I don't know much about audio stuff...

[Kei]

Does your 2.1 system connect to your current sound card via a single 3.5mm TRS or two? Some 2.1 systems don't require a separate input from the computer as the crossover for the sub and satellites is done internally. The problem you get is that 2.1 systems get the sub to play at much higher frequencies than it should in order to reduce the size of the satellite speakers. (small satellites with <4" drivers generally won't reproduce frequencies beneath 200Hz at an acceptable level. (simply because they have insufficient cone area and piston excursion to move enough air) I run my stereo system in tandem with a 5.1 a/v receiver so that i can have any combination of 2.0, 2.1 or 5.1 that still uses the same stereo amp for the front speakers. Difference is that my sub only contributes below 45Hz as this is where my speakers response begins to fall.

Those behringers aren't going to sound great as they are only 4" drivers and the frequency response goes down to 80Hz at an unquoted dB level. (plus they are a whopping 8W) They should sound reasonable for the money, edifer's or microlab monitors are probably similar in performance. (possibly better if they are slightly larger)

You could try and do what i did and get most of the kit for free when people throw stuff out. (my luxman amplifier was rescued from a skip, but is worth about £300 second hand) I spent some money on some new parts for it and restored it back to as new. I picked up some old speakers and bought some new parts and built my own into the old cabinets and my sub was built from scratch during my GCSEs.

If it helps, here is how mine is set up.

The mic > PS400

Permanent connections at the soundcard. The xonar software (for the ST/STX at least) allows you to switch between headphones and speakers on the fly so only the selected device plays. SPDIF outputs at the same time as speakers, but shuts off when headphones are selected. A DGX would be simpler as you'd have the speakers as a single 3.5mm TRS rather than a separate pair of RCA.

 

[Feronix]

My speaker set-up is currently as follows:
Speakers plug into the sub with brown RCA-like cables. From the sub there is one 3.5mm jack male > male cable to the PC and one power cable to the wall socket. I'm using on-board sound atm.

The shop I'm buying from doesn't have (active) monitors from Edifier or Microlab in that price range, only €100+ and that's more than I want to spend cause I didn't even plan to buy new speakers in the first place (You guys make me spend a lot more money than I want to :lol

In the specs of the Behringer ones it does say this:
4" Woofers and High res tweeters

However I'm not sure what that means, exactly.
I'm assuming they're going to be a major step-up from my MX-3s anyway?

Good to know that the software lets you do that. I wouldn't want to dive behind my PC to swap out cables all the time

 

[Kei]

Well, if you are happy with your current 2.1 setup, it will still work fine with the sub so it's not necessary to replace it.

 

[Feronix]

Well, if you are happy with your current 2.1 setup, it will still work fine with the sub so it's not necessary to replace it.

The problem is that the Xonar STX does not support the sub. It only does 2.0 according to James.

 

[jamesriley94]

The problem is that the Xonar STX does not support the sub. It only does 2.0 according to James.

I could have been wrong dude

Do you have a 3.5mm cable coming from your sub, and another 3.5mm cable from your monitors?

 

[Kei]

My speaker set-up is currently as follows:
Speakers plug into the sub with brown RCA-like cables. From the sub there is one 3.5mm jack male > male cable to the PC and one power cable to the wall socket. I'm using on-board sound atm.

That means the whole 2.1 system runs off a single 3.5mm TRS, which would work off any 2.0 sound card as the subwoofer derives its signal from the front speakers before it is passed on. (probably gets filtered)

 

[Feronix]

I could have been wrong dude

Do you have a 3.5mm cable coming from your sub, and another 3.5mm cable from your monitors?

Specs do say 2.0 speaker channels and I'm assuming that Asus puts the correct numbers on their website

My sub is the central part. From there there are:
- 1 Male to Male 3.5mm jack to the PC
- 1 Power cable to the wall socket
- 1 Brown RCA-like cable to each speaker

That means the whole 2.1 system runs off a single 3.5mm TRS, which would work off any 2.0 sound card as the subwoofer derives its signal from the front speakers before it is passed on. (probably gets filtered)

Oh that's good to hear! Saves me €60,- for now. Can then save up and get an STX later and then save up some more and get decent studio monitors after all (see if I can find some used ones cheap).

Thank you guys for all the help!

 

[FlamingBeatz]

I don't really understand why people want to use semi professional audio equipment but still look at internal non professional soundcards, why not get a semi professional soundcard if you use semi professional equipment? You'll have built in phantom power, a headphone amp, XLR mic preamp, TRS line input/output, DAC, spdif etc. It makes life much easier, you wont have to buy all that stuff seperate.

