will a new sound card or stereo improve this situation?

neill · 19th January 2004, 1:51 PM

Hello I am currently using a very lousy eagle brand sound card in conjunction with my sharp CD-C440 stereo (not particularly good but has allot of bass)
I am listing to allot of lower quality vinyl to mp3 rips at the moment and they sound very washed out with my current setup.

To give you an idea of what its being used for most of the stuff I listen to is: heavier rock, metal, punk rock variety's of music
When playing a rock song for example the bass dose not sound clear rather very muffled and all of the music lacks definition. Evin with the stereo at its loudest its still imposable to "feal" the bass. While I realize this is really an issue with the quality of music I am wondering weather a new sound card or stereo will improve this situation?

jarnex · 19th January 2004, 2:10 PM

The easy answer is yes... but the more important issue is which upgrade would give you the most improvement?

If you like your bass visceral (Snufkin special

) and heart thumping, you'll need to get some kind of speakers with a decent sub.

If your speakers get better, you'll obviously need something better to drive them as well. Something cost effective that still sounds good - maybe a Fort 3 - would be an option. Anything would be better than an Eagle soundcard - they're basically low end onboard sound chips stuck on a PCI card.

Also remember that a good set of speakers are worth investing in since they can be moved from computer to computer.

JJLAO · 19th January 2004, 2:56 PM

If your budget is high enough, you can try and go for a Sound Blaster Live! (at the least) and a Altec 621. Then you're good to go for the next 5-8 years of your life.

chisholm · 19th January 2004, 4:27 PM

Yes a SB live or audigy with 621's sounds very nice for the price.

neill · 19th January 2004, 6:30 PM

Firstly thank you for your contributions.
Secondly I should point out that I am happy with how all my other (not old, not vinyl rips ) mp3's sound on my current system. So you think that a new sound card/speakers will clear up the sound of these lower quality rips?
Also I run Linux and am wondering how many of these sound cards are dependent on there fancy drivers to achieve high quality sound?

jarnex · 19th January 2004, 11:31 PM

A new card/speaker combo will definitely clear up your recordings. How much better depends on your ears and how picky you are.

If you're talking about straight wave/stereo sound, drivers in Windows don't do anything special. Manufacturers take the base WDM code from Microsoft and add their "special" interface to communicate with their particular card/DSP.

Driver quality makes more of a difference in 3D sound, general stability and tweaking extra features.

Since you're on Linux, I'd take a look at the ALSA and OSS sites before purchasing any soundcard though. Cards which have poor drivers and bloatware issues in Windows like the Creative Live series have amazing drivers in Linux.

neill · 19th January 2004, 11:45 PM

Thanks again jarnex

666666 · 19th January 2004, 11:56 PM

Try this: play a cd on the sound system then play the same cd from your computer to the sound system (ripping it to wav first might be a good idea) and see how much better it sounds on the sound system. You should then be able to tell if it is your sound card or the sound system being crap.

chisholm · 20th January 2004, 5:57 PM

Crap recordings will always sound crap no matter how good your setup. If u want good quality rips of your cd's i suggest using EAC with LAME encoder. I encoded my cd's @ 320kbps using EAC+LAME and the differnce between those and my CD's is very hard to hear with my headphones setup. On my 621's there is no differnce whatsoever from what i can tell.

666666 · 20th January 2004, 7:14 PM

chisholm: I used to do my cds in mp3 with lame 320kbits. But then I found ogg vorbis. Sounds much better at half the bit rate imo. You should give it a go

neill · 20th January 2004, 10:46 PM

Problem solved!
Thanks to all who contributed to this thread.

Looks like my sound card is slowly dying and I assumed it was the quality of the music I was listing to due to the fact I have only really bean listing to unfamiliar vinyl rips for the last 5 weeks

Today when I tested one of my highest quality rips there was a massive amount of distortion in the sound that was never there in the past.

I have just made arrangements to get a SB live! some time early next weak which means no music till then

chisholm · 20th January 2004, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 666666
chisholm: I used to do my cds in mp3 with lame 320kbits. But then I found ogg vorbis. Sounds much better at half the bit rate imo. You should give it a go

i think the main downfall of mp3's is the fact that they filter out frequenies you suposdely cant hear..except the content actually effects what we hear..even if we cant hear it..if that makes sense

anyway i think disabling the filter option makes mp3's sound much better. Atm im happy with my mp3's but i guess next time around ill use ogg.

neill · 23rd January 2004, 11:10 PM

UPDATE: Got my new SB live today.
All problems with the distortion is now gone.
It has helped smooth out some of my porer quality rips so I'm happy about that.

19th January 2004, 1:51 PM	#1
neill Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: sydney Posts: 658	will a new sound card or stereo improve this situation? Hello I am currently using a very lousy eagle brand sound card in conjunction with my sharp CD-C440 stereo (not particularly good but has allot of bass) I am listing to allot of lower quality vinyl to mp3 rips at the moment and they sound very washed out with my current setup. To give you an idea of what its being used for most of the stuff I listen to is: heavier rock, metal, punk rock variety's of music When playing a rock song for example the bass dose not sound clear rather very muffled and all of the music lacks definition. Evin with the stereo at its loudest its still imposable to "feal" the bass. While I realize this is really an issue with the quality of music I am wondering weather a new sound card or stereo will improve this situation? Last edited by neill; 19th January 2004 at 10:59 PM.

