Buying an amplifier

I checked some data. The first stereo i posted (2x120W) has a power consumption of 60W. The second one (2x330W) has a power consumption of 175W.

It seems that my amp lies a bit too. It says 2x80W at 4Ohm and 2x55W at 8Ohm. And its power consumption is 140W. Inspector goblinsly. :clapping:
 
Anyway the next thing i plan to upgrade is my sound card - sound blaster audigy 2 value ... i think right now its the weakest link and since its sending audio into an amplifier, i think its an importaint part. Are there any dedicated stereo sound cards out there for hi-fi ? I just dont think those 5.1/7.1 cards are designed for what i want from them ... what would be a good price/performance option for an upgrade ?
 
Anyway the next thing i plan to upgrade is my sound card - sound blaster audigy 2 value ... i think right now its the weakest link and since its sending audio into an amplifier, i think its an importaint part. Are there any dedicated stereo sound cards out there for hi-fi ? I just dont think those 5.1/7.1 cards are designed for what i want from them ... what would be a good price/performance option for an upgrade ?

M-AUDIO - Audiophile 192 - High-Definition 4-In/4-Out Audio Card with Digital I/O and MIDI

Xonar Essence STX - Sound Cards and Digital-to-Analog Converters - ASUS

There is not much use in buying cheap pci cards as their sound quality will be mediocre or you can buy a usb DAC and decent cables (interconnects). I have listened to Fiio and it has good sound and vfm.

I don't know about your PC spec. I bought a MB keeping AV in mind. Asus p8z68 v-pro gen3 and msi cyclone 1gbddr5 (both has good audio support). The audio quality is good. I haven't installed any audio driver

(I uninstalled default driver) and 24/32 bit 192khz lossless audio sounds very good. I also use decent cables.
 
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I am not really sure what the difference between sound card and DAC is ... as far as i was able to gather it was one or the other, or both of them. It is interesting that i might pay more money for audio card then i did for my amplifier. I hope i will be able to hear the difference as clearly as i heard it when i changed my amp. :))
 
I am not really sure what the difference between sound card and DAC is ... as far as i was able to gather it was one or the other, or both of them. It is interesting that i might pay more money for audio card then i did for my amplifier. I hope i will be able to hear the difference as clearly as i heard it when i changed my amp. :))

DAC stands for digital to analog converter. Connect a usb DAC to the usb port of your computer and you will have better quality stereo sound. On-board decoders are not that great in most of normal MoBo.

There are other DAC which connects to optical/coaxial output of mobo with spdif and converts to analog stereo (RCA or 3.5mm output).

Amazon.com : Fiio E17 USB DAC Headphone Amplifier : Electronics

This Fiio is a usb dac headphone amp which can also be used as a sound card. Plug a 3.5mm to 2 RCA stereo cord (interconnecting cable) and connect it to your amp or you can connect your headphone and enjoy personal listening

session + Fiio battery charges while plugged in to usb (I have connected fiio to pioneer amp. works fine)

You only need to buy any one of them (PCI card or DAC) and not both. I would buy a very good pci sound card instead of dac. what is your computer spec? Is your computer a new one? (mobo, cpu details) :)
 
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Sadly it isn't a new one, its [email protected] and IP35-E

Soo if i get this right, i have to change the signal from digital to analog, that in basicly all the sound card and dac will be doing ?

Would usb be a better option then PCI because of driver issues in future and PCI going away in a while ? I could use my optical output on the motherboard ..

But if soundcard and DAC are basicly doing the same thing, why are there both of them ? What is the difference between them ?
 
Sadly it isn't a new one, its [email protected] and IP35-E

Soo if i get this right, i have to change the signal from digital to analog, that in basicly all the sound card and dac will be doing ?

Would usb be a better option then PCI because of driver issues in future and PCI going away in a while ? I could use my optical output on the motherboard ..

But if soundcard and DAC are basicly doing the same thing, why are there both of them ? What is the difference between them ?

Yes, you can use optical output of your mobo. I will go for a decent pci card instead of DAC (personal preference). I am not sure if there could be any driver issues. E6400 is a good one.

Anyway, you go for a DAC with toslink input and buy a good optical cable.

Well, sound card and DAC are not doing the same job. DAC is a converter and sound card produces better audio signal than on-board sound device.

