Can someone buy this and send it for Amir to test? its a top selling $20 product

['Tusk']

https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Lab...1&keywords=USB+DAC+AMP&qid=1597695714&sr=8-24

It is a creative product supposedly as good as Apple dongle?

 

[amirm]

I *may* already have one for testing.

 

['Tusk']

I *may* already have one for testing.

cool would love a test on this, dying to see how this compares to the Apple Dongle seeing as this is an actual PC dongle I can only imagine it would have more volume than the apple dongle which is really a smartphone device.

According to the top review of this thing on Amazon the hiss people complain about is due to "side channel" and can be turned off via software.

What I like about this device besides the fact that it is so cheap is that it comes with the creative software suite. I always find these things useful for PC use

 

['Tusk']

Also I was watching this video of this little dongle I notice at 0:54 timeframe he actually has the option in the software to enable a 300 ohm headphone setting.

WOW this thing can really drive a 300 ohm headphone?

 

['Tusk']

Amir if you get it to test this guy on Amazon wrote this

Apparently this is what causes the hiss its mic monitoring

"
To turn off microphone monitoring/sidechannel:
1. Install the Sound Blaster software that comes with the sound card
2. In the Sound Blaster Play! 3 Control Panel, go to the [Mixer] tab.
3. Under Playback -> Speakers -> Monitoring -> Microphone, either move the slider to 0, or click the mute button on the right of the volume slider. "

 

[BillG]

cool would love a test on this, dying to see how this compares to the Apple Dongle seeing as this is an actual PC dongle I can only imagine it would have more volume than the apple dongle which is really a smartphone device.

When comparing an Apple DAC-HPA dongle against a standard Realtek implementation (i. e. motherboard line-out) on a Dell Optiplex 990, I didn't notice any difference in volume when either was used to drive an integrated amplifier. The Apple drove the amp just as well as the motherboard.

 

[3125b]

The Apple drove the amp just as well as the motherboard.

Both get you about 1Vrms out, the high output impedance of the mainboard doesn't cost it when driving an amp.

 

['Tusk']

^ Hey guys and what about sound quality does the sound blaster sound just as good as the Apple dongle?

Do you think the sound blaster is worth the extra $6 for the Creative Audio Suite Software?

Should I go Sound Blaster Audigy FX PCIe instead? it claims to have 600 ohm headphone amp but it's only 106 SNR where as Asus Xonar SE is 116db snr

 

[Putter]

^ Hey guys and what about sound quality does the sound blaster sound just as good as the Apple dongle?

Do you think the sound blaster is worth the extra $6 for the Creative Audio Suite Software?

Should I go Sound Blaster Audigy FX PCIe instead? it claims to have 600 ohm headphone amp but it's only 106 SNR where as Asus Xonar SE is 116db snr

I'm sure you could hear the difference between 106 and 116 db, but you wouldn't hear anything afterwards because you would be deaf! Really now those are inaudible differences.

 

['Tusk']

I'm sure you could hear the difference between 106 and 116 db, but you wouldn't hear anything afterwards because you would be deaf! Really now those are inaudible differences.

ooh lol ok thanks didn't know this lmao.

What if creative falls short of the 106 tho?

And the SNR is really something like 91 db? would I then be able to hear a difference? that would be noticeable?

I currently have a B450 Gaming Plus motherboard and boy is the sound hot garbage compared to my Samsung S7 Edge

I am just thinking of grabbing the Audigy FX since it's cheaper on amazon warehouse and possibly has better drivers than Asus. And I think it has a much better software suite

 

[3125b]

When driving headphones the main deciding factors are output power and impedance.
93dB SNR does not look promising though, you might hear some noise with sensitive headphones.

 

['Tusk']

When driving headphones the main deciding factors are output power and impedance.
93dB SNR does not look promising though, you might hear some noise with sensitive headphones.

hmm yeah usually these claims are lower than it actually is.

Asus claims 116db snr and creative claims 106db snr.

Chances are I can only guess is they will fail by about 10 db so if both of them fail by 10db in their false advertisement that would put the creative at about 95 db snr or so but the asus will still be 10 points ahead.

hmmmmmmmm

It's odd that review sites never cover these budget cards which are the best selling cards, although there is a russian site that does it but they use RMAA, not the kind of tools Amir uses

https://translate.google.com/transl...edia/obzor_asus_xonar_se/&prev=search&pto=aue

^ What do you think about this review? @amirm paging amir

 

[fearmemortals]

I *may* already have one for testing.

Actually super keen to see this review. Any eta? I imagine you have a lot on your plate pretty much all the time.

 

[Matias]

There is a TempoTec Sonata HD in the queue for testing too so it would be interesting to see how these 2 compare since they are about the same price and with mic input too.

 

[fearmemortals]

There is a TempoTec Sonata HD in the queue for testing too so it would be interesting to see how these 2 compare since they are about the same price and with mic input too.
View attachment 79542

Yeh I'm quite keen on the Sound Blaster one because apparently the mic input is pretty decent as compared to onboard

 

[3125b]

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/sharkoon-mobile-dac-mobile-dac-pd-gaming-dac-pro-s/2.html
Mic input performance seems solid, for the output Sharkoon claims 1Vrms and 100mA max current output.

 

[D1N0]

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/sharkoon-mobile-dac-mobile-dac-pd-gaming-dac-pro-s/2.html
Mic input performance seems solid, for the output Sharkoon claims 1Vrms and 100mA max current output.

I have one. Works fine. I don't have any fancy headphones since I sporadically listen outdoors. Hooked it up to the Fosi TD10D and it played great.