want to upgrade my soundcard, help me plz

[d_rayman]

Hi everyone

I want to upgrade my current soundcard which is the RME HDSP 9632 for my PC?

can you recommend me some brand or cards which are better than mine?

thanks

[Fungi]

Um... That's a pretty hardcore sound interface. The only way up is like, Lynx Two or Lynx 22 or whatever it is. Otherwise I'd just get a DAC and use that RME's digital out.

[d_rayman]

may i ask what word clock is used for?

i have one in my 9632 but have no idea how to use it

thanks

[Fungi]

No idea, but if you're dropping that kind of money on something you should at least research what its features are

[d_rayman]

between lynx22 and lynxtwo , can you tell me which one is better?

it seems their price range is almost the same

thanks

[Fungi]

If my first post didn't make it clear enough, I'm just throwing around ideas that I don't know much about except that those are considered "high end" PCI sound interfaces. I use the Audiophile 2496 coax out -> DAC, so I really can't tell you which cards have great analog outputs.

[Tachikoma]

Going by their price ranges the Lynx L22 and Lynxtwo would be more like a sidestep than an upgrade to the RME...

Some DACs have word clock output; you're supposed to hook that to the soundcard and slave the soundcard to the DAC. This is supposed to greatly reduce jitter ie: make the soundcard a high-end transport.

I'd get a DAC that has a word clock output but they're kinda rare. The only one I can think of at the moment is the Lessloss DAC, but I suspect that its well above your price range.

[d_rayman]

my current DAC is benchmark DAC1. The reason why i want to upgrade my card is that i want to improve the digital signal in my card before transferring it to the DAC.

why is word lock I/O too rare on DAC? aren't high-end DAC supposed to have them(I guess, it is not for now)

my budget is up to 1.5k for the card

[grawk]

for $1.5k you could do a lot better than a soundcard hooked to your dac1

[grawk]

it's like buying a $500 mini cable to your predator. If you have a shitty dac, the way to fix it is better bits, not a better dac.

[d_rayman]

the way i think like this:

people use their digital CD player as a source (digital circuit) and connects it to their DAC ----> amplifier ---> headphones

so i think in my case the soundcard will be a digital source. I will connect it to my DAC ----> amplifier ----> headphones.

everyone wants to upgrade their digital CD player to improve sound. So I think I need to buy a better soundcard to improve my digital source ( after having a decent DAC. I forget to mention that i also have the accustice MKIV DAC)

am i on the right track?:confused:

[d_rayman]

so the digital CD player is also a transport , right?

then why do people upgrade their transport when they already have a decent DAC?

I am a bit of confused here:confused:. Isn't that the computer will transport our songs as a digital signal to our soundcard. And the card will transport it to DAC for converting to analog signal. (It is the same as digital CD player)

then a better soundcard will create better digital signal for transporting right.

if you are right, then I think i should use the money for buying the Denon D7000 instead.:p

However, I really want to improve my current setup but have no idea how to do it.

right now it is HDSP 9632 --> accustic MKIV ---> rudistor rpx 100 ---> headphones

should i consider power distributor because right now everything has been plug into a 5$ power outlet which connects directly to the wall.

[d_rayman]

i give up.

thanks for your help . I appreciate that

[d_rayman]

right now i have a chance to buy the RME Madi at a smoking price but have no idea how to connect the card to my DAC and not sure whether it is a good choice or not. Any advices?

[Fungi]

Before throwing money at things hoping it gets better (or believing so through placebo), try and find out what everything does and why you might want to change something.

[Tachikoma]

The Madi probably won't give you anything besides more features you won't use.

If you are really keen on a good PC transport, what about the Transporter? There's one on A'gon right now for $1.45k. It might be a better DAC than the benchmark DAC1, too.

[Dreadhead]

d_rayman,

there is no point in changing from an RME sound card to another high end sound card just to output digital to a DAC1 (or any other DAC that is jitter resistant). The fact is that because your DAC is essentially jiitter resistant up to a wide range of jitter (due to the reclocking inside the box) the change in transport will do NOTHING. There is a reason the designers generally do not include a clock input on DACs that do reclocking: it removes their ability to reclock the signal. If you don't like your DAC1 change your DAC but otherwise with your setup I don't think you will gain anything (other than placebo like effects)

I don't think that you're going to listen to me because you don't seem to listen to anyone else but I thought I'd put my 2 cents in.

[d_rayman]

thanks everyone. I think i will stop thinking about upgrading the soundcard and use the money for the upcoming denon d7000

[Fungi]

Personally I would go for the new AT-A2000X instead. Haven't heard too many great reviews on the Denon.

[d_rayman]

Personally I would go for the new AT-A2000X instead. Haven't heard too many great reviews on the Denon.

i read the review from headroom and knew that the phone is a lot better than the D5000, right?

AD2000X is great but i don't know whey they don't release W5000X too;)

[n_maher]

Personally I would go for the new AT-A2000X instead.

And you've read great ones about the AT?

[Fungi]

I come from the future.

[Tachikoma]

d_rayman,

there is no point in changing from an RME sound card to another high end sound card just to output digital to a DAC1 (or any other DAC that is jitter resistant). The fact is that because your DAC is essentially jiitter resistant up to a wide range of jitter (due to the reclocking inside the box) the change in transport will do NOTHING. There is a reason the designers generally do not include a clock input on DACs that do reclocking: it removes their ability to reclock the signal. If you don't like your DAC1 change your DAC but otherwise with your setup I don't think you will gain anything (other than placebo like effects)

I don't think that you're going to listen to me because you don't seem to listen to anyone else but I thought I'd put my 2 cents in.

What makes you think the DAC1 is actually jitter-proof/immune to differences in transports?

You're probably right about changing the RME for yet another high end card not making too much of a difference though, the RME is already relatively high end and anything else would be more like a sidestep.

Personally I'd sell the RME and benchmark, get a transporter and start saving up for a real high end DAC. Note: Emphasis on "personally". New (electrostatic) headphones could be nice

[d_rayman]

Personally I'd sell the RME and benchmark, get a transporter and start saving up for a real high end DAC. Note: Emphasis on "personally". New (electrostatic) headphones could be nice

if i have to sell both my soundcard and DAC, then my desktop will become a quiet guy.

which DAC do you consider a high-end one?

[Tachikoma]

This is the transporter I was talking about:

Transporter Wireless Network Music Player: The wireless digital music player audiophiles have been waiting for.

It is sort of a DAC (based on reviews, a decent one...), but it is mainly meant to be a high-end computer based transport for other external DACs. It should be better than any computer soundcard simply because it isn't inside a computer.

You can buy a used unit from audiogon here:

AudiogoN ForSale: Slimdevices/Logitech transporter

But there might be better deals out there if you can wait.

I don't know much about high end DACs to be honest, but the names usually tossed around here are the Chord DAC64, Lavry Gold, etc. The Benchmark DAC-1 definitely isn't one though.