want to upgrade my soundcard, help me plz

[d_rayman]

Hi everyone
I want to upgrade my current soundcard which is the RME HDSP 9632 for my PC?

can you recommend me some brand or cards which are better than mine?

thanks

[Fungi]

Um... That's a pretty hardcore sound interface. The only way up is like, Lynx Two or Lynx 22 or whatever it is. Otherwise I'd just get a DAC and use that RME's digital out.

[d_rayman]

may i ask what word clock is used for?
i have one in my 9632 but have no idea how to use it

thanks

[Fungi]

No idea, but if you're dropping that kind of money on something you should at least research what its features are

[d_rayman]

between lynx22 and lynxtwo , can you tell me which one is better?

it seems their price range is almost the same
thanks

[Fungi]

If my first post didn't make it clear enough, I'm just throwing around ideas that I don't know much about except that those are considered "high end" PCI sound interfaces. I use the Audiophile 2496 coax out -> DAC, so I really can't tell you which cards have great analog outputs.

[Tachikoma]

Going by their price ranges the Lynx L22 and Lynxtwo would be more like a sidestep than an upgrade to the RME...

Some DACs have word clock output; you're supposed to hook that to the soundcard and slave the soundcard to the DAC. This is supposed to greatly reduce jitter ie: make the soundcard a high-end transport.

I'd get a DAC that has a word clock output but they're kinda rare. The only one I can think of at the moment is the Lessloss DAC, but I suspect that its well above your price range.

[EdipisReks]

maybe if you told us what other gear you have, and what your budget is, and why you want to upgrade, we could actually help you.

[d_rayman]

my current DAC is benchmark DAC1. The reason why i want to upgrade my card is that i want to improve the digital signal in my card before transferring it to the DAC.

why is word lock I/O too rare on DAC? aren't high-end DAC supposed to have them(I guess, it is not for now)
my budget is up to 1.5k for the card

[grawk]

for $1.5k you could do a lot better than a soundcard hooked to your dac1

[EdipisReks]

The reason why i want to upgrade my card is that i want to improve the digital signal in my card before transferring it to the DAC.

what do you think you're going to gain?

[grawk]

it's like buying a $500 mini cable to your predator. If you have a shitty dac, the way to fix it is better bits, not a better dac.

[d_rayman]

the way i think like this:

people use their digital CD player as a source (digital circuit) and connects it to their DAC ----> amplifier ---> headphones
so i think in my case the soundcard will be a digital source. I will connect it to my DAC ----> amplifier ----> headphones.

everyone wants to upgrade their digital CD player to improve sound. So I think I need to buy a better soundcard to improve my digital source ( after having a decent DAC. I forget to mention that i also have the accustice MKIV DAC)

am i on the right track?

[EdipisReks]

am i on the right track?

probably not.

the sound card, in this case, if merely a transport. your dac has a pretty jitter resistant input, and the card is a pretty good one, so i think it's a big waste of money or you to replace your sound card, when it is, at the end of the day, the component in your system doing the least work and having the least impact on the sound you're getting.

[d_rayman]

so the digital CD player is also a transport , right?

then why do people upgrade their transport when they already have a decent DAC?

I am a bit of confused here. Isn't that the computer will transport our songs as a digital signal to our soundcard. And the card will transport it to DAC for converting to analog signal. (It is the same as digital CD player)
then a better soundcard will create better digital signal for transporting right.

if you are right, then I think i should use the money for buying the Denon D7000 instead.
However, I really want to improve my current setup but have no idea how to do it.
right now it is HDSP 9632 --> accustic MKIV ---> rudistor rpx 100 ---> headphones
should i consider power distributor because right now everything has been plug into a 5$ power outlet which connects directly to the wall.

[EdipisReks]

i give up.

[d_rayman]

i give up.

thanks for your help . I appreciate that

[d_rayman]

right now i have a chance to buy the RME Madi at a smoking price but have no idea how to connect the card to my DAC and not sure whether it is a good choice or not. Any advices?

[Fungi]

Before throwing money at things hoping it gets better (or believing so through placebo), try and find out what everything does and why you might want to change something.

[Tachikoma]

The Madi probably won't give you anything besides more features you won't use.

If you are really keen on a good PC transport, what about the Transporter? There's one on A'gon right now for $1.45k. It might be a better DAC than the benchmark DAC1, too.