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Author Topic: Need PC Speaker Recomendations....  (Read 7253 times)

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Offline OFOTD

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Re: Need PC Speaker Recomendations....
« Reply #15 on: September 16, 2005, 06:02:31 PM »
for soundcards, I strongly recommend the chaintech av-710, available for a whopping $25 from newegg.com, etc.  This card provides an optical digital out (optical only, unfortunately) that, with a bios flash, will pass bitperfect spdif out and also provides VERY nice analog sound via a burr-brown dac.  See, http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-71477.html for a pretty detailed review. 

Thsi soundcard is NOT bit-perfect.  A friend had this card and said the same thing about the firmware until he realized that bit-perfect is not a software function but a hardware function.  The C-Media chip appears to be the only low cost chip that does bit-perfect. 

dsacks, have you been able to verify the bit-perfect claims? or is it just assumed?

Offline dnsacks

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Re: Need PC Speaker Recomendations....
« Reply #16 on: September 16, 2005, 06:14:38 PM »
In order for the chaintech to become bit-perfect, you need to flash its bios so that it is recognized by your pc as an audiotrack prodigy (and then install the audiotrack prodigy drivers).  Prior to doing this, I was unable to get my digital receiver to play back 16/44.1 dts encoded wav files, which need to be sent to a digital receiver unmolested to play back.  Once I flashed the av-710 and installed the audiotrack prodigy drivers the chaintech av-710 played back dts encoded 16/44.1 wav files perfectly.  Thus, my verification of its bit-perfect nature is solely based upon its ability to accurately pass dts to my digital receiver which I understand will not work if the digital output is resampled.

My understanding is that the audiotrack prodigy drivers enable direct asio support that is lacking in the chaintech (and standard via envoy chipset) drivers. Note also that flashing the chaintech bios so it is recognized as an audiotrack prodigy apparently disables the chaintech's analog outputs.

the program necessary to flash the chaintech's bios is available at http://volny.cz/needsoft/eeprw.zip (or I can provide a copy) -- be sure to run this program from a bootable floppy disk as it will not work if run from within a dos window in xp.

Note -- the chaintech only has a digital OUTPUT and does not accept digital in.

« Last Edit: September 16, 2005, 06:16:44 PM by dnsacks »

Offline Nick's Picks

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Re: Need PC Speaker Recomendations....
« Reply #17 on: September 17, 2005, 08:36:09 AM »
wow..those look nice.

for cheap money, the stupid little edirol digital speakers sound decent.
Thanks, Nick. But what are the REASONS for going to a digi in besides convenience. Will they impact the sound in any significant way at this $$ range?
p.s. I think you've got me sold in the Sony 3100es for home theater. I DID see a 7100 on Pricegrabber for 1100 bux though. Tempting.... Went and listened to the Canton Ventos yesterday (for HT) and they are very tastylicious. Probably shouldn't afford them though....needing furniture really effin' sux.

well...the edirol DAC just makes for cheaper cables to use.   I run a toslink cable into them...and they sound good enough for what I need them for.  image pretty well too.

as for the Sonys...the 3100 does not upsample to DSD, and is an analog amp.  find an older 3000es, or 5000es.
only the new 7100 and 9100 are digital.

Offline TenoRichards

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Re: Need PC Speaker Recomendations....
« Reply #18 on: September 18, 2005, 03:31:24 PM »
well...the edirol DAC just makes for cheaper cables to use. I run a toslink cable into them...and they sound good enough for what I need them for. image pretty well too.

as for the Sonys...the 3100 does not upsample to DSD, and is an analog amp. find an older 3000es, or 5000es.
only the new 7100 and 9100 are digital.

Can you esplain Lucy? "Unsample to DSD...." Still a wannabe audiophile so I need help understanding this jargon. I know what DSD is (still listening to the Glen Philips DSD daily...) The newer 3100 is a digi amp? Ok. I capisc dat.... But unsampling dsd is something I don't quite get.  YOu mean it won't play that signal if given it (like DTS decoding capabilites...). What medium is dsd? SACD?
TIA,
AR
thanks again for the edirol suggestion. Will go give them a listen.
dpa 4060's>BBox>acm modded pmd671 or Edirol r-09
www.tenorrichards.com

Offline Nick's Picks

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Re: Need PC Speaker Recomendations....
« Reply #19 on: September 18, 2005, 04:19:14 PM »
yes, SACD uses the DSD protocol.
the older sony 2/3/5/9000es recievers would upsample all analog and digital PCM inputs to DSD and then on through its circuitry.  I never actualy got to find out if this DSD signal is made use of w/a DSD DAC (1bit/2.8xgHz), or if there is some 24/92 DAC inside. 
but in any case, Doug says so.  :)
I also read some official documentation that discussed this and the signal path of these ES S-Master Pro chip recievers.
only the new 7100/9100es models do this.  the rest are analog amps.  as in SS.
the digital amps are different.


Offline divamum

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Re: Need PC Speaker Recomendations....
« Reply #20 on: November 22, 2005, 04:59:39 PM »
Bumpin' this up with some further questions...

Am finally getting a new desktop with an ok soundcard and I think it's time to get some better speakers too. The budget won't stretch to a lot, but I'm thinking around $100-150 which I'm hoping is going to at least put me in the ballpark for something better than the ones we have.  I've looked up the Edirol and Klipsch models mentioned in this thread, but also saw the Roland 7's on sweetwater at about the same price.  Any comments on those?

Any further comments on these models?  Any others to be mentioned?

Also, should mention: my 'puter where I do the sound stuff sits in a wooden armoire which actually is a GREAT enclosure for sound (even the existing not-very-good speakers sound alright because of  the acoustic phenomenon the cabinet creates).  We tend not to listen at maximum volume and it's mostly (although not exclusively) classical so the bass thing isn't as big a deal for us as for some people  They need to be fairly (physically) small just to fit where they need to go and - again, for space issues - ideally just 2 speakers rather than  a 3-piece set (which I'm hoping won't limit the actual sound quality TOO much).

Anything I should know? Am I asking too much for too small a budget? Thanks guys -  I know  my total n00bness is showing, but educate me - I'm keen to learn and I'm hitting Santa up for some more GEAR this year! lol

Thanks!
« Last Edit: November 22, 2005, 05:01:40 PM by divamum »
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Offline taylorc

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Re: Need PC Speaker Recomendations....
« Reply #21 on: January 13, 2006, 10:06:43 AM »
I had ordered a pair of Edirol MA-10's from cascademedia, but a couple of weeks after ordering them I was informed they had been dropped for a different set.  I believe the Swan m200's have been dropped from newegg.

Going to order a pair of Roland DM-10's ($145) http://www.rolandus.com/products/details.asp?catid=9&subcatid=0&prodid=DM%2D10.

zowie

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Re: Need PC Speaker Recomendations....
« Reply #22 on: January 13, 2006, 10:43:24 AM »
Do you have a Sam Ash or Guitar Center near you?  Go in and LISTEN to them.

I'd suggest checking out the M-Audios too.   

 

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