EMU 0202 USB

[Tiamat]

I've cross-posted this on Headfi, but I figured I'd get as many opinions as possible.

I own Grado SR-125 headphones so they really don't care about the amp that they use since their impedance profile is well-behaved (unlike sennheiser et al. who do benefit from good amps).

I am running them from my Dell e1505 laptop onboard sound and I get occasional noises esp. at low volume. The noise is the same loudness at all volumes, so its just very irritating during low volume listening sessions. The noise is kinda a cross between shhsssss and blurp/gurgle.

I am hoping to bypass this "noise".

Will the EMU 0202 do that for me? I will use the EMU 0202 as DAC and volume attenuator and AMP.

Thanks in advanced!


Its on sale for 100$, which is my budget.

 

[Blurry]

Yep, the EMU 0202 will take of that.
In fact, a cheaper sound card will do that as well.

The "noise" you hear is a very common trait of onboard audio.
Cheap DACs, cheap circuity = lots of perceivable noise

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Blurry
Yep, the EMU 0202 will take of that.
In fact, a cheaper sound card will do that as well.

The "noise" you hear is a very common trait of onboard audio.
Cheap DACs, cheap circuity = lots of perceivable noise

Actually, someone on headfi suggested that the noise would carry through the USB interface as well. he has tried on an IBM Thinkpad T-something and a dell e1705 and the noise gets channeled through his EMU 0404.

Unfortunately, if it doesn't take care of the noise, then its not worth my spending money on it. In addition, nobody that I know owns an EMU for me to test out on my laptop

Seems like the only choice is to replace my laptop which I cannot afford right now (and the problem might still persist).

Perhaps it is the CoreDuo centrino chipset that is just crap all-together.

 

[Blurry]

Sorry, but why would the noise "transfer over"

I have a Sony Vaio laptop and believe me, the onboard audio is garbage. I spent $50 on a decent USB soundcard, disabled the onboard one via BIOS, and viola, no noise or distortion.
In theory I cannot see why the onboard sound chip would affect a USB sound card since once the USB is plugged in, all audio is handled by the USB sound card's DACs, which should be superior to those found on the onboard audio.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Blurry
Sorry, but why would the noise "transfer over"

I have a Sony Vaio laptop and believe me, the onboard audio is garbage. I spent $50 on a decent USB soundcard, disabled the onboard one via BIOS, and viola, no noise or distortion.
In theory I cannot see why the onboard sound chip would affect a USB sound card since once the USB is plugged in, all audio is handled by the USB sound card's DACs, which should be superior to those found on the onboard audio.

The noise could be before the actual onboard sound chip and being transfered to and through the onboard sound chip.

(This could be wrong - frankly i figured digital is digital and can only get clocking errors, but I don't know the whole story. Someone on headfi told me that he had similar distortions in this e1705 with the onboard soudn and with the 0404)


I get a noise at about 500hz along with hiss everytime my CPU spikes from idle (doesn't have to spike to 100%). Moving my mouse around is enough to cause the noise even with foobar2k closed and my volume muted.