YMF744 vs CS4630

[pen^2]

i recently discovered sonic fury/santa cruz line of cards are not based on the yamaha chip. so far i am very pleased with my YFM744 based card, but like they say, you never know what you are missing. now that i am using Senn HD580 with CMOY amp, if there is any difference in sonical difference, it would be appreciated more than in any average home or any mulmedia speaker setup. thx for your input

 

[pen^2]

3dsoundsurge says CS4630>=SBlive>YMF744. however, i didnt get to try the cans with the old live of mine, so i couldnt tell if live really sounded better than the yamaha... oh well

 

[Kingofcomputer]

I've original Yamaha WF192XG and original sblive value.

If comparing the midi sound,
Yamaha (just 1M rom storing 2M samples) beats sblive (using standard 8M soundfont set), especially classical music midi.
however, if you use a 32M or even larger GM/GS soundfont set, sblive can counter attack.
the great point of sblive is unlimit/2 soundfont size if you've unlimit system memory.

the yamaha eats more cpu power than sblive, when it's loading in IE while playing mp3,
the mp3 playback is interrupted with a very short pause.

yamaha wf192xg came out before sblive, wf192xg's main targets were awe64 and other isa cards. It's almost the first pci sound card.
sblive is way better than wf192xg in most areas.

now the new CS4630 is better than sblive,
so CS4630 is sure much way better than YMF744.


If you want cheap sound card, check out the CS4624 (Hercules Fortissimo II), just less DLS and 5.1 output.

 

[pen^2]

wait, its YFM744B to be exact. is that the same thing as YFM744?

 

[pen^2]

linky

well i was more concerned with signal clarity/acoustic quality... could care less about midi, cpu utilization doesnt sound good

 

[StormRider]

The Santa Cruz (which uses the CS4630) has technically the best signal quality of all the sound cards in terms of frequency response and SNR. I don't really hear much of a dramatic improvement over my SB Live, Acoustic Edge or Yamaha 744 cards. They all sound a bit different but it's hard to say which sounds "better" -- especially considering the fact that the PC fan and room background noise sort of offsets any improvement in sound fidelity that any card might offer.

I have all 4 sound cards (SB Live, Acoustic Edge, Santa Cruz, and Aopen YMF744) and I think they are all really nice cards but I thought the Yamaha 744 was my least favorite (but it does have the 2nd best MIDI -- the SB Live has better MIDI in terms of flexibility and potential). Since I only have 3 systems, the Yamaha is currently sitting in a closet. But they are all very nice cards.

 

[pen^2]

stormrider, thx for great a great input! i will be getting me a SC then...

wait, is there something new on the horizon? dont wanna invest $55 only to last me half a year...

 

[StormRider]

wait, is there something new on the horizon? dont wanna invest $55 only to last me half a year...

I hear rumors that Creative will soon release a new line of cards called the "Audigy" that will be based on the next generation Emu10k2 chip. I guess there's always something new on the horizon.

 

[pen^2]

the question is HOW SOON
well i honestly dont care about HTRF and stuff, just want relatively 'good' sound quality for music with my HD580can/CMOY amp

 

[StormRider]

I heard it might be coming out in the fall.

According to a web site (can't remember its name right now -- they run all sorts of test measurements on different soundcards), the Santa Cruz probably has the best signal quality for a "non-professional" soundcard so you should be happy with it.