19th January 2004, 2:10 PM	#2
jarnex Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Sydney Posts: 1,934	The easy answer is yes... but the more important issue is which upgrade would give you the most improvement? If you like your bass visceral (Snufkin special ) and heart thumping, you'll need to get some kind of speakers with a decent sub. If your speakers get better, you'll obviously need something better to drive them as well. Something cost effective that still sounds good - maybe a Fort 3 - would be an option. Anything would be better than an Eagle soundcard - they're basically low end onboard sound chips stuck on a PCI card. Also remember that a good set of speakers are worth investing in since they can be moved from computer to computer. __________________ "All-wheel-drives and front-wheel drives are pretty spectacular and they’re going to continue to get better... You guys are obsessed with rear-wheel-drive." "... Masterpieces in automotive history are created by passion. As the industry has evolved, human passion has been replaced by standardised procedures, committee meetings, accounting figures and market surveys."

19th January 2004, 4:27 PM	#4
chisholm Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Sydney Posts: 6,638	Yes a SB live or audigy with 621's sounds very nice for the price. __________________ Strength journal: http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh....php?t=1048178 Project supercharged magna: http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...d.php?t=626024

19th January 2004, 11:31 PM	#6
jarnex Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Sydney Posts: 1,934	A new card/speaker combo will definitely clear up your recordings. How much better depends on your ears and how picky you are. If you're talking about straight wave/stereo sound, drivers in Windows don't do anything special. Manufacturers take the base WDM code from Microsoft and add their "special" interface to communicate with their particular card/DSP. Driver quality makes more of a difference in 3D sound, general stability and tweaking extra features. Since you're on Linux, I'd take a look at the ALSA and OSS sites before purchasing any soundcard though. Cards which have poor drivers and bloatware issues in Windows like the Creative Live series have amazing drivers in Linux. __________________ "All-wheel-drives and front-wheel drives are pretty spectacular and they’re going to continue to get better... You guys are obsessed with rear-wheel-drive." "... Masterpieces in automotive history are created by passion. As the industry has evolved, human passion has been replaced by standardised procedures, committee meetings, accounting figures and market surveys."

20th January 2004, 5:57 PM	#9
chisholm Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Sydney Posts: 6,638	Crap recordings will always sound crap no matter how good your setup. If u want good quality rips of your cd's i suggest using EAC with LAME encoder. I encoded my cd's @ 320kbps using EAC+LAME and the differnce between those and my CD's is very hard to hear with my headphones setup. On my 621's there is no differnce whatsoever from what i can tell. __________________ Strength journal: http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh....php?t=1048178 Project supercharged magna: http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...d.php?t=626024

19th January 2004, 2:56 PM	#3
JJLAO Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Perth Posts: 378	If your budget is high enough, you can try and go for a Sound Blaster Live! (at the least) and a Altec 621. Then you're good to go for the next 5-8 years of your life.

19th January 2004, 6:30 PM	#5
neill Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: sydney Posts: 658	Firstly thank you for your contributions. Secondly I should point out that I am happy with how all my other (not old, not vinyl rips ) mp3's sound on my current system. So you think that a new sound card/speakers will clear up the sound of these lower quality rips? Also I run Linux and am wondering how many of these sound cards are dependent on there fancy drivers to achieve high quality sound?

19th January 2004, 11:45 PM	#7
neill Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: sydney Posts: 658	Thanks again jarnex

19th January 2004, 11:56 PM	#8
666666 Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Sydney's Inner West Posts: 1,273	Try this: play a cd on the sound system then play the same cd from your computer to the sound system (ripping it to wav first might be a good idea) and see how much better it sounds on the sound system. You should then be able to tell if it is your sound card or the sound system being crap.

20th January 2004, 7:14 PM	#10
666666 Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Sydney's Inner West Posts: 1,273	chisholm: I used to do my cds in mp3 with lame 320kbits. But then I found ogg vorbis. Sounds much better at half the bit rate imo. You should give it a go

20th January 2004, 10:46 PM	#11
neill Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: sydney Posts: 658	Problem solved! Thanks to all who contributed to this thread. Looks like my sound card is slowly dying and I assumed it was the quality of the music I was listing to due to the fact I have only really bean listing to unfamiliar vinyl rips for the last 5 weeks Today when I tested one of my highest quality rips there was a massive amount of distortion in the sound that was never there in the past. I have just made arrangements to get a SB live! some time early next weak which means no music till then

23rd January 2004, 11:10 PM	#13
neill Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: sydney Posts: 658	UPDATE: Got my new SB live today. All problems with the distortion is now gone. It has helped smooth out some of my porer quality rips so I'm happy about that.