Should I use soundcard, AVR as preamp, or buy a dac?

[jsbrown11]

Hello - I currently have a creative soundblaster AE-9 that I use to stream music on my pc in 2.1. I didn't know if I would get better sound quality out of my avr or if buying a higher end dac would get me better quality?

I think my soundcard is supposed to be decent but not sure if I could be doing something better. Mainly listen to music through Tidal/Spotify.

I'm kind of a noob when it comes to reading data on dacs so didn't know what would be best? I am willing to spend some money if I would get significantly better quality out of something new.

If not, I'm happy with my setup, just more curious at this point. I have my AVR setup to watch movies/gaming at my desk with surround sound, so AVR and PC are right next to eachother.

Here's my gear:
Soundcard: Creative Soundblaster AE-9
AVR: Denon x3700H
Power amp: Hypex NCx500
minidsp 2x4

Thanks!

J

 

[Mynice]

Don't let the internet tell you what sounds better and what doesn't. Try for yourself!

The DAC doesn't make any sound: your speakers do that. So you could throw the most expensive DAC in the world at your setup and what you will hear will be limited by what your speakers can produce, and you haven't mentioned what speakers you are using, so it's hard to say what improvements you will hear if you move past the very competent soundcard and AVR you are currently using.

But since you're curious, why not throw $100 at a Topping E30 II Lite and then tell us how it sounds to you. That's a very competent piece of kit in any setup and if you don't like it, you can probably resell for 2/3 of what you paid pretty easily.

 

[jsbrown11]

Gotcha, thanks for the info. I'll look into something like that.

Currently using Perlisten S4b's and 2 PSA 18inch sealed subs for my speaker setup.

 

[DVDdoug]

I think my soundcard is supposed to be decent

If you're not hearing background noise (hum, hiss or whine), it's probably audibly perfect.

VR and PC are right next to eachother.

And your soundcard is connected to the AVR? Does your computer have HDMI? That way you'd be using the DAC built-into your AVR, which should also be good.

If you are dissatisfied, different/better speakers will ALWAYS make a change (for better or worse).

...Or add surround speakers for a completely different experience! (I like to use a "Hall" or "Theater" setting on my AVR to get some delayed reverb in the rear speakers when listening to regular stereo music.)

 

[jsbrown11]

If you're not hearing background noise (hum, hiss or whine), it's probably audibly perfect.


And your soundcard is connected to the AVR? Does your computer have HDMI? That way you'd be using the DAC built-into your AVR, which should also be good.

If you are dissatisfied, different/better speakers will ALWAYS make a change (for better or worse).

...Or add surround speakers for a completely different experience! (I like to use a "Hall" or "Theater" setting on my AVR to get some delayed reverb in the rear speakers when listening to regular stereo music.)

I have tried a couple different ways, I can do HDMI from my video card to the AVR. Right now just doing power amp to minidsp to my sound card via RCA.

I have a 5.2.4 setup in here but when I use my avr to power my other speakers and game or listen to music I hear some pretty gnarley buzz/hissing, wasn't sure if that was coming from my AVR amp to the other speakers or what?

If the answer is just to minimize any background buzz/hiss then yea my soundcard is doing fine. Won't worry about it.

Thanks for the response.

 

[Dunring]

I've had the AE-9 several times and the 9038pro in it is excellent. Put it in direct mode and the biggest issue will be noise from the RCA connectors. If you can locate it at the bottom of the case on the shielded side of the power supply it'll be best.
The amp in the control module is pretty powerful, if you can use the outputs on it that might be the best bet. The special HDMI cable it uses should be cleaner from the module than the ones in the card. I always had some noise from the back ports, but optical works really well.

 

[jsbrown11]

I've had the AE-9 several times and the 9038pro in it is excellent. Put it in direct mode and the biggest issue will be noise from the RCA connectors. If you can locate it at the bottom of the case on the shielded side of the power supply it'll be best.
The amp in the control module is pretty powerful, if you can use the outputs on it that might be the best bet. The special HDMI cable it uses should be cleaner from the module than the ones in the card. I always had some noise from the back ports, but optical works really well.

Thanks, I didn't know if using optical was frowned upon or not? I can run optical from my minidsp and it sounds about the same? I maybe noticed slightly less noise vs. RCA into the back of the card?

 

[Dunring]

I've tried everything with the AE-9 like when I just got the card but not the ACM and lined it out with RCA to a Magni Heresy, but couldn't escape the noise floor because of a hot video card. Optical at 96khz can be a great alternative if your RCA ports are noisy or have a ground loop noise you can't shake. I'd first try the RCA out of the audio control module, then pause a song and turn the volume up in high gain. If you don't get a hiss then you're really in good shape. Direct mode is as good as any DAC on the market, in that mode you can use the filter settings too (you'll see the graphs in settings).