humblebee
Active Member
Hello everyone,
In the HTPC sub-forum I have posted some experience I have had building HTPCs.
I thought that the Audio forum would be the right place to share my Computer Audio experience.
Now what I have to give is very basic as compared to knowledge of experts in this Audio-rich-experience forum.
But we must not let that stop us from sharing what little we have.
So here it goes:
Now I have personally used Xonar DG, Xonar DX & Xonar D2X.
Speaking of performance & balanced pairing - DG makes sense to be paired with Edifier DAPro. Both are budget and of similar grade in performance. DX is a bit overkill for DAPro. Speakers will not be able to perform at the clarity of DX. Waste of talent for DX.
DX - can be paired with Edifier S550. Or BA XS 5.1. But will need a 5 channel amp.
Maybe you can even pair D2X with S550. Will definitely make a difference.
Throw away their bundled speaker wires. Useless and short. Get a 16 Gauge wire - upto Rs 50/metre is good enough for DAPro. Sound quality jump will be worth it. I used a Bangalore company's wires. Rs 30/M. Forgot the name.
MX Cables should be good for S550 etc.
Edifier right now has the best budget range speakers. Yes they dont deserve to be called HiFi. But neither is DG or DX.
But D2X is a good beast. It has an EMI shield. It has that nice Burr-Brown DAC. I think it comes in the 7.1 HiFi category. Unfortunately I cant find a decent set of powered speakers for them. Maybe pair them with a 7 channel amp + Tannoy HTS 101 ?
I tried a funky combo - Xonar DX + Edifier C3 + Edifier DAPro.
Benefits:
- For music listening I used C3. Its much better than DAPro for music.
- For movies I got a 7.2 channel system. Activated Dolby ProLogix 7.1 upmixing. Great Bass with two 8" woofers.
I got these and other suggestions in my Sound Card selling thread here.
I still got them for sale.
For Listening to Audio:
My current sound card is an M-Audio 2496.
It has a clock. Better timing than DX. Its sound is smoother than DX. DX has more clarity. (Only 104db snr for M-Audio i guess is the reason). It has gold plated RCA out. Does SPDIF out.
Its pairing with C3 was - well, by my modest standards I never heard such sound.
The heavy bass songs like Rock On (waqt ka ishara) used to make some strange noise with DX. But not with M-Audio. (When I set its buffer to 4MB)
But this sound card deserves better. I have searched for worthy 2.1 but unable to find one.
The Swan M50W has 6.5" woofer. I want min 8" after listening to C3.
Maybe Teufel Motiv 2 MK2 (35k) will do the trick. But how to import it?
No AudioEngine A2+S8 will not do. Firstly they are old (2008). Secondly, A2's sound siganature has been modified to have a bass bump.
I am biased towards 2.1's. Reason:
1) You get three drivers - 1" + 3" + 8" - covers maximum frequency range.
2) No hassle of matching Amp with Speakers.
3) No hassle of matching sound signature of Amp with Speakers.
4) Bass can be turned up for Party Songs (imagine Flo Rida with any less bass)
5) Or down for mellower songs
6) Cost less when bought as a bundle.
Want to go higher?
Consider Pairing Xonar Essense ST with either of these:
1) Paradigm Millenium 2.1 ~ Rs 60k
2) Q Acoustics 7000i 2.1 ~ Rs 60k
3) Triangle Color 123 ~ Rs 75k
4) Focal Bird 2.1 ~ Rs 90k
External DAC? Xonar Essense External DAC costs much more. Internal Sound Card always gives you more for money. Easy to upgrade.
There is now a Razor Barracuda Rs 10k soundcard. Anyone heard that? (theitdepot.com)
Driver and other problems reported for Creative cards. In general ASUS cards give better value for money.
But they dont have the musicality of M-Audio. Perhaps you can go for M-Audio 192 (has snr of 108)
Have a nice day.
In the HTPC sub-forum I have posted some experience I have had building HTPCs.
I thought that the Audio forum would be the right place to share my Computer Audio experience.
Now what I have to give is very basic as compared to knowledge of experts in this Audio-rich-experience forum.
But we must not let that stop us from sharing what little we have.
So here it goes:
Now I have personally used Xonar DG, Xonar DX & Xonar D2X.
Speaking of performance & balanced pairing - DG makes sense to be paired with Edifier DAPro. Both are budget and of similar grade in performance. DX is a bit overkill for DAPro. Speakers will not be able to perform at the clarity of DX. Waste of talent for DX.
DX - can be paired with Edifier S550. Or BA XS 5.1. But will need a 5 channel amp.
Maybe you can even pair D2X with S550. Will definitely make a difference.
Throw away their bundled speaker wires. Useless and short. Get a 16 Gauge wire - upto Rs 50/metre is good enough for DAPro. Sound quality jump will be worth it. I used a Bangalore company's wires. Rs 30/M. Forgot the name.
MX Cables should be good for S550 etc.
Edifier right now has the best budget range speakers. Yes they dont deserve to be called HiFi. But neither is DG or DX.
But D2X is a good beast. It has an EMI shield. It has that nice Burr-Brown DAC. I think it comes in the 7.1 HiFi category. Unfortunately I cant find a decent set of powered speakers for them. Maybe pair them with a 7 channel amp + Tannoy HTS 101 ?
I tried a funky combo - Xonar DX + Edifier C3 + Edifier DAPro.
Benefits:
- For music listening I used C3. Its much better than DAPro for music.
- For movies I got a 7.2 channel system. Activated Dolby ProLogix 7.1 upmixing. Great Bass with two 8" woofers.
I got these and other suggestions in my Sound Card selling thread here.
I still got them for sale.
For Listening to Audio:
My current sound card is an M-Audio 2496.
It has a clock. Better timing than DX. Its sound is smoother than DX. DX has more clarity. (Only 104db snr for M-Audio i guess is the reason). It has gold plated RCA out. Does SPDIF out.
Its pairing with C3 was - well, by my modest standards I never heard such sound.
The heavy bass songs like Rock On (waqt ka ishara) used to make some strange noise with DX. But not with M-Audio. (When I set its buffer to 4MB)
But this sound card deserves better. I have searched for worthy 2.1 but unable to find one.
The Swan M50W has 6.5" woofer. I want min 8" after listening to C3.
Maybe Teufel Motiv 2 MK2 (35k) will do the trick. But how to import it?
No AudioEngine A2+S8 will not do. Firstly they are old (2008). Secondly, A2's sound siganature has been modified to have a bass bump.
I am biased towards 2.1's. Reason:
1) You get three drivers - 1" + 3" + 8" - covers maximum frequency range.
2) No hassle of matching Amp with Speakers.
3) No hassle of matching sound signature of Amp with Speakers.
4) Bass can be turned up for Party Songs (imagine Flo Rida with any less bass)
5) Or down for mellower songs
6) Cost less when bought as a bundle.
Want to go higher?
Consider Pairing Xonar Essense ST with either of these:
1) Paradigm Millenium 2.1 ~ Rs 60k
2) Q Acoustics 7000i 2.1 ~ Rs 60k
3) Triangle Color 123 ~ Rs 75k
4) Focal Bird 2.1 ~ Rs 90k
External DAC? Xonar Essense External DAC costs much more. Internal Sound Card always gives you more for money. Easy to upgrade.
There is now a Razor Barracuda Rs 10k soundcard. Anyone heard that? (theitdepot.com)
Driver and other problems reported for Creative cards. In general ASUS cards give better value for money.
But they dont have the musicality of M-Audio. Perhaps you can go for M-Audio 192 (has snr of 108)
Have a nice day.
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