A bit off topic but i'd like to clear up some confusion. You have active, passive, powered and non powered. Active means there are multiple drivers and there is a diffrent amp for each driver, the signal gets crossed over before amplification. Passive means there are multiple drivers but only one amp, a coil is used as crossover after amplification. Powered means there is a built in amp, non powered means there is no built in amp.

 

[Feronix]

I don't really understand why people want to use semi professional audio equipment but still look at internal non professional soundcards, why not get a semi professional soundcard if you use semi professional equipment? You'll have built in phantom power, a headphone amp, XLR mic preamp, TRS line input/output, DAC, spdif etc. It makes life much easier, you wont have to buy all that stuff seperate.

A bit off topic but i'd like to clear up some confusion. You have active, passive, powered and non powered. Active means there are multiple drivers and there is a diffrent amp for each driver, the signal gets crossed over before amplification. Passive means there are multiple drivers but only one amp, a coil is used as crossover after amplification. Powered means there is a built in amp, non powered means there is no built in amp.

What kind of card would you recommend me to look at then? And how much would something like that cost? Would it also improve audio quality by much over a on-board audio or even an STX?

Thanks for clearing that up mate

 

[FlamingBeatz]

What kind of card would you recommend me to look at then? And how much would something like that cost? Would it also improve audio quality by much over a on-board audio or even an STX?

Thanks for clearing that up mate

The cheapest sound card I found that will work for you is the TASCAM US 122 MKII for €98, it's got all the options you need. I'm not sure if your speakers have a 3,5mm jack input or RCA, you might need an adaptor if you have a 3,5mm jack.

It will definately be much better than onboard sound, onboard sound often has lots of buzz, noise and sounds dead. I've never heard the STX myself so I can't judge the soundquality but for the options you get and the price you pay I'd say an external one is much better.

Also, here's an interesting video if you'd like to know more about audio quality:

 

[jamesriley94]

The cheapest sound card I found that will work for you is the TASCAM US 122 MKII for €98, it's got all the options you need. I'm not sure if your speakers have a 3,5mm jack input or RCA, you might need an adaptor if you have a 3,5mm jack.

It will definately be much better than onboard sound, onboard sound often has lots of buzz, noise and sounds dead. I've never heard the STX myself so I can't judge the soundquality but for the options you get and the price you pay I'd say an external one is much better.

You can say that about near enough any soundcard vs onboard audio...

External soundcards are very rarely better. I'm very surprised you haven't heard of the STX, and as you haven't I do very much question your knowledge of soundcards... You have to spend a lot of money on external solutions to get anywhere near the quality of the STX.

 

[Feronix]

The cheapest sound card I found that will work for you is the TASCAM US 122 MKII for €98, it's got all the options you need. I'm not sure if your speakers have a 3,5mm jack input or RCA, you might need an adaptor if you have a 3,5mm jack.

It will definately be much better than onboard sound, onboard sound often has lots of buzz, noise and sounds dead. I've never heard the STX myself so I can't judge the soundquality but for the options you get and the price you pay I'd say an external one is much better.

Thanks, I've found it for that exact price at Bax-shop (Dutch). I'm an absolute noob when it comes to this though, so could you draw me a simple plan of how I would have to hook everything up? If it's not too much trouble, of course

The mic would have an XLR connection, the headset a 3.5mm jack and same for the speakers (the 3.5mm jack goes into the sub, and from there 1 cable goes to each speaker).
Also, do I need any additional cables?

From what other people have told me an integrated sound card is usually better for the money than an external but I must admit that it would have a lot less options. Would it be benificial to buy both this external device *and* a cheap sound card like the Xonar DX or DGX?

Thanks for the help so far! I'll have to read up on how exactly this thing works and I'll be waiting for your response

You can say that about near enough any soundcard vs onboard audio...

External soundcards are very rarely better. I'm very surprised you haven't heard of the STX.

True, anything is better than what I'm using now.
He said he's never heard the STX though, not that he's never heard OF the STX

From what other people have told me an integrated sound card is usually better for the money than an external but I must admit that it would have a lot less options. Would it be benificial to buy both this external device *and* a cheap sound card like the Xonar DX or DGX?

^Asking the same question to you

 

[jamesriley94]

Thanks, I've found it for that exact price at Bax-shop (Dutch). I'm an absolute noob when it comes to this though, so could you draw me a simple plan of how I would have to hook everything up? If it's not too much trouble, of course

The mic would have an XLR connection, the headset a 3.5mm jack and same for the speakers (the 3.5mm jack goes into the sub, and from there 1 cable goes to each speaker).
Also, do I need any additional cables?

