PCI vs USB Sound Card

**Maegnas** · 08-03-2008, 01:06 PM

Ok, so I would run front/back/subs from my sound card, combine front and back, run both those and the subs into the 2xs. (2 rca's). Then out I would again be running 3 rca's correct? The front and back would separate after the 2xs? (2 for front and back to my 4 channel amp, then 1 for subs to my 2 channel bass amp)

Is it better then to have a bigger crossover? Like the 4xs? Is it a big loss combining front and back, or wouldn't it be very noticeable? (Again, I'm looking to stay very cheap... so obviously if it's not a very noticeable difference, I doubt the price would be worth it, unless I found a good deal somewhere, which in that case it'd be good to know :P)

I have a Pontiac Grand Am. I do want my back speakers, I like having them.

Thanks! You have been a great help!

**scott_fx** · 08-04-2008, 01:32 AM

so you inspired me today. I started working on the car and i got everything hooked up and sound finally playing through my speakers. I used the hpdac and had some good results, just to test. i cranked the engine over and realized... i am never going to hear the benefits of audiophile grade equipment and i'm wasting my money. I am ripping out the behringer and replacing it with a usb dac into my 3 way x-over, software eq'ing and calling it a day.

i was researching and found this gem:
http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-DAC-HIGH-PER...2em118Q2el1247

i'm going to pick one up and use it in my system and see how i like it. basically it's the same setup as you're talking about minus the rear speakers.

check out this as well, not audiocontrol quality though but probably would do pretty good with the dac i listed above:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-CLARION-MCD3...QQcmdZViewItem

**Maegnas** · 08-04-2008, 11:51 PM

Well I'm glad to hear you're saving money, that's always a good thing, haha

.

So I'm trying to finalize my options as to what exactly I'm going to get. I have a couple different combinations and options, and your recommendation would be great.

I'm 99% sure I'm going with a Sound Blaster card with the KX drivers. I still have to figure out which card exactly that will be. (gotta look through the supported ones and see what people say is the best, any suggestions?). I'm on the fence after that though. Running from the card, I'm not sure if I should run into a crossover/equalizer (like the one on the link you posted), or run straight to the amps from the card. I think having one would be a noticeable difference, or at least quite a bit more flexibility with my audio... no? Also wouldn't that be a "boost" so-to-say along the way from my amps?

Also, the USB Dac. I don't understand what they do... and where it comes into play? Would that replace the sound card? I'm pretty inexperienced when it comes to crossovers/equalization and similar

. But I'm learning...

Thanks for your input.

**FPeter** · 08-05-2008, 06:43 AM

Originally Posted by Maegnas

...

i had the same setup: with kx driver, you can put 3 independent SPDIF signal to the AUD_EXT connector of tha Live/Audigy card. you can put low/highpass filters on each and other extras. i had 3 SPDIF receiver DAC in the trunk, next to the amps for high, middle and sub amps, but the result was not too good. i dont know why, but the sound was bad. now i have a cmedia CM108 noname soundcard, then i connected an isolated DA IC to its I2S bus, and it sounds much better! its only stereo system, then i sould use my amps low/highpass filters, but now i have really good sound! and i made an isolated output onto the CM108's one GPIO pin, then i can turn on and off my amps from software

now i would like to upgrade it, and somehow i should get some CMI8788 chip (several pro card based on it, for example auzentech, barracuda and others). this chip has 4 independent I2S output, and supports ASIO - but really hard to get one...

**Maegnas** · 08-07-2008, 10:27 PM

I've been looking at the DAC's and Crossovers, and I'm still unsure what to look for when it comes to the quality of each unit, and the process in connecting them...

The DAC's all have 2 inputs, which confuses me, cause in order to get sound from all 4 speakers and my subs I have 3 RCA's running... hmmm.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but this is my educated guess: The 3 RCA's (front/rear/sub) come into the equalizer (front and rear into y-adapter first). Front/rear into the high, and subs into the low. Then from there I have 2 RCA's out again, which would run: A. - Into my DAC (But then again into a y-adapter for front/rear/sub all together?) or B. - Into my SB Card, by use of RCA to 1/8" adapters?

Now if this is correct, the problems I 'think' I see...

1. Front and Rear combining into crossover - would this reduce quality? Is there a crossover that allows all 3 rca's in and 3 out? Or would that just be wasting my money? (Price worth it just to combine?)

2. Coming out of crossover and into DAC - I hear a lot about this having great sound quality (but of course me being noob) but I don't understand how it would connect and be good quality? (I feel like I have this part completely wrong in my head, so if that's so, a correction is indeed a great favor

)

3. Coming out of crossover and into SB - Assuming I ran rear and front together, then into crossover, it would come out combined as well? Or separate? (If combined, would I separate them and then into SB?)

4. Thanks to anyone who listened to my 'shpeel'.

*Phew*

For those of you with similar setups... may I ask what crossovers you use? (If they are pretty cheap options, as my budget is pretty limited)

Any recommendations for under $100 (With Line Driver)? Or above if it's a really awesome difference and good deal

.

Thanks for all the help so far guys, and also for future posters.

(Oh, and lame man's terms please, as you can see I'm pretty new at this)

Maegnas

**scott_fx** · 08-07-2008, 10:37 PM

i dont have time to thoroughly read through your post but think of a dac as a soundcard. so it goes computer to the dac via usb. from the dac (2 rca outputs, not inputs :-) ) to the x-over. from the x-over you have all of your outs. front rear and sub. now you could save money if your amps have crossovers built in and also have pass through output. this way you go from the dac to the sub amp, then the sub amp's pass through to the 4 chan amp for the other speakers. then you do your x-over'ing in the amp

**Maegnas** · 08-07-2008, 11:19 PM

Looking at them right now, and I see that both the amps have crossovers built in (speaker and bass amps).

http://ai.pricegrabber.com/pi/1/70/13/17013693_640.jpg

There is a picture of the side of the 4 channel amp, the sub amp is similar.

So this would eliminate my need for a crossover... then my question would be... you said to take the wires from the dac to the sub amp? Then out from there to the 4 channel amp? Would I need to? Or could I just run straight to each amp?

If I had a SB with KX drivers, and I ran the RCA's from 1/8" front, rear, and subs all separate to each amp, then used the amps to equalize... would that sound fine? (Of course it probably depends on the speakers/amps, but generally speaking... would that be a decent setup?)

Would the DAC greatly improve this? ...or would it be minimal enough not to be worth the extra 150 bucks to get a DAC over a SB?

Looking at the amp I'm not sure of all my options for running the wires to-and-fro...

. So if you had this setup, how would you go about it?

I guess my on-the-fence issue is if it's worth using a DAC instead of the SB w/ KX...

Thanks so much for the quick reply, you have been a great help Scott_FX!

**scott_fx** · 08-08-2008, 01:17 AM

the issue i had with the sb live is the low output voltage, and having to crank the amp's gains to compensate for this. I guess my recommendation would be to try out the sb live since they are so cheap, if that doesnt work for you or you're just not happy, then go with the dac. I'll be testing the dac i linked to in the post earlier when it comes in (about 10 more days) and report back my finding's... now to find the software eq that i want.

**Maegnas** · 08-08-2008, 01:23 AM

Ok. I think I'm gonna pick up one of the Audigy 2 ZS cards on eBay, don't know if there is much difference between any of them. I'll let you know what I think of it after I get everything installed.

Thanks for the help.