I have a Creative XFi Gamer soundcard which I think sounds great. I listen only to two channel stereo. I'm wondering has anyone upgraded from this sound card to a Beresford DAC such as the 7520. Is there any improvement?
Creative Xfi Gamer v Beresford Dac
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Alec
Well-known member
I had an older version of the beresford after having an M-Audio Audiophile 2496, which was well respected at the tiem at least, and the Bersford sounded clearly better to me.
Have you compared your soundcard to the onboard sound by any chance?
EDIT the reason I ask is that I only thought I heard a small difference between my onboard sound and the soundcard, but the Beresford was clearly better than both.
Have you compared your soundcard to the onboard sound by any chance?
EDIT the reason I ask is that I only thought I heard a small difference between my onboard sound and the soundcard, but the Beresford was clearly better than both.
I started with the same card as you but have been using the Beresford TC-7510 (modded) for maybe two years. I wouldn't want to be without it.
You might be interested in have a trawl through some of my useful threads(see signature). I'm sure that one provides information on configuring the Xtreme Gamer for use with a DAC.
You might be interested in have a trawl through some of my useful threads(see signature). I'm sure that one provides information on configuring the Xtreme Gamer for use with a DAC.
No. Haven't tried the onboard soundcard. I like the advantages of the EQ and the 24bit crystaliser that the XFI gives you.
Thanks. I had an inkling that I may get the best results by using both the XFi (for Eqing and the 24bit crystaliser) and an outboard DAC together.
Alec
Well-known member
What speakers do you have? I'm very wary myself of things liek the chrystalizer and gather that they dont do much good with reasonable speakers. Ive never tried it but have tried similar things. On teh other hand, id always say stick with it if you're happy with it.
Personally I suspect that if you just attached the DAC to an onboard optical/coax port rather than a soundcard, you'd still get pretty good sound, but I know thats by the by. and i dont mean to dissuade you from using your card.
Personally I suspect that if you just attached the DAC to an onboard optical/coax port rather than a soundcard, you'd still get pretty good sound, but I know thats by the by. and i dont mean to dissuade you from using your card.
I have wharefdale Diamond 9.5's. They are a bit soft in the treble, and a slightly fat in the bottom end. I have to eq a little bit more top and take out a lot of the bass to avoid the boominess.
I generally agree with not enabling "software gimmicks", but the 24bit cyrstaliser adds a gentle "attack" on transients,sharpening the sound slightly. You can use this at any level between 0 and 100 and I use 10%. To quote the daytime ads "It really works!!!"
I generally agree with not enabling "software gimmicks", but the 24bit cyrstaliser adds a gentle "attack" on transients,sharpening the sound slightly. You can use this at any level between 0 and 100 and I use 10%. To quote the daytime ads "It really works!!!"
Alec
Well-known member
lazar1980
Well-known member
In case of buying external dac I would sell sound card and use onboard(optical) or simply usb connection where your dac`s gonna be recognised as sound card.
Heres a bit more about the 24bit cystaliser
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/creative,review-490-3.html
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/creative,review-490-3.html
lazar1980
Well-known member
I did have x-fi platinum which I sold but seems that you should keep x-fi and spend money on better amp/speakers.
Hmm. Just read about this 24 bit thingy. Personally, I'm not overly keen of "clever" software which decides what if thinks should be there rather than that which is actually there. It may have good grounds to come to the conclusions it does but that's not the same as reflecting the original recording. Basically, it's making it up.
My recommendation is to use the Xfi simply as a means to get an optical digital signal out of the PC and sidestep all processing wherever possible.
My recommendation is to use the Xfi simply as a means to get an optical digital signal out of the PC and sidestep all processing wherever possible.
I have a X-FI titanium sound card and I do know what you are talking about - 24 bit crystalizer and EQ as I do use it my self on my PC games and on my PC speakers, plus I do have a optical cable running from it to my onkyo AMP and I use Dolby Digital Live so I get the full 5.1 EAX effects from my sound card, but when its connected to my ONKYO I do turn off the 24 bit crystalizer and EQ and only use it with my PC speakers.
I upgraded the op Amps on the sound card and the capacitors and it did do a worth while upgrade to the sound quality with more attack to the treble and a tighter bass and a lot more powerful midrange, its worth doing if you have the soldering skills, but the optical out on the sound card can sound a little muddy but with the EQ you can get around that.
I upgraded the op Amps on the sound card and the capacitors and it did do a worth while upgrade to the sound quality with more attack to the treble and a tighter bass and a lot more powerful midrange, its worth doing if you have the soldering skills, but the optical out on the sound card can sound a little muddy but with the EQ you can get around that.
007L2Thrill:
I upgraded the op Amps on the sound card and the capacitors and it did do a worth while upgrade to the sound quality with more attack to the treble and a tighter bass and a lot more powerful midrange, its worth doing if you have the soldering skills, but the optical out on the sound card can sound a little muddy but with the EQ you can get around that.
Not sure what op-amps and capacitors ship with X-fi, but certainly an excellent way to upgrade the card. Pity that Creative have only just started following Auzentech and offering the option to swap op-amps on their latest cards.
You say the SPDIF can sound muddy - I presume it is configured to output at the same sample rate as the playback material ?
I upgraded the op Amps on the sound card and the capacitors and it did do a worth while upgrade to the sound quality with more attack to the treble and a tighter bass and a lot more powerful midrange, its worth doing if you have the soldering skills, but the optical out on the sound card can sound a little muddy but with the EQ you can get around that.
