Upgrading to 24bit/96khz - Is SB0240 right for me?

MEXXX` · Sep 1, 2007, 06:26 AM

Hi all, I started off a couple years ago using a SB0090(Audigy 1) for an active 3-way stereo setup. The card is used to route the sound to a seperate DSP program through ASIO and then to 3 SPDIF outputs. The DACs are external.

I would like to upgrade to 24bit/96khz and want to know if it is worth it and if I have everything straight. From what I've read kx does not do 24bit/96khz ASIO correct? I have to use ASIO4ALL for this? Is ASIO4ALL and a SB0240 card all I need to reach my goal?

My external DACs use CS8412 and CS4329 which will only do 16bit/48khz. I plan on swapping them out for CS8414 and CS4390 which do 24bit/96khz, so all I have to worry about is the soundcard setup.

Oh, and this is for stereo ONLY, no surround.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Also, is this the correct pinout for the SB0240.....

http://www.driverheaven.net/400802-post2.html

JGSF · Sep 1, 2007, 09:11 AM

Well, most of the time you'll be hearing a 48Khz/16-bit audio stream, IMHO if your goal is 96Khz/24-bit, maybe you should consider another card.

But you can do 96Khz/24-bit asio with asio4all.

check this thread:

Beginner's guide for 96/24 ASIO with Audigy2 cards + kX drivers

Yes, that is the correct pin out.

MEXXX` · Sep 1, 2007, 01:18 PM

Thanks for the reply.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny1982

Well, most of the time you'll be hearing a 48Khz/16-bit audio stream...

Why is this? I understand this if the source material isn't 24-bit/96khz. Is there some situation where even 24-bit/96khz source material won't be played as such?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny1982

...maybe you should consider another card.

What do you suggest?

As I mentioned before, all I need is 3 SPDIF outputs at 96khz. I don't need 24-bit/96khz input.

JGSF · Sep 1, 2007, 10:37 PM

*Everything* that goes thru the DSP is resampled to 48Khz/16-bit, no matter what the samplerate/bit depth of the source material is.

Your only chance of true 96Khz/24-bit is using waveHQ ins/outs, which have a different signal routing.

Do a search here about "p16V", there's plenty of info.

I really don't know of any card that has 3 (freely configurable) spdif outputs that can handle 96/24, but hopefuly someone with more knowledge than me will know.

MEXXX` · Sep 2, 2007, 09:29 AM

Thanks Johnny, I did more reading and it all makes sense now. I see I'm basically SOL on this one.

If I really want HQ I guess I will have to go to something like the M-Audio Firewire 410. It has 8 analog outputs(only 1 SPDIF), but I can probably catch the digital signal before the internal DACs.

One last question, if I select 96khz for the SPDIF outputs in kxmixer does this upsample the signal? I get a noticeable improvement going from 44.1khz to 48khz when playing CD's, so maybe upsampling to 96khz would be a bit better?

I don't know, I'm an analogue guy. Still trying to grasp all this digital stuff.

Thanks for your time.