CPU SoundCard and my 1066

[bimmer528]

Hey all, was wondering if anyone can give me some answers.

My Computers sound card has a max sample rate of 48 khz 16 bit. Specs can be seen here

My soundcard has a optical digital input and output.

I have connected the 1066 through video 5 and the optical input. I get sound np. My problem is, I want better sound. Each time I play a song through my computer broadcasting on the rotel, the max sample rate is 48khz 16bit since thats the max my sound card can do.

MY questions are as follows;

1. Can I use my 1066's digital output to bypass my soundcards da converter through my soundcards digital input?
2. Anyone know if I can burn a cd using that high of a sample rate?

Of course, my .wav files are encoded to 24 bit 192 khz.

[aud19]

I'm not sure what option 1 would even accomplish if the source is the PC? Simply feeding that source back to it would not be helpful at all. Or am I just not understanding here?

I think your best option would be to do one of two things. ($500-$1000) Purchase an external upsampling DAC like the Benchmark DAC1 or even a quality used model. ($1000+) Purchase something like the Lynx Two soundcard that has comparable sound quality to the DAC1

Jason

[Ijon_Tichy]

Another, much cheaper solution to improve playback is to get a $30 Chaintech 710 soundcard.

Creative cards automatically resample all audio to 48khz. Some claim that this can degrade the audio. Outputting to an external DAC will not correct this.

Also, with a card like the Chaintech you can use Kernel Streaming or ASIO playback. This bypasses the Windows K-Mixer. The K-mixer also resamples audio and some claim it will degrade the audio.

I have a PC with a M-Audio Revolution 7.1 connected to a RSX-1055. I play all my music (ripped as lossless flac files) with Winamp through an ASIO wrapper.

I can't tell you if this makes a difference since I have nothing to A/B.

But I do know for certain that my Rotel receives an unadulterated signal. You will never be able to have that with a Creative card.

If you want to upsample your music, may I suggest you investigate Pertpetual Technologies P1A and P3A combo (www.av123.com). I am seriously considering doing this soon.

[bimmer528]

Thanks for the reply guys.

I know I have the option to get another card for a better sampling rate but was just wondering if I could use the rotel's since its already there via its digital output.

Let me ask this. What exactly does the digital output on the rotel do? Does it allow me to use its da converter. Sorry for the newbness but the only time I have bypassed anything was with my Adcom's 750 Cd Player's dig out to my harmon kardons dig in. The hk used my adcoms da converter for playback .

What are the real advantages for this digital output on the rotel?

[aud19]

First let me say yes, by all means ditch the Creative card. Their current cards as Ijon mentioned upsample everything. The M-audio cards or even better (though more expensive) a Lynx Two card will offer far better sonics.

The digital out allows you to send the digital signal to something like a MD recorder etc.

Jason

[mattburk]

First let me say yes, by all means ditch the Creative card. Their current cards as Ijon mentioned upsample everything. The M-audio cards or even better (though more expensive) a Lynx Two card will offer far better sonics.

The digital out allows you to send the digital signal to something like a MD recorder etc.

Jason

Dose the audigy 2 platinum upsample the frequency too, or just their lower end cards? I wanted to make a home theatre pc that was great for gaming. I know other cards are great for music but from what I have read they still cant touch the audigy for gaming.

[aud19]

All Creative's current cards upsample and are not recommened for good audio quality. I have been told (at a dealer meet) that they're coming out with new cards this fall that will rectify this problem as well as add other advancements (we'll see :roll: ) but until then the M-audio card is the favourite "moderate price" card and I'd likely go with the Lynx Two for more "high end".

(I'm going to move this to the PC area as it's not really Rotel related and you'll likley get more comments there anyways )

Jason