Midwest Audio Show

mbarnes · « **on:** 13 Apr 2003, 03:30 pm »

We are now finished showing at the Midwest Audio show. This show is very interesting because so many people have come from very long distances. I was told that the average distance traveled is 600 or more miles.

We showed prototypes of our computer preamp, Le Amp IIs and the ACA 2b. The comments were all favorable. The most impressive thing was that none of the audiphiles complained about our source. We used a computer with a M-Audio sound card. Most people commented how smooth everything sounded.

Many people coming in to look were initially quite skeptical. Most thought we were going to use MP3, which we didn't. We used FLAC instead. FLAC is an open source lossless compression that is an ideal way to store music on CDs. FLAC can also handle 24 bit audio.

The M-Audio Sound card sounded superb. At only $99.95, this card sounds as good as many high-end CD players.

The problem with all sound cards is that they only support 1V peak to peak. We used our computer preamp to up this to about 2Volts.

Many of the people attending the show were quite interested in what we had done.

LAN · « **Reply #1 on:** 13 Apr 2003, 11:06 pm »

Yeah it's pretty amazing how soundcards have gotten to be pretty good nowadays.

The Sonca can be had for like ~60. You must be talking about the Sonica Theater for $99? I have the Sonica and Revolution 7.1. The Revo is even better quality.

I havn't heard of this computer preamp before. Is it stereo or 5.1?

jackman · « **Reply #2 on:** 14 Apr 2003, 01:27 am »

Quote

The M-Audio Sound card sounded superb. At only $99.95, this card sounds as good as many high-end CD players.

The problem with all sound cards is that they only support 1V peak to peak. We used our computer preamp to up this to about 2Volts.

Are the M-Audio sound card and the 2 Volt computer preamp available from nOrh? I just got a Dell computer (work issue) and want to upgrade the sound. Have a set of Monsoon planar speakers and subwoofer (not bad sounding actually) but the CD playback is lacking. Any advice would be appreciated! A link to a website especially.

Jack

Marbles · « **Reply #3 on:** 14 Apr 2003, 01:32 am »

Quote from: jackman

Quote
The M-Audio Sound card sounded superb. At only $99.95, this card sounds as good as many high-end CD players.

The problem with all sound cards is that they only support 1V peak to peak. We used our computer preamp to up this to about 2Volts.

Are the M-Audio sound card and the 2 Volt computer preamp available from nOrh? I just got a Dell computer (work issue) and want to upgrade the sound. Have a set of Monsoon planar speakers and subwoofer (not bad sounding actually) but the CD playback is lacking. Any advice would be appreciated! A link to a website especially.

Jack

Jack, from what MB told me, those nOrh pre-amps will be available this summer.

There are lots of places that sell the M-Audio sound card.

The pre was about 5-6" wide, and about 1" tall. It was black with nice detent (click stop) controls.

MaxCast · « **Reply #4 on:** 14 Apr 2003, 02:06 pm »

nOrh had the 3.0, 4.0 and Marbles custom jobs for a while. I wish they would have brought a speaker a little higher up in the food chain. I also wish they would have brought the CD-1 as a source running through the new pre and then into the Le amps with at least the 6.9's.

nOrh's little speakers are amazing for the price. The 3.0's were only $100 show special!! I could have picked up a SE 9 for a great price too, but unfortunately I don't have a place for it.

The most interesting piece to me was their computer preamp. I don't know the specifics on the insides but it increased the voltage up to 2 volts to drive an amp. It also had a crossover built in to make it fit into a sub satelite setup. This seems like good way to get better performance out of your computer.