Sound quality not as good as CD..

Hi,

my computer is connected to a pioneer head unit through the aux in hack.
the quality from the sound cards spkr out socket is not as good as compared to the same song playing on normal CD. it is louder but nowhere near the same bass and seems a bit echoed/hall effect.
now instead of using the spkr out socket i used the line out socket on the sound card and the sound now is very soft compared to the CD.

I think it may be my soundcard being an old ISA SB16 and not being very powerful.

anyone else using the pioneer aux hack what sound card do you use and how comparable to a CD is it ?

thanks.

the age/bus type of the card will have no bearing. It will just be the output level from the card in general. Dont use the speaker out level, since this has already been amplified by the sound-cards on-board mini amp, meaning more introduced noise.

Most new sound cards dont have a spkr out/line out option anymore, I guess they assume most people use amplified speakers nowadays.

Maybe you could try another sound card? I use a Vibra 128, cheap card, works great..

My Pioneer has SLA which allows you to increase the strenght of the source by x dbls ( i think the limit is 6..)


What about using the line out (for a clean signal) with the Source Loudness Ajustment (to match volume) on the pioneer head unit?

May be worth a try...

I'm using a vibra 16 jumpered to line out. My sound quality is nice. It all depends on the mp3 really tho. What bitrate is the mp3's your using ?

is it through a pioneerd aux input though?

hmm well any rates from 128 - 192kbps.

it doesnt sound as good as if they were converted to wav and put on a cd and played on the cd. ive tested it with the same songs one burnt to cd and one via mp3 so i dont think its the quality.

I also once tested the sounq quality of my m599 mb, and it was far away from orginal because the "surround" option

try connecting other line out devices 2 your pioneer, such as a walkman or a minidisk player... if you are still getting soft (quiet) sound, then it sounds like it`s the headunit or the aux in hack thats the problem.... out of interest, is your pioneer one of the newer ones? (this years or last years model?)

Hi.

My first setup used a SB16 just like yours, and a Pioneer DEHP-4050. The sound was good, but not as good as CD or my actual setup. Today I use a Pro Audio Spectrum (PAS16), bought in 1994, with enhanced bass, enhanced treble and 3D sound. All of these options with minimal level (2 in a 1-10 scale). The final eq/amp is done by the pioneer.
I know this is a hard to find and very old sound card, but if you have one laying around, try it. :p

I have the Pioneer aux-in part, my soundcard is lower volume by a couple of clicks than a cd played in the head unit.

If I had a preamp or something between the soundcard and the head unit, the sound volume could be the same. I can live with it the way it is.

I am also using the Pioneer aux-in connector with my SB16 isa and I would have to say I can't really tell a difference providing the mp3 is encoded properly. I have the software volume turned up to max, LOUD enabled on the head unit, and well, to be honest, anything below 128kbps you can tell sound like **** because u hear hissing and such in the background, but stuff at 192 and up sounds fabulous.