Amazon.com: FiiO D3 (D03K) Digital to Analog Audio Converter With Micca 6ft Optical Toslink Cable - 192kHz/24bit Optical and Coaxial DAC: Electronics
 
When you say sound card produces better sound then on-board sound device ... does this go for optical output also ? I am speculating ... if i connect optical output to DAC and that into amp ... how would you compare the quality of this signal to the already analog signal that comes out of quality sound card ?

I was also wondering ... with a quality sound card / DAC ... how much of a difference can i expect compared to my old sound blaster audigy 2 value ?
 
When you say sound card produces better sound then on-board sound device

If the sound card is of better quality.

... does this go for optical output also ? I am speculating ... if i connect optical output to DAC and that into amp ... how would you compare the quality of this signal to the already analog signal that comes out of quality sound card ?

It depends on which is a better product, DAC or sound card. The sound quality of a DAC also depends on audio quality of your mobo (which I am unaware of). My current Asus sounds much better than my previous mobo (Asus M3A78-EM)

I was also wondering ... with a quality sound card / DAC ... how much of a difference can i expect compared to my old sound blaster audigy 2 value ?

Well, your sound card is old. Newer cards will sound better. You can connect your pioneer amp to your Audigy 2 and do a listening test. I haven't suggested a higher end sound card or DAC keeping in my mind that your amp and

speakers are not exactly high fidelity (still a decent amp).
 
My amp is already connected to SB audigy 2 value card ... i am using creative's software equalizer .. without it the sound just isn't good.

Ok let us for the sake of an argument say that special USB/PCI audio gear is better then the integrated one in all cases and we want none of the sound go through integrated motherboard "lines". Soo if we use optical output .. motherboard will not convert sound to analog but still it will travel through its "lines" before it reaches DAC. But if we use a sound card ... sound will go directly to sound card and will get converted there and send forward .. completely skipping motherboard sound "places". Is that correct ? If it is ... why do ppl praise that optical output on the motherboard then ? What would be the point in buying a very expensive DAC if the signal you get isnt perfect to begin with ? It doesnt really matter which motherboard we are talking about ... i doubt there is any motherboard made solely for use in Hi-Fi and if that is the case, hi-fi sound card will always do a better job.

Did i get this right ?
 
Did i get this right ?

You did. Like I said before, if I am given an option to choose between DAC and sound card I will go for the latter. It doesn't mean that DAC ain't good. DAC isn't made just for motherboards. In some AV stuff, DAC is needed and

works well. A $100 worth mobo can't be as good as $500 worth mobo. Video and audio is better (I know it is). Expensive mobos have better integrated sound and 3.5mm

audio out itself is good enough to be directly connected to an amp without using the digital output. All you have to do now is get a good sound card and forget your mobo's optical output and DAC.

A good quality sound card will serve your amp and speakers well.
 
Sound card it is !

What do you think, PCI or USB ? Some ppl warned me about driver support in win8 and also that PCI is slowly going away ... since i am buying this sound card for years to come, would it be better if i got an external USB one ? That is if the signal remains intact unlike on optical out ..
 
Sound card it is !

What do you think, PCI or USB ? Some ppl warned me about driver support in win8 and also that PCI is slowly going away ... since i am buying this sound card for years to come, would it be better if i got an external USB one ? That is if the signal remains intact unlike on optical out ..

I don't think PCI is going away that soon. If you are not planning to upgrade your PC any time soon then no worries. If you are planning to upgrade your PC in near future, then don't buy a card now (Probably newer mobo has good enough sound quality).
 
I am not sure .. right now my computer meets my needs but i am a computer science student and can't be sure when something new gets thrown at me and i will need to buy a new computer.

To be honest i do not want to rely on motherboard integrated audio quality .. in this regard an usb card with RCA on the other side would be future proff ... but the important question remains whether USB signal is "soiled" the same way as Optical output is .. in which case PCI would be a better option.

The prices of those cards are quite high ... basicly i will pay more for sound card then i did for my amp. And i i am not sure if the difference will be noted that much ...

Now i am not sure whether to go for new speakers before i buy a new sound card ... even though this is not my way ... i like fixing things at the core ... i just hate sending soiled signal into an amp ... i feel as if this is like building a state of the art luxury house on some old broken foundation and then afterwards fix the foundation ...
 
Purchase the Audiolab 6000A Integrated Amplifier at a special offer price.
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