Great Sound?!?

[003]

There is indeed something wrong with the audigy2. I have directly compared it to the AV-710, X-Fi and my juli@. I am actually still waiting for my DAC to arrive.

The fact that it upsamples everything to 48khz and then back to 44.1khz before it puts out the signal is already a very bad sign.

I would not clasify myself as a geek audiophile. You say there is nothing wrong with the A2 because you have not heard anything better, which can be had for cheaper.

In my comparison, it went like this (worst to best):

Audigy2, X-Fi, AV-710, Juli@.

Remember, this is just sound quality wise, this does not take into acount things like surround sound and EAX.

If you want good sound quality and still need gaming features, the X-fi is your best bet. While it's built in DAC is not much better than the one on the Audigy2, it does not do any upsampling and has a good digital out so you can hook up an external DAC to bypass the one on the card. Also, it supports ASIO and bit-matched playback, a big plus.

I do not view myself as a geek audiophile, but I do give everything a chance. I did give expensive interconnects a chance. I used all custom made 99.999% pure solid core silver interconnects (costing $220 each), and then I compared them to $15 Acoustic Research interconnects from best buy. To my ears there was not the slightest difference in sound, so I kept the cheap ones.

There was however, a big difference between all the sound cards.

 

[EricB]

the audigy 2 has digital out also.

 

[Crysalis]

lol...

 

[alexsabree]

what bothers me is when people can't hear their music distorting when it's too loud. or if they have all treble and bass and no midrange AT ALL.

I was going to make this thread specificly about people turning their stock cdplayer headphones all the way up, and distort.

Everyone at my school does that
I cant stand it

 

[003]

the audigy 2 has digital out also.

sigh...

The fact that it upsamples everything to 48khz and then back to 44.1khz before it puts out the signal is already a very bad sign.

Do you know what that does?

Technical stuff aside, I directly compared it to 3 other sounds cards. You have not.

Bad sound quality on a sound card is not something easily noticed if you have not heard something better (and cheaper) to compare it to. It's not the kind of thing that adds pops or crackles, or makes it sound like an AM radio.

 

[EricB]

sigh...



Do you know what that does?

Technical stuff aside, I directly compared it to 3 other sounds cards. You have not.

Bad sound quality on a sound card is not something easily noticed if you have not heard something better (and cheaper) to compare it to. It's not the kind of thing that adds pops or crackles, or makes it sound like an AM radio.

first off, the last time that I check digital out meant that the DAC signal is bypassed so that you can use your own DAC. period.

now you are talking some nonsense about the bypassed signal is being upsamples to 48khz and then back to a 44.1khz signal and then it is sent out, to which I say that is nonsense as that would defeat the purpose of having digital out

some proof please.

how do you know what I have compared? I just sold and m-audio soundcard on ebay. I forgot more about listing to music then you would ever know. that why I I would never spend 220 on speaker cable when I can buy zip cable at 15 cent a foot and I know there will be no music degration.

some of that wierd expensive wire has too much capitance and inductance in it which will change the sound, but that is called distortion

I bet that you will say that there is a sound difference in optical cable too, where the simple fact is digital is digital and it won't degrade for 500 miles, so your $1.00 optical cable sounds just as good as your $1,000.00

Edit. I can tell the difference in 90 s/n ratio (16 bit) from 120 db (24bit). I've passed A/B double blind tests with flying colors.

can you really say that? because most human can't tell the difference.

they see the 24 bit one and their mind tells them that it's a better sound, so they think that they can hear a difference, where in reality they have not

I think that you just heard some body make that upsampling comment about the audigy and you misconstrued what they said while telling your story, that you borrowed from them

 

[003]

If you didnt hear what I said, I TRIED the expensive cables to see for myself if there really was any difference. There was not. So I use $15 Acoustic Research interconnects from best buy, which sound exactly the same. And you are correct, digital is digital is digital.

Coax cable is best, because with optical most of the cables are very cheap and introduce jitter (the LED can not respond fast enough). If you need optical/toslink glass is the best. You can get them for about $25.

Just because you get a sound card by a brand like M-Audio does not mean it is going to sound good. Most of their sound cards are designed for recording, not playback. However, the M-Audio Audiophile 192 uses the same DACs and opamps as the juli@, but it is also more expensive so it's pointless to get unless you are doing recording.

Ypu want proof of the audigy2 upsampling? How's this:
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showpost.php?p=833500&postcount=11
This came from just a quick search of google.

I'm not an idiot and I know what I'm talking about here.

 

[EricB]

somebody help me out here. will somebody tell this man the digital out bypasses all of that.



AGAIN. DIGITAL OUT BYPASSES ALL OF THE ANALOG CIRCUITS SO YOU CAN USE YOUR OWN DIGITAL TO ANALOG CONVERTER, WHICH DON'T SUFFER FROM THOSE PROBLEMS.

I PERSONALLY USE THE DAC OF MY LEXICON PROCESSOR AND MY YAMAHA RECEIVER

nowhere does it say in those posts that the digital out is affected

 

[003]

No, it does not bybass the internal upsampling to 48khz. It is not part of the analog circuit. It applies to both analog and digital.

If you still dont believe me, register there and ask. I am done here.

Have a look at the whole thread, also:
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=74021

 

[EricB]

No, it does not bybass the internal upsampling to 48khz. It is not part of the analog circuit. It applies to both analog and digital.

If you still dont believe me, register there and ask. I am done here.

Have a look at the whole thread, also:
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=74021

OK I am humoring you enough to actually read that. after reading the first page and there still was no mention of the digital out which bypasses that, I didn't even bother to read the second page

humor me for a second. what kind of music do you listen to? what is it recorded in

I'll give you a clue. 16bit

don't give me any bull about SACD or DVD Audio as there isn't enough music out there for you to make that claim that, that is all that you listen to

what else do we computer people listen to?

Ahh....

Oh yeah. mp3's

music that much of the audible data is thrown away. trashed.
I have been slowly but surely replacing my 15,000 plus mp3 songs with AAC. remember that? aac is the old sony atrac mini disc recording format that is by far the most superior lossly compressing method. but it isn't 24 bit either. mp3 is fake 16bit

do you have 24bit recordings. I do. I know quite a few sound engineers who all record in that format

anyway you are talking nonsense when you are claim to hear stuff that is not there

tell those geek audiophiles (the one who always overdue everything) to make those translations to real world material

which mean

"there is nothing wrong with the audigy 2"