From what other people have told me an integrated sound card is usually better for the money than an external but I must admit that it would have a lot less options. Would it be benificial to buy both this external device *and* a cheap sound card like the Xonar DX or DGX?

Thanks for the help so far! I'll have to read up on how exactly this thing works and I'll be waiting for your response




True, anything is better than what I'm using now.
He sound he's never heard the STX though, not that he's never heard OF the STX



^Asking the same question to you

Oops for the first part - still drowsy after my operation

It depends on what external device. An amp - maybe, a DAC - no.

All 3.5mm/6.3mm jacks are analogue out. Only SPDIF is digital. This means all analogue ports on the back of a soundcard have already gone through some form of DAC - if the card doesn't brag about its DAC like the STX does, then assume it's just an ordinary standard one. Because of this, there's no benefit of having an external DAC running from a 3.5mm port - and if you're going through digital out from the soundcard, there's no difference between that and digital out directly from the motherboard really.

I think you're overthinking this if I'm honest. There's really no need for external equipment unless you're a serious audiophile or producer or something. You can quite easily just get the STX, and use the line in for a half decent microphone that will do the job for recording, and the headphone amp and DAC will be more than enough for listening/playback.

 

[Feronix]

Oops for the first part - still drowsy after my operation

It depends on what external device. An amp - maybe, a DAC - no.

All 3.5mm/6.3mm jacks are analogue out. Only SPDIF is digital. This means all analogue ports on the back of a soundcard have already gone through some form of DAC - if the card doesn't brag about its DAC like the STX does, then assume it's just an ordinary standard one. Because of this, there's no benefit of having an external DAC running from a 3.5mm port - and if you're going through digital out from the soundcard, there's no difference between that and digital out directly from the motherboard really.

I think you're overthinking this if I'm honest. There's really no need for external equipment unless you're a serious audiophile or producer or something. You can quite easily just get the STX, and use the line in for a half decent microphone that will do the job for recording, and the headphone amp and DAC will be more than enough for listening/playback.

How'd it go... This time?

I honestly don't know if that thing that FlamingBeatz pointed me to has a headphone amp or DAC built-in. Still have a lot of reading up to do.

So if I already have this device, there's absolutely no point in buying a mid-range or even high-end sound card because it won't improve anything? Cause I think you're right I might be overthinking this, but check this out:

Tascam US 122 MK II = €98,-
Xonar STX + PS400 Phantom Power = €168,-

So price-wise it would be beneficial for me to use an external device. A dedicated sound card + the psu would cost almost twice as much.

If I already have the Tascam, and its sound quality is not as good as the STX's, is there anything you can add to upgrade your sound quality without replacing the entire device? As you said External + sound card won't give you any improvement.

 

[FlamingBeatz]

You can say that about near enough any soundcard vs onboard audio...

External soundcards are very rarely better. I'm very surprised you haven't heard of the STX, and as you haven't I do very much question your knowledge of soundcards...

I don't have alot of knowledge about internal soundcards because there isn't any internal soundcard that offers all the options I need. I have plenty of knowledge about audio (not saying I know everything, theres still enough to learn), I'm just not interested in all that audiophile and game/home entertainment suff since alot of it is made to make everything sound good instead of making it sound as it really is, you also pay alot for the looks (look at beats by dre).

You have to spend a lot of money on external solutions to get anywhere near the quality of the STX.

That is not true at all, anything that costs like 100+ will most likely sound good as long as the samplerate is above 44.1khz and the bitdepth above 16 bits. You won't be able to tell diffrence in quality between that samplerate and bitdepth and any higher bitdepths/samplrates. You should do some blind tests if you don't belive me.

 

[Feronix]

Also, does the 122 MK II have a built-in DAC and or headphone amp?

 

[jamesriley94]

The Tascam thing is more for audio recording than music playback.

The STX will be a lot better for audio playback.

As for adding a soundcard with the Tascam - it's USB, so a soundcard wouldn't make any difference whatsoever. I don't really think that's what you're wanting dude.

As I've already said - keep it simple and go for the STX, and take Kei's advice about the mic.

@FlamingBeatz - samplerate and bitrate aren't everything - and phrases like 'You won't be able to tell the difference' when it comes to high end audio products is very wrong. It isn't just about the sound processor in the STX that makes it so good - the DAC and headphone amp are the main things really. To beat those in quality, you do need to be spending a lot more money on external equipment, as you need a good quality external DAC, and a separate high quality amplifier.

 

[FlamingBeatz]

Thanks, I've found it for that exact price at Bax-shop (Dutch). I'm an absolute noob when it comes to this though, so could you draw me a simple plan of how I would have to hook everything up? If it's not too much trouble, of course

Hehe thats because thats the site where I buy all my stuff. I'm a dutchie too. I'll PM you a plan (made in paint ofcourse) later.

