Creative sound vs. the rest

[MrBebop26]

Hmm I should really read up on computer audio, I know the basics and a little more but what I mainly know is car audio. I love car audio for some reason but I think its because I cant get as much bass outa home stereo equipment as I can out of car stereo equipment that I havnt gotten into it as much.

-Ryan

 

[EricB]

Here are some people whom are using computer systems which i built for their recording/tours.

U2
Beastie Boys
Peter Frampton
Barry Manilow
grand ole opery
the ryman theater

A few reasons i don't like creative cards

1) Cheaper converters (compared to rme and m-audio)
2) The audigy 2 zs is more expensive than the revolution 7.1 which to me seems like a better solution
3) Most of them come with that hidious breakout box

The goal here isnt to have 1000 i/os at 96.1 its to have crisp quality sound @ 44.1 with 7i/os. I used ac97 at home for the longest time, because it worked well for games and i didnt see any reason to upgrade. I use all different kinds of cards at work from audigys, motus (guh), rme, m-audio, lynx, even got to play with a DigiCo mixer board. I knew that ac97 didnt sound as good as the higher quality sound cards but, i didn't realize how much until i brought home my firewire-410. I started listening to music that i had listened to for the past 10 years and could pick out new things within the songs that i hadnt heard before. For instance, in some songs i can hear the pick hitting the guitar.. in others i can hear the artists fingers hitting the guitar, or can hear things in the background (artists that dont have the luxury of an iso booth, so outside noise gets picked up on the mic). Some songs i can even hear the fans of the computer used to record the project!

If you can afford it you'll love it..

I have to build a system on monday that has a revolution 7.1 on the invoice.. I'll see how it sounds.

edit: i just realized i'll also have an audigy 2 zs at the shop on monday aswell.

see post above for why studio people need more expensive soundcards. they don't sound better to humans, maybe to dogs.

the only different that you will notice is pre-amp output voltage

 

[Cappy]

Soundblaster Audigy's are excellant cards .I liked the first one so well i purchased a second for work . Also have the Logitech THX 5.1 surround and they worked perfectly together .
The quality of sound is superb , gaming with this setup is top notch . If you enjoy gaming in a extreme environment , you cant beat it in my opinion . I often find myself looking behind me when i hear background sounds such as crickets , distant gunfire , wind , thunder etc ...
If your playing multi player gameing you can hear what direction your enemy is coming from in a jet , tank on foot.From the front , side , rear , where ever without seeing them while you lie in wait .Makes for great ambush .
No RMA's no conflics with games on the items ive purchased.
Listening to music is no different , quality on all channels . You get the sense of live music with a good speaker set up .
Great product

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

see post above for why studio people need more expensive soundcards. they don't sound better to humans, maybe to dogs.

the only different that you will notice is pre-amp output voltage

The only thing we disagree on is that is not the only difference.

I even think the cheap soundblaster is 1 volt out but that's all you want.

Also dog's wouldnt be able to hear the difference, dogs can hear higher, but both consumer and pro cards are 20 \ 20, with the rare ones going down lower to like 15 and some up to 22

 

[EricB]

The only thing we disagree on is that is not the only difference.

I even think the cheap soundblaster is 1 volt out but that's all you want.

Also dog's wouldnt be able to hear the difference, dogs can hear higher, but both consumer and pro cards are 20 \ 20, with the rare ones going down lower to like 15 and some up to 22

well explain it to me then. what other difference do you hear? I've explain my reasons in great detail. Can you explain yours in detail?

also it's a fact dog can hear higher frequencies and better than us. A dog can hear any frequency (in the 20-20,000) at 160 db down. we could never approach that level. so that mean that dogs can hear better and not just higher.

this post from another topic

Man you don't like SB do you?

If you use the spdif or optical out function, it doesn't make a difference on sound quality. They all sound the same. Your digital processor (usually your DD receiver) is doing the work, not the sound card. ItÂ’s is merely sending the digital data to the processor.

Another thing. Those world best cd players are a waste of money. they sound every bit as good as any good 24 (120+ Signal to Noise Ratio) bit cd player and to 90% of the world, they sound as good as any 16bit (90=S/N ratio) cd player. If you got Coaxial or Optical out on a cd player (16 or 24 bit) and you have a 24 bit DD receiver, There is no difference in sound either.

A dog could probably hear the difference, but not us. Nobody I mean nobody that human can tell the difference in something that has a s/n of 125-130 db from something that has 115-120db. There is no music out there to exploit this difference anyway. Only those spectacular CDÂ’s.

Now most humans can't tell the difference in sound if the signal to noise ratio is greater than 85 DB's. True audiophile's can tell the difference in something that has an s/n of 120db compare to 90db.

Now here where it get complicated. Some people claim they can here a difference and they really canÂ’t. It is just their mind having them think, that they can, because they know it is an improvement, so they think that they can hear a difference.

Other tricks by the industry is to have that super CD player changed inside in certain ways. Like internally in that CD player. They will boost the lower midrange (400-600 Hz), cut the mid high range (1-4 kHz where our ears are the most sensitive to loud sound) sound, because they know that, that this new sound will be an improvement. They will also boost the preamp output voltage, because to most people, louder is better. They will also put an expander / compressor in the loop, so people can hear the difference. Guess what. ThatÂ’s cheating. Because if you do that to the 16 bit CD player it will sound the same way.

Denon is notorious for cheating. They play at high end. Most of their product donÂ’t even make spec when you test them. You might not even have what they say that they put in it.

 

[senseless]

If you had to guess, what frequency & db would you say the electrical noise of lets say a circuit breaker would emit at? I go into my garage (where my circuit breaker is) at night to smoke. When there are no other noises i can hear the high pitched sound of the electricity.

 

[EricB]

If you had to guess, what frequency & db would you say the electrical noise of lets say a circuit breaker would emit at? I go into my garage (where my circuit breaker is) at night to smoke. When there are no other noises i can hear the high pitched sound of the electricity.

I wouldn't guess. I would measure it if I need to know.

 

[z3phyr04]

I am Jealous, that is the monitor I wanted. But it was like $300 more than mine at the time .

Believe me if you buy nothing else or your PC this year get that monitor. Its beautiful, crisp, clear and perfect for gaming. Far Cry is running like a dream.

I'll let you know more about performance with online gaming as soon as the wireless setup gets here and is ready.

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

If you had to guess, what frequency & db would you say the electrical noise of lets say a circuit breaker would emit at? I go into my garage (where my circuit breaker is) at night to smoke. When there are no other noises i can hear the high pitched sound of the electricity.

Very high, I can hear mine

Also the 20000 volt lines near my house, lets say I hear them about 100 meters away