Originally posted by: Sdiver2489
Thanks and I agree with pretty much everything you said there...Here is a goos comparison between the two.
http://audio.rightmark.org/downloads/So...0And%20Results%20For%20RMAA%20v5.5.pdf
http://www.calroth.net/alien_dac_rmaa/
but you are right, if the users speakers aren't that great...the AV-710 is a good option as the difference although major on paper, isn't worth the cash.
Hey, Sdiver2489,
I finally got a few minutes here to read your post and check out those links. My impressions:
Unless I'm missing something, I have to tell 'ya that I don't see the "major difference" you mention. Let's take frequency response, for example: According to those tests, the FR with the X-Fi Elite Pro, measured with the 24/96 parameters, is ridiculously flat from 40Hz to 15KHz -- only up 1/10th of a decibel and down 7/10ths of a decibel. The Chaintech measures up 12/100ths (or 1.2/10ths) of a decibel and down only 6/10ths of a decibel. Since 1 decibel is the smallest amount of perceptible volume a human can detect, no human could possibly hear any difference whatsoever between these two cards in the frequency response department. Those variations are so low, in fact, that I'm surprised they could even be measured accurately (for the sake of this discussion, however, I'll give the testers the benefit of the doubt and assume they were). In short, both cards are ostensibly perfectly flat (in audible terms) from 40Hz to 15KHz.
Note: I don't care much about the FR beyond 15KHz since very few people, except young children, can hear frequencies higher than that, but I would have liked the tests to have gone below 40Hz on the bass end. There
is some musical information below 40Hz -- particularly in classical music -- and a component's ability or inability to reproduce it would be nice to know. As for the OP's system though, I doubt if his Monsoon speakers can produce much (if any?) usable output below 40Hz, so it's more or less irrelevant here.
You also said earlier that the X-Fi would "trounce it in signal to noise ratio and THD." Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm not seeing any S/N ratio measurements in the tests you linked to. Unless they're calling S/N ratio "dynamic range" (which is usually a separate spec from S/N ratio).
Re the dynamic range spec, yes, the X-Fi does measure better, but I would opine that the difference between 94.7 and 112.5 is not terribly significant. Both are outstanding by any measure. If one wants to debate 'levels of excellence,' okay, but I personally wouldn't put a lot of stock in the importance of the difference in this case. I'd also opine that other than with classical music, few (if any) people would ever hear the difference. With any kind of modern music (rock, pop, alt, jazz, country, hip-hop, whatever) a dynamic range of 94.7 is more than enough. Would you concur?
As for THD ("total harmonic distortion," for any newbies reading this), the X-Fi measures .0007% (i.e., 7/10,000ths of a percent) and the Chaintech measures .0010 (10/10,000ths of a percent). Both are completely and utterly inaudible to humans, so the difference is irrelevant. No offense, man
, but I personally wouldn't say that 3/10,000ths of a percent difference would constitute "trouncing." :laugh:
The noise level and IM (intermodulation distortion) specs are similarly inconsequential in my opinion. In fact, based on these particular tests/reviews, I would just about conclude that both cards are essentially 'neutral' in terms of causing any significant, tangible degradation or coloration of the audio signal (at least from 40Hz to 15KHz, anyway). In fact, they both measured better than I would have predicted. Would you agree?
I admittedly didn't take the time to read/study every page of both tests, but this is my take based on what I've had time to read today. So am I missing something here, or ???
Interesting discussion, BTW, and it's nice to be able to bat around ideas/opinions without the personal attacks that so often ruin these threads.
Oh, and while I'm at it, what's your pick for the "best" card right now (for music running direct into 2.1 speakers, not gaming)? You're prolly you're tuned into this stuff than I am right now. Do you like the X-Fi, or the Oxygen card, or ???
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