Re: [LAU] How much does my new SB Extigy suck and why?

Chip,

Thank you. The would explain the harshness i am hearing too. It actually
hurts. I have to turn the volume way down from where i usually listen, and
i don't listen that loud anyway. I mean, granted i now it's not gonna
sound like a high-end product but this is ridiculous.

I suppose they are only testing on computer desktop speakers where you
wouldn't even hear the grain.

It's good to know that all AC '97 cards do this (at least at the time of
writing)

I just hooked up my motherboard sound chip again and even with the hum of
the fans through the speakers it sounds *much* better.

Of course the ultimate goal is to get a good AV processor and be able to
go out through HDMI with the upcoming Intel boards, but that's another
goal entirely.

Thanks,

Bearcat M. Sandor

> Not too long ago I read a website about why not to use SB soundcards.
> The effect is that the rate is locked at 48khz and things have to be
> resampled to 44.1 for CD quality and things of that nature. Doesn't
> seem to make much sense to me as I am just learning about this myself,
> but I dug through my history until I found the site that I was
> reading. I'll post it here for you, but I don't know how dated the
> information there is.
>
> http://www.pcmus.com/choosecard.htm
>
>
> On 05/09/07, Bearcat M. Sandor <HomeTheater@email-addr-hidden-soul.com> wrote:
>> Folks,
>>
>> I had a house fire a few years ago in which i lost my beloved audio
>> equipment.
>> Since then i have been building an audio system as money allows. I now
>> have
>> a pair of Anthony Gallo Acoustics 3.1 reference. They are *very*
>> transparent
>> and tell me a lot about what is happening up-stream. I also picked up a
>> Carver TFM-15CB. My aim is a pair of Bel Canto Ref 1000 amps but this
>> will do
>> for now. I run my audio from computer to Carver with no out-board
>> preamp in
>> between.
>>
>> My computer, which was also through the fire, has been having
>> motherboard
>> problems lately (what a surprise!). Since i was replacing the sound
>> card
>> anyway (on board nvidia chipset via an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe), i got a
>> Sound
>> Blaster Extigy on ebay. I knew it was cheep but it's what i can afford
>> now.
>>
>> I'm confused by what i'm hearing. It's very nice not to hear the whir of
>> my
>> fans (especially the damned chipset fan) through my speakers, but things
>> sound shallow in comparison to running my audio straight from the
>> motherboard. I get a little more detail and it's a lot quieter, but the
>> weight of things are gone.
>>
>> Some things sound alright, but when i listen to a track of 4 cellos
>> playing,
>> the feeling of the layered harmonics is gone. Things sound flat. Not
>> flat in
>> a sound-stage sense, but pianos while having the depth don't have the
>> body.
>> They sound like toys or as if i'm playing an MP3. There is a fatiguing
>> bite
>> to things as well.
>>
>> I tested the frequency response with some warble tones and i can hear
>> much
>> deeper bass tones then i could with the motherboard. I presume that is
>> an
>> effect of not having the fan noise smear things.
>>
>> It's just not emotionally engaging and i don't know where to go from
>> here.
>> Would a SB Audity 2 NX help or would it just be more of the same for
>> more
>> money? I don't want to spend a lot as this is just a stop-gap till i can
>> afford something better, but can someone tell me if this is the extigy
>> in
>> particular, all SBs sound like this or is this the nature of all cards
>> at
>> this level?
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>> Bearcat M. Sandor
>> _______________________________________________
>> Linux-audio-user mailing list
>> Linux-audio-user@email-addr-hidden
>> http://lists.linuxaudio.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/linux-audio-user
>>
>
>
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Received on Thu Sep 6 00:15:02 2007