Whoa.. cheap CD player destroys my computer's 96/24 FLAC files!!

Gridslayer

Gridslayer

This and that...
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So I got an outboard Creative Labs USB audio card and had been playing some Vinyl rips in 96/24 flac. I got both the momo and stereo versions of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. Thought they sounded good. Then I pulled out a Denon DCD-520 cd player out of storage, and played the same album on CD. I hadn't listened to a dedicated CDP in a long time... just computer music and my turntable.

I was astonished at the difference!! I know if I put some more cash into a better sound card, it would probably sound better... but why, if this cheap CDP plays so well? I enjoy the ability to play jukebox style on the computer, but the sound quality difference is ridiculous!!
 
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Gridslayer said:
I was astonished at the difference!! I know if I put some more cash into a better sound card, it would probably sound better... but why, if this cheap CDP plays so well? I enjoy the ability to play jukebox style on the computer, but the sound quality difference is ridiculous!!
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Because the DAC in the creative is most likely cheaper and it also probably uses cheaper output transistors, there is a lot to playing back digital files and when more or one link is the product of cost cutting the end result can suffer greatly. If you buy an M-audio, Turtle beach or an Asus made card and than you'll never understand why Creative gets such rave reviews.
 
Vintage_Hi-F said:
Because the DAC in the creative is most likely cheaper and it also probably uses cheaper output transistors, there is a lot to playing back digital files and when more or one link is the product of cost cutting the end result can suffer greatly. If you buy an M-audio, Turtle beach or an Asus made card and than you'll never understand why Creative gets such rave reviews.
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Because M-Audio and such concentrate on music, and Creative concentrates on surround effects for games.
 
Creative used to be the king of gaming sound cards...Asus has since dethroned them within the last couple of years.
 
The point is I'd have to spend considerably more to get the same quality that I'm getting from the CDP for basically nothing...One is on ebay for $5...
 
BadassBob said:
Creative used to be the king of gaming sound cards...Asus has since dethroned them within the last couple of years.
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That's what PCGamer use to claim as well back in that day when I built my first Pc (sometime around 2003). I remember buying an Audidigy 2 simply based on there review after a week a returned it to best buy and bought a Hercules: Titan 5.1 (was a turtle beach sourced card) surround sound card. It was much better for music and games, though I will say creative has slipped drastically in quality since than. And yes If you want a gaming sound card than Asus is the way to go hell most of there cards source some of there audio circuitry from the same suppliers that M-audio uses.

js1138 said:
Because M-Audio and such concentrate on music, and Creative concentrates on surround effects for games.
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True but the others do a great job for movie's and games as well. I think it just boils down to good design all around versus marketing and pizzazz.
 
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Gridslayer said:
The point is I'd have to spend considerably more to get the same quality that I'm getting from the CDP for basically nothing...One is on ebay for $5...
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$100 is what were talking about (some may be a tad closer to $200), I know it more than a used CDP but that's real cheap for sound quality you can get. I mean most creative cards are that price and aren't even in the same league as the cards were talking about.
 
I have creative sound blaster x-fi hd external usb and flac 24 bit files that sound amazing. Better than my cd's in general. Plus I have thousands on a 2 terrabyte hard drive.

Cd's are dead.
 
similost said:
Just one more step for you to consider.. I've found that DVD players tend to sound better than CD players..
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Depends on the Cd player in question. I've been told dozens of times that a bargain $100 DVD player would out perform a mid to high level CDP from the mid 80's to the early 90's. I can say that has not been my experience.My 1986 Shure CDP kicked my $100 insignia DVD player to the curb.
 
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My phillips DVD player kicks the crap outta my old Yamaha CDX1030 or what ever model it is.. and back then, that was a really high end CD player..
 
Is your computer hooked to your 2-channel setup? If so, go into the sound settings on the computer and make sure it's set properly. If the computer is expecting two little satellites and a subwoofer, the output to your 2-channel system isn't going to be optimized.
 
A computer sound card will likely never compare favorably to a stand alone CD player for music playback. A computer is an inherently noisy device, and introduces unwanted artifacts - jitter - into the playback stream.

This is the reason behind the proliferation of USB DAC's in the marketplace. Even a modestly priced asynchronous stand -alone DAC will improve the sound of music sourced from a PC versus playback from a PC/sound card.
 
The OP is talking about a USB audio "card", which is the same thing as a stand-alone DAC. Apparently, the OP has a pretty bad one, though. As far as why bother spending money if you have a CDP that sounds better? No reason at all, if you are happy with the CDP and don't care about the functionality a computer brings to the table.
 
The reason would be because I have a lot of music on my computer... yes.. the sound card is cheap... It's the creative SB X-fi something or other... very cheap... just saying that the sound on my 1980's cd player is better than on the technology from 2010...
 
Sam Cogley said:
Is your computer hooked to your 2-channel setup? If so, go into the sound settings on the computer and make sure it's set properly. If the computer is expecting two little satellites and a subwoofer, the output to your 2-channel system isn't going to be optimized.
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good thought... I've optimized it...
 
Vintage_Hi-F said:
Depends on the Cd player in question. I've been told dozens of times that a bargain $100 DVD player would out perform a mid to high level CDP from the mid 80's to the early 90's. I can say that has not been my experience.My 1986 Shure CDP kicked my $100 insignia DVD player to the curb.
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My experiences agree with yours.
 
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