DJ_Farid

I have had my SB Live 1024 PCI for 7 years. It still works very good with the KX Drivers. But...

My computer is 3 meters from my amplifier. So I have a 4 meters long RCA cable from the card to my amp. This long cable degrades the sound pretty much, I think.
I should add that all I do with the card is to listen to mp3s with my 2 channel amplifier, nothing more fancy. I have decent hifi equippment and I am quite picky with the sound.

Moving my stuff is not an option. So one solution I came up with, is to get an extrnal soundcard. That way there will be a digital signal (USB) going from computer to the soundcard, which is very close to the amplifier. This way the analog sound could travel a minimum distance.

I found the Sound Blaster Live 24-bit USB for a good price. I have never used an external soundcard before. I have done some reading and think that this will do what I want. But I have not seen any reviews of this card.
I know that most of the better external cards are firewire, and targeted for people that create music. I do not have that kind of money.

I am aware that the KX driver does not support this device. Which will be a minus.

Does anyone here know anything about this card? Maybe someone owns one and could give some comments?
How is the sound quality? The Signal to Noise Ratio should be lower than with the PCI version since it is external, right? It comes with gold plated connectors, which is more than my PCI card has now. So maybe the other internal stutt is better also? But most importantly I would get rid of the long RCA.
Are there any non Creative drivers for this card?
Which chip does it use?
How much CPU does it use?
Is the current from the USB bus enough to drive it?

dj_stick

i would not use that c ard for recording purposes - if you want an external recording card, i suggest one designed for that, rather than a consumer based one

btw if you use decent cabling, your current system is fine. I paid roughly AU$30 for a really solid 2x6m RCA cable to hook my turntables up to my computer to record/monitor - with no noticeable adverse affects (which is more than i can say for the cheap 6m cable o bought for $6 i was using before)

__________________

KloudZ

1. 4 meters rca line could hardly influence the sound quality
2. most firewire devices are less stable than any other non-firewire devices
3. a usb external device doesn't mean it has better s/n ratio
4. gold plate connectors look much prettier, but they don't deliver better sound.

and i have this card, now i don't use it. i used this card only because i'm a laptop user, not because it's better than other creative pci cards.
btw, since ur name has a 'dj' title, in case u may have recording purpose, don't try this usb card, it has high latency. that's why i don't use it now.

dj_stick

you'd be very surprised at what using quality cable can do as opposed to sh*tty stuff - i speak from experience here (6m distance in my case)
evidence?
I find them more stable than USB, due to the direct chip-chip communications, rather than USB's host/slave method that draws on the CPU and increases the latency - but all forms of soundcards will be unstable if the drivers are inadequate
on average, it does - as the card is no longer subject to the barrage of EMI that it would be if inside the computer, but it also depends on the quality of the components used
true to an extent, it's the cable that does, however the chemical properties of Au prevent the corrosion/oxidation you get with normal metels, to retain the quality of the connection as long as possible - i'll post comparison pics of the cables i use, compared to what i used to use
EDIT: here we go

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/7708/mg4192fh1.jpg

using the higher quality cable dropped my noise floor by about 20-25dB from memory… using balanced connections probably would have done a better job, but i only have unbalanced inputs on my mixer for stereo sources

__________________

Maddogg6

Well - its not true at all in the technical sense....

Au connection = lower electrical resistance than Cu/Tn = lower signal loss / connection = better inter-device impedence match = max power transfer curves possible (and all the positives for freq response, etc).

So technically - gold connectors ARE superior - but many people wont hear the difference, much less concede the extra cost for gold is being 'worth it'

-the longer life span of Au, I always seen as just a 'positive side effect'.

The downfall of gold - is - it chips and flakes easy - so its not well suited for the contant connect-reconnect - and more suited for the 'connect and forget' situations.

But the connectors IMHO are only as small part compared to the actual cable used - THIS is paramount - I dare anyone to quantify the increase in quality by replacing some cables with gold connectors. - If the wire is crap - the whole assembly is crap.

Most audiophiles cant hear the difference between a good copper connector or a gold plated one (resistance meter - not even a DVM - is the only thing to use to differentiate them - but ANYONE can hear how a crap cable screws up frew response.

So - if you notice the significant difference in DJ's pic - its not the gold that makes the difference, its that big ol honkin cable that most will 'hear' as a difference.

DJ_Farid

Thanks for the replies.

I am aware that I could buy a new RCA cable for money than this USB soundcard and get a better sound.
I am aware that I could buy a new "audiophile card" for 4 times the money and get much better sound.
If I bought a new PCI card it would just be stupid not to buy a new better cable anyway.

I will not do any recording with the card. Only listen to MP3s.
So latency wont matter at all.
The thing, whatever it will be, will just be pretty much forgotten in my living room. I wont probably be touching it for years. So gold plated connectors is a good thing.

To me the most important thing is that the signal looks exactly the same on both ends of the interconnect cable between the amp and the soundcard. The absolutely best way is to keep the cable as short as possible.

I agree with Maddogg6 about the cable.
There are a lot of measurable effects happening in a 1 meter RCA cable with a sound signal. People have problems to agree on if the effects are audible. I believe they are. I will need 4 meters of cable, which will give the effects atleast 4 times (probably more).
I think that it is the cables capacitance that is the biggest problem. Then probably some other effects that are a little more controversial (the skin effect and so on...)

I would probably get a lot more expensive card + cables if I was rich, but I am not.
How is the build quality of the card? How does it perform playing 2 channel audio?


Some good reading when you are bored:
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~jcgl/Sc...ect/page1.html
http://sound.westhost.com/cables-p3.htm#interconnects

dj_stick

remember that USB cables can't be any longer than i think 2 metres (someone correct me?) before the signal is too low for it to work properly

__________________

DJ_Farid

It is 3 meters for USB 1.1 and 5 meters for USB 2.

dj_stick

thanks, i remember reading something, but i couldn't remember the exact number

don't forget that rating is for quality cables, so don't be stingy when you go to purchase a 4m one

__________________

DJ_Farid

I will buy that card and a 3 meter long USB cable. If that card turns out to be less good than my current setup, I'll just return it.

DJ_Farid

Bought the card today. The output has a higher level than from my Live! value.
The USB Sounds better. I don't know how much the cable affects the sound, and how much the card makes the sound different.

Support in Linux is not so good. This is a minus. The remote that came with the card is nice though.

I am happy with my small upgrade. But I'll keep my old card for recording purposes anyway.

dj_stick

glad things worked out for you

__________________