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Post Date: 2008-06-06
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widdlecat View Drop Down
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Posts: 840 		  Quote widdlecat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: Audio
    Posted: 06 Jun 2008 at 1:45pm
I dunno if my question is a tech one or not, so I put it here. I've noticed that the quality of the onboard audio from the front panel jack is much better than what is coming from the rear of the pc off the mobo. Is this typical or am I missing something here? I know audio from pcs aren't the greatest, but I'm starting to want an ASUS Xonar really badly... Tongue

If I had a small D/A converter, I'd consider setting up another stereo just for pc audio, but I'm not sure I wanna sit next to a rack full of audio gear. I have plenty of audio components lying around since I used to be an audio reviewer. I just hate taking up so much space.

Edited by widdlecat - 06 Jun 2008 at 1:48pm
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SunfighterLC View Drop Down
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Posts: 1527 		  Quote SunfighterLC Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 06 Jun 2008 at 1:46pm
Do you have the speakers to make that expensive sound card useful? Its really a 2 piece deal. If i had my own sound card company id bundle in speakers with my cards!
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widdlecat View Drop Down
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Posts: 840 		  Quote widdlecat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 06 Jun 2008 at 1:51pm
Well I have a huge pair of Martin Logan ESL electostatic speakers sitting idle in a room... actually I have 2 pairs of them. I also have a couple of pairs of monitor speakers. (Linaeum and Gallo Acoustics). I prolly have a few other sets of speakers from various manufacturers. My headphones are Grado Reference Series Ones.

Edited by widdlecat - 06 Jun 2008 at 1:53pm
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widdlecat View Drop Down
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Posts: 840 		  Quote widdlecat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 06 Jun 2008 at 3:22pm
Originally posted by SunfighterLC

Do you have the speakers to make that expensive sound card useful? Its really a 2 piece deal. If i had my own sound card company id bundle in speakers with my cards!


Whoops! I spazzed! Embarrassed
The powered speaker system that I use for my PC are a pair of Monsoon planar magnetic transducers w/ 8" long-throw "sub"woofer. I haven't found any powered systems for PCs that I like better yet.
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Kliebor2 View Drop Down
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Posts: 659 		  Quote Kliebor2 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 06 Jun 2008 at 3:30pm
Sounds like you have enough audio equipment to start a personal sound stage... Me I just have a good old 5.1 Creative 200 Watt shielded powered computer speakers with subwoofer :) not bad speakers... but only about 199 bucks retail... unlike what sounds like retail in excess of $1000for your setup... hell your headphones likely cost three times what my speakers did :)
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widdlecat View Drop Down
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Posts: 840 		  Quote widdlecat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 06 Jun 2008 at 4:27pm
Originally posted by Kliebor2

Sounds like you have enough audio equipment to start a personal sound stage... Me I just have a good old 5.1 Creative 200 Watt shielded powered computer speakers with subwoofer :) not bad speakers... but only about 199 bucks retail... unlike what sounds like retail in excess of $1000for your setup... hell your headphones likely cost three times what my speakers did :)


Actually, when I first reviewed the Grado RS-1 headphones, they retailed for only $695. It may sound like a lot, but it's truly reference quality and outperformed my old Stax electrostatic reference headphones (retail approx. $2500) by a substantial margin. I paid for my electrostatic headphones, but the Grado RS-1 became a gift from John Grado himself. Smile


Edited by widdlecat - 06 Jun 2008 at 4:29pm
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Drakul View Drop Down
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Posts: 55 		  Quote Drakul Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 06 Jun 2008 at 5:26pm
Assuming both sets of jacks are being fed from the same source there should be no difference outside of a bad connection. Is it possible that there is a sound card feeding one set of jacks and the onboard on the other.
 
The onboard sound on current mobo's is actually quite good, although if you are hooking up the kinds of components you mentioned a good sound card would be a definite improvement.
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SunfighterLC View Drop Down
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Posts: 1527 		  Quote SunfighterLC Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 06 Jun 2008 at 10:09pm
I have a 2.1 Dell speaker system with one of the screens punched in.........
 
I went with mobo sound...
 
Though I do plan on maybe getting some decent 5.1s depending on if i want to trip over cords or not.
E8500@ 4.03Ghz
XFX 790i Ultra
1000W Corsair HX
2 280 GTX EVGA FTW
4GB OCZ Reaper 1800Mhz
250-80-300GB VR HD
Logitech Z-2300 2.1 Speakers
Asus Xonar 7.1
Hanns-G HG 281D 28" HDMI Monitor
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widdlecat View Drop Down
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Posts: 840 		  Quote widdlecat Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 07 Jun 2008 at 1:45pm
I'm not using a discrete sound card atm. My old SB Audigy doesn't sound as good as the onboard sound.




Originally posted by SunfighterLC

I have a 2.1 Dell speaker system with one of the screens punched in.........
 
I went with mobo sound...
 
Though I do plan on maybe getting some decent 5.1s depending on if i want to trip over cords or not.


That's why I don't wanna go with surround sound. Too many wires to trip over! LOL
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