Review and Measurements of EVGA NU Audio PC Card

[Ufasas]

There are some used ones for 60-95 on ebay.. Has anyone tested k702 with Nu Audio? How were the impressions?

 

[ThatM1key]

There are some used ones for 60-95 on ebay.. Has anyone test k702 with Nu Audio? How were the impressions?

I have the 7xxs and the EVGA handled it well and it sounded very clean. I wouldve kept that card in my system but the software and drivers are complete garbage. Creative blaster ae-5 has better software but it has the worst ADC ever, worse than some built in ADCs on motherboards.

Edit: If you don't want to use the headphone section anymore, you can probably just unplug the sata power.

 

[Ufasas]

So just received it, it doesn't like extension cables, like Asus did, it likes direct cable from the back panel straight to earcup, otherwise - sound, but the more expensive headphones i put, the more enjoyable sound is, so i am staying with AKG k702, at the end i picked ASIO, and it's great. Dunno by how much EVGA is better, but i am willing to sell Asus Strix Soar away soon, love evga lively sound, and very clean indeed

 

[Xii-Nyth]

Too bad they didn't send one card to you ultimately.



Yeah I'd guess they did their best to reduce interferences, pcie riser to move it out of the case and independent psu to limit noise.

what ive been thinking about the whole time going through this, im actually impressed, its a pretty good all around device (and sound cards usually arent) but would make more sense outside the pc

but there is a lot more stuff to compete with then so I guess they went for best sound card. now I wouldnt really be worried about noise form the psu, more the graphics cards, I remember seeing some tests on the ae-5 and found that under load the noise floor was rainsed about 10 db, obviously depends on the distance to the card and which card it is

 

[Doodski]

使用了海韵无风扇零噪音钛金电源+直插pcie x16。最近加满了4条内存，声卡完全关闭RGB 灯带。

View attachment 170651View attachment 170652View attachment 170653View attachment 170654View attachment 170655

Very nice. The Nu Audio Pro version tested here @asr slightly better than the Nu Audio.

 

[Doodski]

谢谢支持！

 

[MrPickles]

I have owned the Nu Audio for my desktop about two years now and have now decided to upgrade my laptop audio for my Karaoke Business with a new external desktop DAC. After purchasing both the highly rated ifi Zen DAC V1 and the Fiio K3 is is clear as day to my ears the Nu Audio in my desktop blows them away in both sound quality and volume. My ears have been spoiled with the sweet sound coming from that cheep PCI DAC out of my Desktop. After this little venture I now realized how far the Nu Audio DAC punches WAY above it's weight class. With all that in mind, does anyone out there who has experience with the Nu Audio have any suggestions for a desktop DAC that compares to the Nu Audio sound quality under say 200-300 or do I need to be looking at a higher budget. BTW, even after using the the ifi and the Fiio for a few nights at my karaoke gigs the customers were raving about the new sound quality. Seemed less fatiguing to my ears and the clarity was pronounced.... I just want to go to 11. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Veri]

I have owned the Nu Audio for my desktop about two years now and have now decided to upgrade my laptop audio for my Karaoke Business with a new external desktop DAC. After purchasing both the highly rated ifi Zen DAC V1 and the Fiio K3 is is clear as day to my ears the Nu Audio in my desktop blows them away in both sound quality and volume. My ears have been spoiled with the sweet sound coming from that cheep PCI DAC out of my Desktop. After this little venture I now realized how far the Nu Audio DAC punches WAY above it's weight class. With all that in mind, does anyone out there who has experience with the Nu Audio have any suggestions for a desktop DAC that compares to the Nu Audio sound quality under say 200-300 or do I need to be looking at a higher budget.

For $200-300 I'm not sure why you'd not just stick with the Nu Audio, it seems like a good performer. This is Fiio's top desktop DAC:
https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-Amplifier-Headphone-Decoding-Adaptive/dp/B09GK1BX97 but it's rather pricy

 

[MrPickles]

For $200-300 I'm not sure why you'd not just stick with the Nu Audio, it seems like a good performer. This is Fiio's top desktop DAC:
https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-Amplifier-Headphone-Decoding-Adaptive/dp/B09GK1BX97 but it's rather pricy

The Nu Audio is in my Desktop and I am looking for a comparable DAC for my Laptop in that price range. The Fiio and ifi aint cuttin it.

 

[ThatM1key]

I have owned the Nu Audio for my desktop about two years now and have now decided to upgrade my laptop audio for my Karaoke Business with a new external desktop DAC. After purchasing both the highly rated ifi Zen DAC V1 and the Fiio K3 is is clear as day to my ears the Nu Audio in my desktop blows them away in both sound quality and volume. My ears have been spoiled with the sweet sound coming from that cheep PCI DAC out of my Desktop. After this little venture I now realized how far the Nu Audio DAC punches WAY above it's weight class. With all that in mind, does anyone out there who has experience with the Nu Audio have any suggestions for a desktop DAC that compares to the Nu Audio sound quality under say 200-300 or do I need to be looking at a higher budget. BTW, even after using the the ifi and the Fiio for a few nights at my karaoke gigs the customers were raving about the new sound quality. Seemed less fatiguing to my ears and the clarity was pronounced.... I just want to go to 11. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I would recommend the Topping E30/L30 Stack, Fits well in your budget.

