies!

[=98=]

Re: sound card deal

Don't know about that, my 4 RATM albums are 1.9GB :|:

[Busby, Paul (Bicci)]

Re: sound card deal

but on a 500GB-1TB hard drive its not too much of an impact. Especially when you consider how cheap more hard drives actually are i mean you can get a TB for like £70-80 quid. Think about it, a FLAC album is usually 400-600MB so on a TB drive thats like 2000 albums lol

[AlecJ32]

Re: sound card deal

but on a 500GB-1TB hard drive its not too much of an impact. Especially when you consider how cheap more hard drives actually are i mean you can get a TB for like £70-80 quid. Think about it, a FLAC album is usually 400-600MB so on a TB drive thats like 2000 albums lol

....If all you use the drive for is music. If you have other things on the drive, such as your operating system(s), games, movies, programs, photos, etc., then 600mb for an Album is a lot of space and will fill up your drive pretty fast.