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Audiophile Alert : External Sound Solution (USB) that I LIKE!!!

post #1 of 11
3/29/04 at 2:00am
Thread Starter 
Ok. I just came across this nifty piece of hardware at a headphone/audio/audiophile meet that we had down in Osprey Florida this afternoon.

This device connects to the laptop/desktop via USB and is basically a DAC designed to process audio outputs from the computer.

It works very well and is easy to operate. Just plug it into the USB drive (before starting windows media player) and it is auto detected and the settings are automatically modified by the internal chip in the device. You are set

Now plug in your favorite headphone amplifier, stereo, speaker system to this device using either the optical (TOSLINK) or the RCA Stereo outputs. I use a cheap CMOY headphone amplifier and a $250.00 Sennheiser HD-595 headphone with thie setup and WOW!!!





No more Hard drive noises, static, ground loop noise, crackling, popping...jut pure clean sound worthy of audiophile quality.

Transform your laptop music/DVD/Gaming experience and grab one of these devices :-

http://www.xitel.com/product_phfl.htm

When I say something sounds good - It sounds good
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post #2 of 11
3/29/04 at 3:17am
Is it also true that when you say something tastes good - it tastes good?
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post #3 of 11
3/29/04 at 3:19am
Thread Starter 
yes
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post #4 of 11
3/29/04 at 9:08pm
This product looks exactly like something I would want my laptop but I have just one question about it. If I had a pair of non amped headphones can I still use this product. Just quickly looking over the product I do not see any headphone jacks. Will I need to first buy a cheap headphone amp and then hook the amp to the USB sound card then use the jacks on the amp? Thanks in advance!
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post #5 of 11
3/29/04 at 9:12pm
Thread Starter 
yes you will need a headphone amp. But please dont use the word cheap...some of the cheap ones sound sooooo awesome!!

And you dont need a dedicated headphone amplifier - use your stereo (blasphemy to my ears but some people can live with it). Hook it up through line in with the RCA-RCA cable and you're good to go with some superb sound for games and movies...

If you want a dedicated headphone amp (which will fuel your spending in the headphone scene) go to www.headfi.com and plce a WTB for a CMOY/MINT/CHA47/FIXUP amplifier. The Fixups are amazing...I have a CMOY that I use now with the laptop but I also have a $1500.00 Grace 901 Design headphone amplifier, a Headroom MAX with Stepped Attenuator worth $1500.00, an MG Head tube amp worth $250 and a RUDIstar Mark 1 worth $900. perks of being a prominent member of Headfi - start now and reap the benefits of good sound

What headphone do you use anyway?

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post #6 of 11
3/29/04 at 9:22pm
I only used the word cheap because i saw you use it in your first post. The thing is that right now im in college and we really dont have a stereo per say. I was going to leave stereo duties to my newly order 8790. Based on your great great GREAT recommendation i ordered a Grado SR-60. Since im in college really cant buy a external speaker system so thats why im going the head phone route. I have a pretty car stereo system in my car so know what good sound sounds like and im just trying to have something like that through my PC.
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post #7 of 11
3/29/04 at 9:42pm
Thread Starter 
What I like about this device is that it offers the flexibility of using lower end AND higher end amplifiers...very versatile.

You will not get any surround sound / matrix mode crap - just clean bits fed through the DAC turned into analog bliss and driven through your amp and then smacked through the headphones into your ears.

No more computer noises...its a remarkable difference when I A/B the headphone out through this setup (external dac and amp) and the Sager Headphone output.

Do this ONLY if you dont want good sound from games,DVD's and of course music...dont do this if you want surround sound crap.

of course you have a headphone so I guess you're going my way

How do you like the SR-60's ? Go to the headfi forums and see if you can snag the pair of Grado Flat Pads that are floating around...seller is hybridamp (do a quick search). They make an enormous difference to the sound quality of these lovely headphones.

I am interested in your feedback on the SR-60's

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post #8 of 11
3/29/04 at 9:47pm
Thread Starter 
Found one on sale!!! Check this out - what super timing...

I have PMMED the guy anyway to get a lock on it...

http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showt...925#post734925

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post #9 of 11
3/29/04 at 10:44pm
Some laptops have amplified headphone jack, how would this work with this unit, would you still have the amplification past the unit?

Steve
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post #10 of 11
3/30/04 at 12:28am
Thread Starter 
Oohhh you've got the wrong idea...


This is an EXTERNAL DAC which connects via USB to your computer. You bypass the crappy notebook soundcards completely. You can actually turn them off in the device manager once you have this thing setup.

It has NOTHING to do with the headphone jack on your laptop other than the fact that it blows it away after you pair a small amp with the dac

I think the Xitel Pro + CMOY amp sounds better than the Headroom Bithead and MUCH better (holy cow this isnt even a comparison) than the Audigy 2 NX..
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post #11 of 11
4/1/04 at 2:00pm
Can you use externals with games? I thought it is too much of a draw for intensive applications.

I'd love to get that over the summer (when I get some moolah$$). All the background noise is killing me. Can that thing work with most pc speakers? I need to get cheap speakers so I can still get those grados too
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