Although I had trouble with my EVGA NU Audio, the "line in" was amazing for recordings, nothing really like. EVGA should've just made into a actual USB AMP/DAC. I think EVGA made into a PCI-E is for money reasons, why made it external and have to include a power supply when you could just made it internal, everybody's got a spare sata power cable.

 

[MrPickles]

I love it! I am new to the scene and the Nu was my first high end audio upgrade in years. I have them RCA'd into M Audio BX5a'a Active Studio Reference speakers and couldn't be happier, until I hear something better. So, this side by side comparison was quite eye opening. Took a look as the E30 and would love to pull the trigger on them but noticed they do not have a balanced output which I will need for gigs; lots of noise in various venues. Any recommendation for a balanced DAC in that range or lower with balanced outputs?

 

[ThatM1key]

I love it! I am new to the scene and the Nu was my first high end audio upgrade in years. I have them RCA'd into M Audio BX5a'a Active Studio Reference speakers and couldn't be happier, until I hear something better. So, this side by side comparison was quite eye opening. Took a look as the E30 and would love to pull the trigger on them but noticed they do not have a balanced output which I will need for gigs; lots of noise in various venues. Any recommendation for a balanced DAC in that range or lower with balanced outputs?

You could try the Topping D10 Balanced. It has TRS Balanced out's and it's the same price as the Topping E30.

 

[Veri]

Any recommendation for a balanced DAC in that range or lower with balanced outputs?

Schiit Modius. But if you want one better order soon, it is pretty much always on back-order.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Took a look as the E30 and would love to pull the trigger on them but noticed they do not have a balanced output which I will need for gigs; lots of noise in various venues. Any recommendation for a balanced DAC in that range or lower with balanced outputs?

Alongside the aforementioned D10B, you may want to consider an audio interface in the same price range as well. That would give you an external volume knob, and maximum output in the $100-200 class generally tends to range from +12 to +18 dBu (3 to 6 Vrms, so same ballpark as the 4 Vrms out of the D10B).

 

[Spiritrises]

Is fiio k5 pro ess any better than evga nu? Does it provide more power for my dt 1990 pro? I have the evga nu and replaced the op amps with burson v5i as well and i was looking for something powerful than evga nu for driving dt 1990 pro. Does it worth switching to fiio k5 pro ess ?

 

[Jimster480]

Is fiio k5 pro ess any better than evga nu? Does it provide more power for my dt 1990 pro? I have the evga nu and replaced the op amps with burson v5i as well and i was looking for something powerful than evga nu for driving dt 1990 pro. Does it worth switching to fiio k5 pro ess ?

Not sure what country you are in but the K5 pro isn't even in the USA at this point in time. Also an older product and there are no measurements of the recent versions.
Better to buy something more modern.

 

[Spiritrises]

Not sure what country you are in but the K5 pro isn't even in the USA at this point in time. Also an older product and there are no measurements of the recent versions.
Better to buy something more modern.

I live in Turkey and the ess version is the latest one for the fiio k5 pro. And the measeruments are as below;

K5PRO ESS_parameters

K5PRO ESS_parameters,FiiO--Born for Music

www.fiio.com

Headphone output performance parameters（6.35mm，UAC/SPDIF IN)

Output power	1250mW(32Ω)
140mW(300Ω)

Headphone output performance parameters（6.35mm，Line IN)

Output power	1500mW(32Ω）
170mW(300Ω)

 

[Jimster480]

I live in Turkey and the ess version is the latest one for the fiio k5 pro. And the measeruments are as below;

K5PRO ESS_parameters

K5PRO ESS_parameters,FiiO--Born for Music

www.fiio.com

Headphone output performance parameters（6.35mm，UAC/SPDIF IN)

​

Output power	1250mW(32Ω)
140mW(300Ω)

Headphone output performance parameters（6.35mm，Line IN)

​

Output power	1500mW(32Ω）
170mW(300Ω)

That isn't a measurement, it is just a mfg estimate. This is why this site works, to test such claims and the real world performance.

If you can get a Topping DX3 to your country, it would be much better than that I'm sure.

 

[Spiritrises]

That isn't a measurement, it is just a mfg estimate. This is why this site works, to test such claims and the real world performance.

If you can get a Topping DX3 to your country, it would be much better than that I'm sure.

Unfortunately this dac/amp combo is the only option.

 

[Jimster480]

Unfortunately this dac/amp combo is the only option.

Why is this the only option?