I've been hunting around all evening for a small inexpensive DAC, and have had no luck finding anything that ticks the right boxes, perhaps I'm just not looking in the right places. I'm getting some dodgy interference that I've pinned down to the video card - it seems to add a hum to the sound that correlates to the frame rate (its hard to explain, but high frame rate = high pitched noise and the same for lower framerates). It also hums a little when I move the mouse pointer or a window on screen, very strange. The two options I'm exploring are either getting a little external DAC (or making one maybe, as I'd like balanced XLR outs but im sure that would cost a bit more than £100) or another card (maybe with a breakout box, as I don't want to run into the same thing again). An E-Mu 0404 would be nice, but I worry that I would get the same problem with an internal card, and the E-Mu and M-Audio cards with breakout boxes are a little more than I'd like to spend. Would a new card play nice with an X-Fi anyway? I'd like to keep that for gaming. I'd also like to nominate myself for more disconjointed post award, the problem is I really don't know know what I'm after. I guess what I'm asking is... - Would a new card up to £100 be a better idea than using the X-Fi with a DAC? (just taking music into account) - Do multiple cards play nice together in XP? - Is a little DAC with fully balanced output for under £100 a bit optimistic? even for DIY? - Where should I be looking to find sub £100 DACs anyway? I would have asked on ZG, but I just know I would somehow end up spending more
Multiple cards are easy in XP, i have been doing it for years. It is easy to switch soundcards too. Just control panel, sound and audio devices, audio, default device. E-MU 0404 is what i use. Great sound quality, and ASIO support. If you don't use ASIO you will like the difference it will make. As for DAC's havn't got a clue, just ask zerogain
I dont think ive ever seen an audio interface with xlr outs that wasnt a mixer tbh, even the digidesign pro tools interface ive been using doesnt have them, might be more of a dac than audio interface thing. From having a quick shufty on digital village i cant see owt with them. If you know this interference if caused internally have you considered a usb/firewire audio interface? M-audio/edirol etc make similar/better speced external cards as well. If you grab it from a local music reseller than you can just take it back if it doesnt fix the problem. http://www.dv247.com/invt/35905/ emu 0202
Popped the Audigy2 from the htpc in to see if it has the same issue, noop. Leaning towards the new card route now... XLR out isn't so important really, but balanced outs are, so it appears the 0404 is no longer an option (I could have sworn it was balanced, but appears not). Either the Esi Juli@ or the 1212m now seem to be in my sights. The Audiophile 192 is a maybe, but I'd rather not faff with breakout cables. Are the drivers on the Juli@ really as bad as I've been reading? Would just go straight for the 1212M but 2 cards is a pain. edit: not enough of a pain to put me off apparently - 1212M on its way
E-Mu 1212M and bits for interconnects (connectronics star-quad cable, neturik MXX XLR and balanced jack connectors) not all present and put together and no more noise, hiss, pops or click o/ And on the plus side, the E-Mu trounces the X-Fi in terms of sound quality On the down side, the volume control on my keyboard no longer works
Dont worry it happens with e-mu software. Have you got an ASIO plugin for your media player of choice? It bypassed windows k-mixer and will give you another big jump in sound quality.
I do have an ASIO plugin, (I used ASIO with the X-Fi as well), though to me Kernel Streaming sounds better than ASIO on the E-Mu, oddly (if I'm not mistaken, there should be no difference? ) I spent ages doing back-and-forth listening, to come to that conclusion as well, so I'm pretty sure its not just my ears playing tricks.
In the e-mu patch mix i assume when you listen to music from the pc only the asio bar is moving? If you have been using kernel streaming i wouldnt have though you would hear a difference as it is essentially the same thing. Also make sure the main mix volume isnt at max. I have it at -6.5 ish. But as long as it is about 1/4 or 1/3 of the way down you will be fine.
when music is playing, the asio panel is inactive and the WAV panel is active (when kernel streaming is enabled) the mix volume is at 0db and the monitor volume is at whatever is a sensible listening level this is using the foobar kernel streaming plugin as opposed to the ASIO plugin