Not sure what op-amps and capacitors ship with X-fi, but certainly an excellent way to upgrade the card. Pity that Creative have only just started following Auzentech and offering the option to swap op-amps on their latest cards.
You say the SPDIF can sound muddy - I presume it is configured to output at the same sample rate as the playback material ?
bendrummond:
007L2Thrill:
I upgraded the op Amps on the sound card and the capacitors and it did do a worth while upgrade to the sound quality with more attack to the treble and a tighter bass and a lot more powerful midrange, its worth doing if you have the soldering skills, but the optical out on the sound card can sound a little muddy but with the EQ you can get around that.
Not sure what op-amps and capacitors ship with X-fi, but certainly an excellent way to upgrade the card. Pity that Creative have only just started following Auzentech and offering the option to swap op-amps on their latest cards.
You say the SPDIF can sound muddy - I presume it is configured to output at the same sample rate as the playback material ?
I am using vista 64 and found old XP 32bit to have a lot better sound for 5.1, but you say you are only using 2 channel am I correct? If so then using "play stereo mix using digital out" takes the muddy sounding bass away, so may only be Dolby digital live that's causing it because I have to use that to get 5.1 from the card as I would use my GTX480 to HDMI audio out instead, but for the life of me I can't get it to output 5.1 only 2 channel.
007L2Thrill:
I upgraded the op Amps on the sound card and the capacitors and it did do a worth while upgrade to the sound quality with more attack to the treble and a tighter bass and a lot more powerful midrange, its worth doing if you have the soldering skills, but the optical out on the sound card can sound a little muddy but with the EQ you can get around that.
Not sure what op-amps and capacitors ship with X-fi, but certainly an excellent way to upgrade the card. Pity that Creative have only just started following Auzentech and offering the option to swap op-amps on their latest cards.
You say the SPDIF can sound muddy - I presume it is configured to output at the same sample rate as the playback material ?
I am using vista 64 and found old XP 32bit to have a lot better sound for 5.1, but you say you are only using 2 channel am I correct? If so then using "play stereo mix using digital out" takes the muddy sounding bass away, so may only be Dolby digital live that's causing it because I have to use that to get 5.1 from the card as I would use my GTX480 to HDMI audio out instead, but for the life of me I can't get it to output 5.1 only 2 channel.
007L2Thrill:
I am using vista 64 and found old XP 32bit to have a lot better sound for 5.1
Both should really sound the same providing they are set up correctly. The only difference sonically between the two operating systems is the mixer. XP chooses the sample rate to use when mixing based on the inputs where as Vista allows the user to set the sample rate via Control panel -> Sounds -> Speakers -> Default Format (in shared mode). If you bypass the mixer through ASIO/WASAPI, then the sound should be the same on both operating systems.
As PJ Pro above has suggested, the X-Fi card makes an excellent choice as an SPDIF to External DAC solution as it allows "Bit Exact" output and all DSP functions can be bypassed for optimum quality.
I have two sound cards in my Home Theatre PC. The onboard Realtek chip provides 2 channel 24bit perfect output to a Quad 99CDP2 and I also have a Xonar D2 which decodes Bluray DTSHD and TrueHD (5.1 only) direct to 3 external power amps with volume control handled by the sound card. I use XP and all output whether 2 or 6 channel is kernel streamed using re-clock. Video output is via Geforce 8400GS HDMI to a 1080P 42" LCD screen.
I am using vista 64 and found old XP 32bit to have a lot better sound for 5.1
Both should really sound the same providing they are set up correctly. The only difference sonically between the two operating systems is the mixer. XP chooses the sample rate to use when mixing based on the inputs where as Vista allows the user to set the sample rate via Control panel -> Sounds -> Speakers -> Default Format (in shared mode). If you bypass the mixer through ASIO/WASAPI, then the sound should be the same on both operating systems.
As PJ Pro above has suggested, the X-Fi card makes an excellent choice as an SPDIF to External DAC solution as it allows "Bit Exact" output and all DSP functions can be bypassed for optimum quality.
I have two sound cards in my Home Theatre PC. The onboard Realtek chip provides 2 channel 24bit perfect output to a Quad 99CDP2 and I also have a Xonar D2 which decodes Bluray DTSHD and TrueHD (5.1 only) direct to 3 external power amps with volume control handled by the sound card. I use XP and all output whether 2 or 6 channel is kernel streamed using re-clock. Video output is via Geforce 8400GS HDMI to a 1080P 42" LCD screen.
tegmen:I have a Creative XFi Gamer soundcard which I think sounds great. I listen only to two channel stereo. I'm wondering has anyone upgraded from this sound card to a Beresford DAC such as the 7520. Is there any improvement?
I'm using a Creative X-Fi sound-card (they support WASAPI playback etc) via TOSLINK to a Beresford Caiman DAC. The difference IMO is huge though it did take a while for it to burn in.
I used to use headphones (HD555s) with the computer, bought the Caiman to use as a headphone amp/DAC in one. Now I'm using it as a preamp (fixed out) to my amp and am happy with the results.
I'm using a Creative X-Fi sound-card (they support WASAPI playback etc) via TOSLINK to a Beresford Caiman DAC. The difference IMO is huge though it did take a while for it to burn in.
I used to use headphones (HD555s) with the computer, bought the Caiman to use as a headphone amp/DAC in one. Now I'm using it as a preamp (fixed out) to my amp and am happy with the results.
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