WTF? iPod better than carputer?

dmurray14 · 05-05-2006, 08:39 PM

Hey guys,

Like an idiot, I broke the ribbon cable to my Xenarc yesterday. So in the mean time I decided I would hook up my iPod until the new cable gets here so I still have music while the computer is in-op. I pulled my RCAs from the computer to the amp and just plugged the ipod directly into the amp. WOW. It sounds so much better than the computer ever did. The sound is much fuller, the highs are so much less harsh, and the bass sounds just right. What am I missing? I am playing the exact same song files, and I didn't touch any of the settings on the amp, yet the sound is so much better. Playing with the equalizer in Winamp, I could never get it to sound this good. What do I need to do to get my carputer up to par?!?

Thanks guys,
Dan

Jahntassa · 05-05-2006, 11:54 PM

Could be the soundcard itself is a POS?

Iceman_jkh · 05-06-2006, 12:33 AM

Thats almost definitely the reason!

Most of you guys running Via's or m-ITX boards and using onboard sound are using absolute POS souncards. Not suprisingly it sounds like ***. Even a lot of the better onboard sound offerings on the market are not that great. Get a great soundcard and you could get great sound, as long as the rest of your system is up to scratch.

dmurray14 · 05-06-2006, 09:27 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Iceman_jkh

Thats almost definitely the reason!

Most of you guys running Via's or m-ITX boards and using onboard sound are using absolute POS souncards. Not suprisingly it sounds like ***. Even a lot of the better onboard sound offerings on the market are not that great. Get a great soundcard and you could get great sound, as long as the rest of your system is up to scratch.

I am indeed using the Mini-ITX onboard sound card. Any recommendations on something else? A USB one would be great...

Dan

theheel · 05-06-2006, 04:31 PM

look at the m-audio line.. im not sure if they have a usb model but for just music, they generally sound better than the creative line of cards...

at least at the consumer level sound cards.

if u want to go top of the line sound cards then get one of those creative emu cards. I heard they are great but i havnt tested em.

From personal expierience i initially started with the onbard sound of the MII12000 and wasnt satisfied.. so i took out the audigy 2 from my brothers desktop and that sounded a lot better then the onboard sound. Now i just put in a m-audio Revo 5.1 and the music sounds even better than the creative audigy2.