The mic would have an XLR connection, the headset a 3.5mm jack and same for the speakers (the 3.5mm jack goes into the sub, and from there 1 cable goes to each speaker).
Also, do I need any additional cables?

You'll only need this
adaptor so you can hook up your speakers to the soundcard.

From what other people have told me an integrated sound card is usually better for the money than an external but I must admit that it would have a lot less options. Would it be benificial to buy both this external device *and* a cheap sound card like the Xonar DX or DGX?

I think having both is not really needed, you can make it work using the ext. soundcard. Also if you had both you would only be able to use one at a time.

The Tascam thing is more for audio recording than music playback.

The STX will be a lot better for audio playback.

What is your reasoning for that?

@FlamingBeatz - samplerate and bitrate aren't everything - and phrases like 'You won't be able to tell the difference' when it comes to high end audio products is very wrong. It isn't just about the sound processor in the STX that makes it so good - the DAC and headphone amp are the main things really. To beat those in quality, you do need to be spending a lot more money on external equipment, as you need a good quality external DAC, and a separate high quality amplifier.

That was definately not my point, the point was any DAC above that price will sound decent as long as you are above that samplerate/bithdepth. How big of a diffrence are you expecting there to be? There is like a $50 diffrence in price between the two cards. Ever heard of overkill? You are not going to need a $300 DAC and a $300 headphone amp if you are using speakers and headphones like the ones he has/wants to get. It's just a budget setup, not a high end setup.

Also, does the 122 MK II have a built-in DAC and or headphone amp?

You won't need a headphone amp since the headphones are only 60 ohms, DAC is built in.

 

[jamesriley94]

What is your reasoning for that?

That was definately not my point, the point was any DAC above that price will sound decent as long as you are above that samplerate/bithdepth. How big of a diffrence are you expecting there to be? There is like a $50 diffrence in price between the two cards. Ever heard of overkill? You are not going to need a $300 DAC and a $300 headphone amp if you are using speakers and headphones like the ones he has/wants to get. It's just a budget setup, not a high end setup.




You won't need a headphone amp since the headphones are only 60 ohms, DAC is built in.

I'm not suggesting he does get a $300 DAC and $300 headphone amp? I'm saying in order to beat the STX in audio quality, you need to be spending around $400 in total on external devices.

The STX is amazing at what it does, and certainly cannot be beaten in quality for the price.

The Tascam device you've suggested is mainly for recording rather than music listening/playback.

The overview on the website:

TASCAM has refreshed its best-selling USB interface with better audio specs and a fresh new look for the US-122mkII. The US-122mkII starts with two great-quality XLR microphone preamps with phantom power for condenser microphones. There's also a pair of balanced line inputs and a guitar-level in for direct recording of electric guitar or bass. The stereo signal is sent to your computer at up to 96kHz/24-bit audio quality.

The US-122mkII connects to Mac or Windows computers using USB 2.0, and the unit is powered over the USB cable. Zero-latency monitoring is available for recording without the delay going to a computer and back. MIDI input and output jacks allow connection of synths and drum machines. Connect the US-122mkII to monitors through the line output or use headphones with the front-mounted stereo 1/4" jack. The US-122mkII makes a perfect portable interface with metal components and solid construction built for the road.

The US-122mkII includes a copy of Cubase LE4 from Steinberg. This full-featured recording software captures up to 48 tracks of audio with another 64 MIDI tracks. You can edit your tracks to perfection using a variety of modes and tools. Automated mixing is included to create the perfect master. Cubase LE4 supports VST effect and instrument plug-ins, which an assortment included with the application.

Whether you're getting started with computer recording or adding a portable interface to your road rig, the TASCAM US-122mkII is the affordable choice for professional results.

I don't actually see anything there about playback specs - and from what it's saying, it definitely is more of a recording device than playback, and is not what Feronix is looking for.

 

[FlamingBeatz]

I'm not suggesting he does get a $300 DAC and $300 headphone amp? I'm saying in order to beat the STX in audio quality, you need to be spending around $400 in total on external devices.

The STX is amazing at what it does, and certainly cannot be beaten in quality for the price.

The Tascam device you've suggested is mainly for recording rather than music listening/playback.

The overview on the website:



I don't actually see anything there about playback specs - and from what it's saying, it definitely is more of a recording device than playback, and is not what Feronix is looking for.

If the playback specs are not stated it doesn't mean it sounds bad. In order to record you need playback, to get mic placement right, processing etc.

I think we both could go on about this for a while so lets just leave it here.