snowparang 0 Report post Posted July 25, 2003 how's the sound quality diff of an audio cd from 1. soundcard (using whatever high quality software) 2. straight from the headphone out on the fron panel of the cdrom Also, possible to mod the dac of a cdrom? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ablaze 0 Report post Posted July 25, 2003 started a new topic for you since your post's mostly unrelated from the m-audio opamp thread. welcome btw Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adhoc 0 Report post Posted July 25, 2003 (edited) the cd-rom dac IIRC is usually an inferior quality dac. the wire connecting your soundcard and cd-rom directly is to carry the analog signal from your cdrom (after veing decoded form digital via your cdrom's dac) to the soundcard. otherwise, the digital info would typically go straight to your soundcard to be converted into analog using the soundcard's (usually superior) dacs. Edited July 25, 2003 by adhoc Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
erickoh 0 Report post Posted July 25, 2003 I think you need special software to use your soundcard DAC to play audio CDs. Most players will just use the analogue wire, mix it with the rest and output using the soundcard jacks. You can confirm by muting the CD audio. If it mutes, then your software player is using the cdrom drive DAC. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
evil-zen 0 Report post Posted July 25, 2003 cd audio nowadays is extracted digitally and passed directly to to soundcards via PCI. in the older days, cd audio are passed to soundcard via a thin analog cable. you can enable digital reading in most windows os. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snowparang 0 Report post Posted July 27, 2003 thanks ablaze! ok, so signal from cdrom to soundcard via ide is better? maybe my soundcard is bad (on-board sound) but I find that the sound quality is better if I play straight from the cdrom. Also, from your argument, would mp3 sound better if it's burned into an audio cd and played rather than straight from the harddrive using software mp3 players? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adhoc 0 Report post Posted July 27, 2003 snow parang, yes. and as for mp3, i'm not too sure about this but i believe that it counts as data, not music, so you cannot use your onboard cdrom dac to play it. in other words i think even if you burned an audio cd with mp3, it would extract your mp3s to the hdd to be decoded via your soundcard. what onboard soundcard are you using btw? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adhoc 0 Report post Posted July 27, 2003 some useful reading.. http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/Other_Artic...dio_Quality.htm Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tenson 0 Report post Posted July 28, 2003 If you get a professional 'soundcard' (mostly outboard rack-mount units) Like M-Audio. Then they will always have to use digital-extraction from the CD as the card in the computer does not have anywhere to plug in a analog output from the drive. Also the DAC's are in the out-board unit so they don’t get so much interference. So basically the difference is if you get a better soundcard the CD playback will be better. As long as you use digital extraction. Winamp and Media player both support digital extraction playback. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adhoc 0 Report post Posted July 28, 2003 (edited) better soundcards = better dacs & opamps. better dacs & opamps = better sound. usually the better soundcards also have upsampling to improve the sound. for example a revo can upsample sound to 24bit (from typical 16bit) and work with that 24bit sound natively and completely unlike the original audigy which upsampled the sound to 24bit but then downsampled it again to 16bit before sending it out to you. Edited July 29, 2003 by adhoc Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ablaze 0 Report post Posted July 28, 2003 I think you left out a "can" in that last sentence adhoc ie: "for example a revo can upsample sound to 24bit (from typical 16bit) and work with that 24bits natively and completely unlike the original audigy which upsampled the sound to 24bit but then downsampled it again to 16bit before sending it out to you." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sipher 0 Report post Posted July 28, 2003 my nForce2 integrated SoundStorm chip is quite good for integrated sound quite satisfied with it for now. OT: snowparang, u frequent Mindef forums?? i saw someone by the nick snowparang too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snowparang 0 Report post Posted July 28, 2003 (edited) yes Sipher, it's me at mindef... I meant burning the mp3 into an audio CD (not mp3 anymore) and playing directly from cdrom (some cdrom have a play button next to the eject button, sound output is the 4 pin output next to the IDE socket) Professional soundcard? Cost at least $200? The M-audio is near $200... I personally have not tried and hence don't know whether 2496 really makes a diff, unless I'm doing recording... next question: recently I realise the sound from my soundcard distorts even at low vol (mp3, Evanescence - My immortal). I tot it's a source problem but when I burn the mp3 to be played on my Iriver/cd player, there's no distortion! So before I change my soundcard, do you guys have this problem on your Creative Live/Audigy/M-audio/Revo? beside soundcard how can I use the digital out from my cdrom? tks a lot! Edited July 28, 2003 by snowparang Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adhoc 0 Report post Posted July 29, 2003 ablaze, paiseh. changed my post liao. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
evil-zen 0 Report post Posted July 29, 2003 if it distorts, try lowering the master volume and wave volume on windows. then increase your speaker volume. i found that my older soundcard distorts with higher windows volume. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
