On-board Dolby Digital Live 5.1+ Z-5500 X-Fi worth the MONEY 4 music ?

[theLastOCguy]

I was really hoping u guys could help me, Please 🙁

My current setup, Core i5 2500K with GA-p67A-UD3R

So, my Logitech Z-5500's are currently hooked up to on-board S/PDIF with Dolby Digital Live 5.1

This is my current setup for Gaming and Music

and for movies i manually select encoded audio - usually DTS Digital 5.1 1500Kbps [ Dolby Digital Live 5.1 - disabled ]
most of my movie archive is in .mkv 720p DTS 5.1 1500Kbps

My preferred music setup on-board Dolby Digital Live 5.1 - enabled
FLAC 44.1KHz 16-bit re-sampled by SoX re-sampler foobar DSP to my on-board default 48KHz 16-bit

No other active DSP / No EQ

Surround Sound on Movies are simply - Awesome [ Decoder LCD: Input - Optical Effect: DTS Digital ]

Playing CoD 7 and NFS - HP 2010 - Is a real Joy [ Decoder LCD: Input - Optical Effect: Dolby Digital ]

*** So my question is; can i improve on my music listening experience significantly by adding X-Fi Titanium ?? OR X-Fi HD USB is a better option for me ?
These two cards are available on my Local store and i can afford 🙁

Look, I am well aware of that this setup is not a audiophile grade system but
When i listen on my UE Triple-Fi with this decoder i really feel what is missing from my music 🙁

Is there any other way to improve on my current music listening experience significantly on this setup ??
Without degrading my current Movie and Gaming Surround - under 250$ USD


I can even get a X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion if it's worth the extra money with my Logitech Z-5500 system -

Please help me with your expert opinion, Thank you

 

[gamerk316]

Adding a soundcard won't help much in this regard; Dolby/DTS signals are basically untouched during transmission, and decoding is handled [in this case] by the Z-5500's and not the soundcard. So in this case, a soundcard won't help much, if at all, as the decoding is done by another component.

 

[theLastOCguy]

Adding a soundcard won't help much in this regard; Dolby/DTS signals are basically untouched during transmission, and decoding is handled [in this case] by the Z-5500's and not the soundcard. So in this case, a soundcard won't help much, if at all, as the decoding is done by another component.

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing Whats why i added this -

Is there any other way to improve on my current music listening experience significantly on this setup ??

I am really all out of options 🙁 Like i said my TripleFi sounds phenomenal with Z-5500s Decoder
Much, much better then on my iPhone with FLAC player and PC on-board sound combined 😱

Headphone Foobar settings -

Audio content: FLAC 44.1KHz 16-bit > re-sampled by SoX re-sampler foobar DSP to my on-board default 48KHz 16-bit

resampler (SoX)
Bauer stereophonic-to-binaural DSP
Dolby Headphone
Advanced Limiter

I just tried something -

I disabled Dolby Digital Live 5.1 [ Still playing via S/PDIF ]

Changed resample Rate to 96KHz [ foobar resampler (SoX) ] 24bit [on-board]
Z-5500s is now on Stereo x2 mode, surprisingly the music is much clear and crisp
WTF ? More so then Dolby Pro Logic II music option on the Z-5500s

Music is somewhat acceptable at this point but it's not 5.1 surround

I am more then happy with Movies and Games But MUSIC

Any help, I am up for anything as long as i doesn't degrading my current Movie and Gaming Surround quality !

Thanks for the quick replay

 

[MEgamer]

you can improve sound, if u conenct it through analogue.

but im kinda doubting u will get any noticable differences with a logtiech z-5500.

 

[theLastOCguy]

you can improve sound, if u conenct it through analogue.

but im kinda doubting u will get any noticable differences with a logtiech z-5500.

I tried it few times, but music quality isn't any better but my movie surround sucks BIG time with analogue -
Maybe it's EMI or something but with analogue the sound isn't crisp as it used to be with S/PDIF @ High volume 😛

 

[MEgamer]

maybe it doesnt sound "crisp" because its not compressed. as digital signals from the SPDIF are compressed.

if ur gonna get a soundcard u are going to have to use analogue, otherwise its a wasste of money, u aint gonna find much difference if u use a digital conenction from a soundcard.

 

[theLastOCguy]

maybe it doesnt sound "crisp" because its not compressed. as digital signals from the SPDIF are compressed.

if ur gonna get a soundcard u are going to have to use analogue, otherwise its a wasste of money, u aint gonna find much difference if u use a digital conenction from a soundcard.

I gotta tell u i have had done a lot of research on this ***, and i am fucken bored

It really feel counter intuitive to plug in inferior [ Analogue ] connectors to a supposed superior system [ Digital ]

Damn why can't it be as simple as the HDMI DVI > VGA *** | At first my take at the audio connectors was like this

Hope my research paid-off and le'me check if i got this right :

A X-Fi Sound Card's DAC is Superior to my Z-5500 ! AND Sound Card's DAC is only active when it's output is Analogue 🙁
But if the Sound Card's output is Digital then the Z-5500s DAC is in action = NO real if, any Improvements from on-board sound

Le'me ask u one more thing B cuz i am too damn tired 2 google 😀
My common sense suggest that M-Audio professional grade sound and a simple X-Fi sound card both may have Dolby D Live 5.1
but in no way should output the same quality of sound 😱 In S/PDIF or otherwise

Hey i take real pleasure on being wrong
If u can please guide me to any resource that may explain otherwise, Thank you

 

[MEgamer]

in spdif they willl output similar digital signals... and the quality would only be dependent on the final DAC.

anyway M-audio and other proffesional card makes, like RME, lynx, yamaha, is only benficial if u want to record or use there inputs primiarily, since that is the area proffesional soundcards focus on.

analogue wise, the m-audio could have better sound quality output. both however may differe in prcessing, and its sound signature, which believe it or not, is the winning factor when it comes to hearing tests. SNR, distortion -THD+IMD values are not the winnig factor, to what makes a gd soundcard, through our ears... maybe through our eyes, but not our ears.

so i advise you to look into any other card makes except for creative, as many ppl in this forum own asus and auzentechs, creative is frowned upon, and are not sugggested at all.

 

[blackhawk1928]

A sound-card will not improve your music listening experience. Logitech makes very low-end speakers. Your motherboard sound-card will handle the *music* part just fine.

If you want better music quality, use a software equalizer to adjust frequencies. I recommend a regular 10band.

 

[theLastOCguy]

Best answer selected by theLastOCguy.