Santa Cruz Dethroned

Beatles

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Nov 6, 2001
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Well it was bound to happen eventually. Some of you may know I've earned my living by being a recording engineer for the last 25 years and as such my ears have NEVER let me down. For my day to day computer I always used a consumer card rather than the pro cards in my other computers and have LONG been a supporter of the SC for unmatched sound quality and stability. I picked up a Maya 7.1 Gold the other day and installed the drivers....a whopping 300K download and proceeded to do a LOT of listening tests and have found the Maya to sound QUITE a bit more natural and right sounding with zero stability issues under XP. Bear in mind most of my testing was done on recordings I did so I am intimately familiar with what is on them and exactly how they should sound. For me anyway there is a new champ and the difference is not subtle. I don't game so this is only based on music listening...WAV, APE and MPC mainly.
 

bluemax

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Apr 28, 2000
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What does a Maya 7.1 Gold cost?
That could be a very determining factor, since one could get a Santa Cruz for a mere $60US. ;)
 

Wolfsraider

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Jan 27, 2002
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<< What does a Maya 7.1 Gold cost?
That could be a very determining factor, since one could get a Santa Cruz for a mere $60US. ;)
>>



129.00 here tom's
 

MazerRackham

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Apr 4, 2002
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The card looks pretty cool. Have you tried watching DVDs at all yet using the card? I wanted a card with S/PDIF output so I could use a real AC-3 receiver to decode Dobly Digital tracks from DVDs, so I'm really interested to hear about how well that works.

I was thinking of the TB SC, but that card doesn't have S/PDIF output, just their Versajack thingy. I guess you could just get a coaxial to minijack adapter and hook up that card the coaxial digital input of a AC-3 decoding receiver, right?
 

RanDum72

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Feb 11, 2001
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I was thinking of the TB SC, but that card doesn't have S/PDIF output, just their Versajack thingy. I guess you could just get a coaxial to minijack adapter and hook up that card the coaxial digital input of a AC-3 decoding receiver, right?

Yup, thats right. You can one off Radioshack, mono mini-plug to RCA. Works like a charm.
 

madthumbs

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Oct 1, 2000
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I prefered the sound from the Acoustic Edge to the TBSC, but I did have some minor sound problems with it, but not in programs... just in windows, and mostly while burning cd's for some strange reason. The AE is awesome aside from that, and can also be had cheap.
 

Beatles

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Nov 6, 2001
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<< Ever tried the M-Audio Audiophile 2496? :) >>


Yepper...have one in another machine. I was merely comparing more consumer oriented machines. The Maya is damned close to the Midiman as well.
 

Goi

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Oct 10, 1999
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Well, that depends on what consitutes a "consumer-oriented machine". Price-wise, the Audiophile 2496 is very competitive...
 

bluemax

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Apr 28, 2000
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This Audiotrak 7.1 is looking VERY interesting... for only $70US you get a card with good output, but also has proper ASIO and GigaSampler/Studio hardware support!! :D

This may well be my next card...
 

yellowperil

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Jan 17, 2000
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Haven't heard the Maya 7.1, but I got the Midiman Audiophile 2496 a few weeks ago. The sound quality was far superior to the Santa Cruz I upgraded from, and the SC wasn't that bad. Excellent A/D converters, noise floor around -85dB. The only problem I had was with the ASIO drivers, I've been using the WDMs only. For gaming however, I think you're better off with the SC or Audigy.
 

jaydee

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May 6, 2000
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What kind of speakers/headphones do you need to take advantage of a Maya 7.1 Gold card?
 

NOX

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Oct 11, 1999
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If you click on the order link for Maya Gold it will display as $99 US. Good deal if it's what people are saying it is...
 

Goi

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Jaydee, a good pair of speakers or headphones are essential for any decent soundcard. Unfortunately, most, if not all computer/multimedia speakers aren't satisfactory even for consumer soundcards like the Santa Cruz/Acoustic Edge...
 

bluemax

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Apr 28, 2000
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Hey NOX, what order link is that? I don't see one! $99US is $30 off regular price! Yes, that does look like a good deal....

Other than gold connectors, I'm having trouble finding the difference between the 7.1 and 7.1 gold.......
 

Beatles

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Nov 6, 2001
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<< Hey NOX, what order link is that? I don't see one! $99US is $30 off regular price! Yes, that does look like a good deal....

Other than gold connectors, I'm having trouble finding the difference between the 7.1 and 7.1 gold.......
>>


The gold doesn't upsample to 48. Here's the link for $99.
Click here.
 

NOX

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Oct 11, 1999
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<< Hey NOX, what order link is that? I don't see one! $99US is $30 off regular price! Yes, that does look like a good deal....

Other than gold connectors, I'm having trouble finding the difference between the 7.1 and 7.1 gold.......
>>

Link... :). I too would like to know the difference, the 7.1 sounds tempting!
 

jaydee

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May 6, 2000
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<< Jaydee, a good pair of speakers or headphones are essential for any decent soundcard. Unfortunately, most, if not all computer/multimedia speakers aren't satisfactory even for consumer soundcards like the Santa Cruz/Acoustic Edge... >>


So what's the price range we're looking at? Would the Grado SR60's (headphones) be enough? I get pretty irrated at the sound quality I get (SB Live! Platinum + CL Digital 2.1), but I don't want to waste money on one and have the bottleneck in the other ya know? I'm looking more at good quality headphones than I am speakers at the moment.
 

Goi

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Oct 10, 1999
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With a low budget, headphones are the way to go. I'm not too familiar with headphones though, I only have a pair of cheap Sony's. I do believe Grado and Senheiser make the better headphones around though.
 

Beatles

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Nov 6, 2001
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<<

<< Jaydee, a good pair of speakers or headphones are essential for any decent soundcard. Unfortunately, most, if not all computer/multimedia speakers aren't satisfactory even for consumer soundcards like the Santa Cruz/Acoustic Edge... >>


So what's the price range we're looking at? Would the Grado SR60's (headphones) be enough? I get pretty irrated at the sound quality I get (SB Live! Platinum + CL Digital 2.1), but I don't want to waste money on one and have the bottleneck in the other ya know? I'm looking more at good quality headphones than I am speakers at the moment.
>>


The SR60s are superb.
 

madthumbs

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Oct 1, 2000
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<<

<<

<< Jaydee, a good pair of speakers or headphones are essential for any decent soundcard. Unfortunately, most, if not all computer/multimedia speakers aren't satisfactory even for consumer soundcards like the Santa Cruz/Acoustic Edge... >>


So what's the price range we're looking at? Would the Grado SR60's (headphones) be enough? I get pretty irrated at the sound quality I get (SB Live! Platinum + CL Digital 2.1), but I don't want to waste money on one and have the bottleneck in the other ya know? I'm looking more at good quality headphones than I am speakers at the moment.
>>


The SR60s are superb.
>>



-Bottleneck?

-Not in audio.... Even on my cheapest set of speakers the Acoustic Edge sounded much better than the SBLive. With audio, it can be many things that add up to create poor quality. Things like THD (total harmonic distortion) increases through every component the audio runs through.

As for PC speakers; If you can afford it, get a nice 5.1 dolby digital/ DTS reciever. Even a $300 set of JBL speakers is gonna sound better than most PC speakers and be much more flexible and cheaper to upgrade (I have my tv/ pc/ dvd running through my Onkyo TX DS494). I can burn ~200 mp3's onto a cdrw and play them in a cheap dvd/mp3 player without using cpu cycles this way as well.