What's the best soundcard for listening to music at my computer with high-end headphones?

SickBeast

Lifer
Jul 21, 2000
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I currently have a SB Live! 5.1...should I upgrade to something high-end? I listen to tons of music on my computer. Any info would be great. Thanks!
 

johnjkr1

Platinum Member
Jan 10, 2003
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MP3's aren't going to sound a whole lot better on a Live or an audigy or a soundstorm. Their quality is not really high enough. If you are listening to other stuff (SACD's, DVD-AUDIO, etc) you might notice the difference between a live and an audigy 2. It also depends alot on your speakers or headphones. If you have some low to mid end speakers/headphones, it really wont make a difference. I went from a live 5.1 to an audigy1, I could only tell a slight difference, but I liked having newer drivers so i stuck with the Audigy 1 and sold the Live.
 

BenSkywalker

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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M-Audio with an amp is a very good solution, depending on how high end your headphones are. What is it that you have for cans?

Also- what are you using for source audio?
 
Apr 17, 2003
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i have to agree with been here. the m-audio revolution will beat any audigy or what not when it comes to music. the only problem with it is that processor usage is a bit on the high side when it comes to gaming
 

AWhackWhiteBoy

Golden Member
Mar 3, 2004
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if all you do is listen to music then i doubt you need an upgrade. the only thing you'd be upgrading for is the singal to noise ratio since you'd mainly be using it for headphones.
 

SickBeast

Lifer
Jul 21, 2000
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Originally posted by: BenSkywalker
M-Audio with an amp is a very good solution, depending on how high end your headphones are. What is it that you have for cans?

Also- what are you using for source audio?

I'm using Bose TriPort headphones. People love to bash them, but to my ears they're golden. I've never head better sound from a set of cans, not even Grados.

The M-Audio cards intrigue me because I also play piano on a midi board. Do they have soundfont support?
 

BenSkywalker

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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I'm using Bose TriPort headphones. People love to bash them, but to my ears they're golden. I've never head better sound from a set of cans, not even Grados.

Which Grados and what have you heard them hooked up to? If you can't tell the difference between what you have and the Grado 200 series hooked up to a good amp then I'd tell you don't bother to upgrade the soundcard, or at the most pick up an Audigy. Also, what are you using for your source audio? If you are talking about MP3s they sound like crap no matter what setup you have, if you are concerned with the quality of one of the lossless codecs, straight CD or DVD Audio(in particular- Audigy2 is the best I've heard for DVD-A) then it could be worth upgrading.

The M-Audio cards intrigue me because I also play piano on a midi board. Do they have soundfont support?

I would wager heavily on it, M-Audio makes pro recording gear(that's actually their main focus). I would stick with one of the internal PCI solutions if you do want to go that way. BTW- What model of Bose cans do you have? I doubt they would need an amp under any situation as from what I've seen Bose only makes lower end models(relative term of course, I'm running a $200 pair of 'low end' cans myself ;) ).
 

SickBeast

Lifer
Jul 21, 2000
14,377
19
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The headphones which I am using are Bose TriPorts as I mentioned above.

The Grados I tried were the 200 series AFAIK and I tried them side by side with my Bose cans running off an M-Audio soundcard, and to my ears the Bose cans were superior, albeit by a small margin. The bose cans were also much lighter, more comfortable, and had tons more isolation.

The source audio was an audio CD. On my computer I listen mostly to LAME alt-preset-standard MP3s, which sound 99.9% as good as a CD. You can argue with me until you're blue in the face, but until you try a blind listening test yourself, you're only guessing that CDs sound noticeably better than well-encoded MP3s.

Thanks for the info everyone!
:D
 

BenSkywalker

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
9,140
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The Grados I tried were the 200 series AFAIK and I tried them side by side with my Bose cans running off an M-Audio soundcard, and to my ears the Bose cans were superior, albeit by a small margin. The bose cans were also much lighter, more comfortable, and had tons more isolation.

Wich CD? Grados are uncomfortable for certain, that's why I have Senns instead(I like the sound quality better also- better layering of bass in particular although the Grados were slightly brighter in the mid range). If all you had to compare were the Bose and the Grados then I can see how you could go with the Bose on comfort alone.

You can argue with me until you're blue in the face, but until you try a blind listening test yourself, you're only guessing that CDs sound noticeably better than well-encoded MP3s.

I have, MP3s sound very poor on a good setup compared to audio CDs. My wife noticed the reduced quality of 320Kb MP3s just listening to them without needing to hear them back to back. You end up with considerable muddling of the layers of sound, some layers are completely lost. When you compare MP3s to DVD Audio they sound horrendous. Come to think of it, you might not be able to hear the difference on your rig because of the quality of the sound card. I don't even have a M-Audio based solution, just an Audigy2(a lot better then a Live btw, Audigy1 for audio isn't much better then the Live! although it does have a bit cleaner signal)- can't sacrifice the gaming quality and go with the M-Audio. You may find that if you do upgrade to a M-Audio you can hear the difference although the main complaint with Bose's Tripods are that they muddle the sounds together which is the exact same problem you get with high bitrate MP3s(so you may not hear it anyway).