Asus Xonar or Maverick TubeMagic DAC

[bansal98]

I had to take out the Creative soundcard out of the PC case as my new graphics card occupies two slots but I do have one PCI-e slot free. So now I am thinking of buying either Asus Xonar STX or the Maverick TubeMagic DAC. Price aside, which one would make more sense? I do not care about the headphone amp etc. All I want these to do is to feed my active speakers (Altec Lansing ATP3). The tube-out sounds good in the Maverick but then Xonar might have a better DAC. This is all so confusing

Update: Found this post. I guess I was searching for "Tube Magic" and not for "Tubemagic".

 

[venkatcr]

This depends a lot on the capabilities of your PC's motherboard. If it has a reasonable sound processor, an external DAC would be a good option. Else a sound card would be a better option.

Cheers

 

[Amarbir[Lynx-India]]

I had to take out the Creative soundcard out of the PC case as my new graphics card occupies two slots but I do have one PCI-e slot free. So now I am thinking of buying either Asus Xonar STX or the Maverick TubeMagic DAC. Price aside, which one would make more sense? I do not care about the headphone amp etc. All I want these to do is to feed my active speakers (Altec Lansing ATP3). The tube-out sounds good in the Maverick but then Xonar might have a better DAC. This is all so confusing

Update: Found this post. I guess I was searching for "Tube Magic" and not for "Tubemagic".

Sir ,
First i Sell the sound cards also ,Please have a look at my website ,Asus i have ready stocks .Secondly i would like to share my thoughts .

Well see that a soundcard is internal but a DAC is external [ Mostly ] ,Hence a dac is more suitable for people who keep tossing it here and there ,You cannot toss your computer here and there right .thats my two cents on this query of yours .

 

[gryph0n]

Going OT, but I'd hazard a guess that regardless of the path you take, your weakest link would be the speakers. I too have the same ATP3 hooked to my PC, and at times I've felt the lower frequencies put a veil over the mid/high frequencies. And sometimes when playing movies, the bass has felt very muddy to me (I've noticed the muddiness only with movies & not music).

 

[gobble]

Going OT, but I'd hazard a guess that regardless of the path you take, your weakest link would be the speakers. I too have the same ATP3 hooked to my PC, and at times I've felt the lower frequencies put a veil over the mid/high frequencies. And sometimes when playing movies, the bass has felt very muddy to me (I've noticed the muddiness only with movies & not music).

That can be fixed by using blue-tack and speaker cones and keeping on a absolutely flat even surface. I too eperienced this with other speakers. Easily fixable. If speakers are very light and prone to walking with the vibration first try heavy softcover books on top.

Cheers

 

[bansal98]

Going OT, but I'd hazard a guess that regardless of the path you take, your weakest link would be the speakers. I too have the same ATP3 hooked to my PC, and at times I've felt the lower frequencies put a veil over the mid/high frequencies. And sometimes when playing movies, the bass has felt very muddy to me (I've noticed the muddiness only with movies & not music).

I am actually very happy with ATP3s. I use them mostly with foobar with noise sharpening plugin and they sound heavenly (well, what more can you ask for 1500/-).

 

[bansal98]

This depends a lot on the capabilities of your PC's motherboard. If it has a reasonable sound processor, an external DAC would be a good option. Else a sound card would be a better option.

Cheers

Thanks Venkat. I have actually ordered the HUD-mx1 DAC. I figured I could also use that in the office where we have crappy Dell PCs.

 

[bansal98]

That can be fixed by using blue-tack and speaker cones and keeping on a absolutely flat even surface. I too eperienced this with other speakers. Easily fixable. If speakers are very light and prone to walking with the vibration first try heavy softcover books on top.

Cheers

Can you please explain how you can implement this solution. I don't have a problem with my speakers but if it improves the sound, then why not.