maudio still top dog?

[theheel]

ive been out of the loop for a while now...

for exclusivly music listening.. (only listen to music) is m-audio revelution the best consumer based soundcard out there or has creative caught up?

i have a pc setup in my car... and will use it just for listening to music.
Currently i have an creative audigy (the original) in there and i have bad clipping at any volume over 50%.


any help will be nice

thanks

 

[theheel]

after a bit of searchin around.. i noticed quite a few threads that have high reguards for the chaintech soundcard.

which one is better sound quality wise maudio 5.1 or the chaintech card?

 

[schapman]

The benefit of the chaintech is it's high res stereo output. Also, it's cheap cheap cheap. If you're running the line-out of the rear channel (it's what you use for high res mode) to an amp it's a great card for the value.

 

[theheel]

i can go for either one since they both fall in my pricrange.. m-audio or the chaintech.. but i wanna make sure i get the better of the two choices for my situation

 

[todd2fst4u]

if i remeber corectly, people like the chaintech because it uses the same chip as the m-audio but is very inexpensive

 

[xonik]

Certainly Creative's E-Mu professional lineup gives M-Audio cards some good competition, if not outperforming them for less. In particular, the $99 MSRP E-Mu 0404 gives the Revolution 5.1 and 7.1 cards a good run for the money.

 

[Talonz]

if i remeber corectly, people like the chaintech because it uses the same chip as the m-audio but is very inexpensive

And because the rear channel Wolfson DAC is very good. As Xonik said, the E-MU cards, especially the 0404. are the Opteron 146s of computer audio, and the AV-710 is the Venice 3000+

 

[Cyrilix]

M-Audio revo 5.1 has a pretty good DAC, the same stereo DAC as the Audiophile 192.

Chaintech AV710 has a Wolfson DAC.

I don't know what the other cards use.

 

[dandragonrage]

M-Audio was never top dog. It's OK, but the Audiotrak Prodigy cards are better, and pro/prosumer stuff like Emu is better still. M-Audio is better than the Chaintech, which is a good value card, but not much more.

 

[Liver]

M-Audio was never top dog. It's OK, but the Audiotrak Prodigy cards are better, and pro/prosumer stuff like Emu is better still. M-Audio is better than the Chaintech, which is a good value card, but not much more.

The Chaintech flashed to Prodigy firmware was excellent.

The Chaintech modded with Blackgate caps had better bass separation and faster response. it was an excellent card.

Finally bought a Xfi music and it is a nice card, not at all like the EMU stuff. It does everything well, not excellent, but good enough. People like to bash on Creative, sometimes it is deserved, but their new crop is much better.

However, I still have my Chaintech in an anti stat bag. Can't part with the card!

 

[theheel]

M-Audio was never top dog. It's OK, but the Audiotrak Prodigy cards are better, and pro/prosumer stuff like Emu is better still. M-Audio is better than the Chaintech, which is a good value card, but not much more.

where can i buy the audiotrak prodigy cards... i did a quick check at amazon, and newegg and came up with nothing.

 

[AreEss]

*sigh* As usual, people have no clue and are busy comparing apples to oranges.

First of all, M-Audio has two 'consumer' cards; the Rev 5.1 and 7.1. Both are based on the VIA Envy24HT. Same as the Chaintech. Same as Turtle Beach. Hell, they're all the same card basically, and quality is determined by components used. M-Audio uses the best components, but it's still not enough to make a difference.
Audiotrak, well, don't make me laugh. They're VIA reference designs. Exact same as everyone else. The only reasons drivers don't work across cards is because they're IDing by PCIID and VendID. The Audiotrak Prodigy makes me laugh; by shrinking the PCB, they've only succeeded in increasing crosstalk and EMI/RFI absorbtion.

Then there's M-Audio's REAL cards. Which are on par or better than the E-MU for matching applications. E-MU's stuff is geared towards everything on the PC, whereas M-Audio focuses on just taking raw audio. If you want clean audio in/out only, M-Audio is by far number one, especially the Deltas. If you want more features, then you go for the E-MU 1820's or the like. M-Audio also has a better pricepoint than E-MU.

I certainly don't recommend the Audiophile 2496 or the M1820 for gaming, mind you. But I certainly don't see any point in arguing over a bunch of identical cards. The Envy24HT/PT is a damned good chip, and so long as you stay away from that godawful Audiotrak Prodigy, you'll get great sound from any Envy24 card.

 

[xonik]

Why is it that none of us have a clue, yet you have not backed up a single thing with verifiable fact? The burden of proof is on you to tell us why we are so ignorant, since you called us all out.

 

[dandragonrage]

AreEss, your post just reeks of !!!!!!ism, and everyone else is better off ignoring it/you.

thehell: Audiotrak is releasing a new Prodigy card called Prodigy 7.1XT soon-ish. It looks killer as it's on the Korean website here: http://www.audiotrak.co.kr/audiotrak/prodigy7.1XT.php

From what I can see in specs/pics, it's got OPA2134 and NE5532 (replacable with OPA2134 but still better than some sound cards) op amps, which is good for something consumer level. Wolfson 8770 DAC.

M-Audio is what?

 

[Mister X]

Xonik.. since you asked.


Note: These are Prodigy rightmark results not Prodigy LT rightmark results.

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/audiotrak-prodigy71/

Mode of operation: 16 bits 48 kHz

Frequency response (40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: +0.03, -0.03 Excellent
Noise level, dB (A): -95.4 Excellent
Dynamic range, dB (A): 95.5 Excellent
THD, %: 0.0012 Excellent
Intermodulation distortions, %: 0.0054 Excellent
Channel crosstalk, dB: -96.0 Excellent

Mode of operation: 24 bits 96 kHz


Frequency response (40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: +0.02, -0.06 Excellent
Noise level, dB (A): -100.6 Excellent
Dynamic range, dB (A): 100.6 Excellent
THD, %: 0.0014 Excellent
Intermodulation distortions, %: 0.0054 Excellent
Channel crosstalk, dB: -98.6 Excellent

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/m-audio-revolution71/

Front output
Mode of operation: 16 bit 44 kHz
Frequency response (40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: +0.13, -0.06 Very good
Noise level, dB (A): -92.2 Very good
Dynamic range, dB (A): 92.6 Very good
THD, %: 0.0007 Excellent
Intermodulation distortions, %: 0.0068 Excellent
Channel crosstalk, dB:

Mode of operation: 24 bits 96 kHz
Frequency response (40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: +0.06, -0.05 Excellent
Noise level, dB (A): -101.1 Excellent
Dynamic range, dB (A): 100.9 Excellent
THD, %: 0.0009 Excellent
Intermodulation distortions, %: 0.0038 Excellent
Channel crosstalk, dB: -97.1 Excellent

 

[agent420]

I haven't heard any of the Prodigy cards, but I'm a big fan of their parent company ESI (Ego-Sys); they make some great stuff.

The native NSP VST host in the Prodigy's drivers seems like a great idea. I've always thought most consumer on-card dsp hardware was useless for music. Imo the real benefit is being able to use some good vst or dx plugs; I usually use the AdaptX vst wrapper for my setups (Waves Maxxbass works great for car audio)...

Back to topic, unless the op has a really nice setup, I'm wondering how much difference a really good card would make in a car environment. I'm not sure under those conditions you'd be able to differentiate between the Chaintech, Revolution or Prodigy, but that's just a guess and would depend on the components used.