Hi..i went through going with sounds cards and plugging cards in mothers boards and found out that lap tops are much quieter..I knew I was onto the right path ...my days might be over with CD players...this I knew.
If I can only get rid of that noise coming from my speakers buzzes and clicks even with grounds lifted....and way to much output from the volume I couldn't control...way too loud. I only had thirty days to return this PC and return it for a lap top before I get hit with a 10% restocking fee....I couldn't stand PCs but I have to start off saying Creative sound cards have to be one the best around....having much experience listening to so many Hi End CD players this sound card was a blessing...and the sound card I am writing about was the Elite pro or the pro Elite you'll know when you go to the site there's' only one Pro Elite for 299. Thanks to Creative you have gotten me into computers..what a journey
So where do I start?
..well.. I returned the sound card and took a chance on a lap top (Hp) with remote 6119 (for 850 and you get a 50 rebate)...and you know what?...all those buzzes were gone.
I had to lift the ground. Fan is very quiet....you can go with fan less PCs but you will get hit with restocking fees if you can't rid the noises I didn't want to take more chances and this was a great choice.
E-MU is the company of Creative pro end.....and if you really can't afford 300 bucks then you guys and gals..gals if your out there reading this....many don't give two sh-ts...but if yr reading wonderful.. If you don't want to spend to much and 80 bucks is not gonna make u cry the dac is called the xmod by creative...its a USB sound card external with a volume control, for 80 bucks it blew away my Quad 99 CD player...hello 80 bucks....wow..and it was better than many CD players costing 1300 or more.
I went to Sam ash and bought the Apogee dac called the mini dac for thirty days and guess what? What I found on E-mu's site the 0404 usb dac for 200 bucks bought it....took it home and it pissed all over it.
The Apogee was broken in. The E-mu wasn't and it still sounded better. Out went the Apogee.
I matched this up with the McIntosh cd player 201 retails for 3200. and the 0404 E-mu was my choice.
I owne a Mc amp 402...I thought the E-mu wasn't gonna match up to the Mc cd palyer and it did.. it was cleaner.
I decide to bring this over to my buddies place with some audio buddies from the audio club and matched it up with the Lector 7 and the differences were so close you could be happy with either one...200 bucks plus Pc is about 1400. with external hard drive....You need to do this....External hard drive needed. The Lector now retails for 4500.....I think i am on the right path..And there's tweaks that need to still be discovered with this unit and power supply can be modded....you can also try a tube buffered stage from music fidelity in between the dac and pre which I have not yet tried. I will keep members posted.
E-mu makes a Lap top version I didn't go with it because there's more added options for recording and I don't need all the added soft ware..I just wanted it for the dac.
All you have to do is down load the first soft ware and nothing else unless you want to hook up yr key board ect.
Imagine over a thousand songs in yr computer and making a library with many hard drives....no more dusty fingers. There are so many topics about this I will follow up....have fun everyone...hope this saves a lot of time and money....I am sure it will for some. It did impress my buddies
