Edit: Skip towards the end... thread has transformed!!!

Would you mind giving us some links please?

Audiophile 192
Juli@

I hear good things about the Fostex full range drivers! Sounds like a good choice.

I have also read good things about both of those cards, but if it were me I would probably go with the Juli@. They're both really very similar, so you're pretty much mainly going on looks (I much prefer the ESI there ) and drivers. Apparently the ESI drivers are slightly better.

Yeah, that's what I've heard... I was just a bit torn as they use the same chip and dacs (methinks) I definately like the look of the Juli@

I ordered the monitors last night, from absolutemusic.co.uk (free next day delivery ) hopefully they'll arrive soon. Expect some Onboard vs Audigy vs C-Media vs ESI (probably) action soon!

My friend use the ESI Julia , and seems works well.

Click to view attachment Nice.

Ordering more stuff today or tomorrow... some nice cable and probably the ESI

nice, but I gotta ask, why do you have a plastic bag on your wall?

It's a 80's Techincolor lab bag... didn't want to lose it, so I stuck it to the wall, and havn't taken it down yet

Hmmm... cables are all here, but nowhere has the PM MKII sub system in stock, so I've got to wait . Meanwhile I've tested the pm 0.5s and they sound amazing! (although it was using onboard sound and a rubbish mixer) If anyone was in doubt about the level of difference decent speakers make over consumer surround systems, or even Hi Fi speakers - it's a hell of a lot
I bought the ESI in the end after hearing more good things, but it's being shipped with the sub, so isn't here yet.

In the pic I need to sit exactly 42" from the monitor for optimal sound

Click to view attachment

OK, sorry for the old thread drag up, but with the Juli@, do the front panel connectors on the mobo still work, cos i like having the amp in, and then if i need headphones, plugging them into the front port, as my amp is weird and doesnt cancel the speakers with headphones in! :S

In Vista I just swap the default sound over to Realtek HD, which gives me the onboard out when I use headphones.

Be aware though, even though the Juila is schweet, the 64bit drivers suck more . than all the other manufacturers put together (including Creative) and you'll be lucky to get the advanced features working. In XP 32bit it's perfect.

I would look into different cards unless you can find a really good deal.

cool, i can get the card for about £80 delivered. Is that a good deal?

so it is safe enough to leave the onboard enabled when u have a soundcard in? or disable in device manager, and then re-inable every time u want to use?
is the Asus Sonar any good? i really wanted a card with RCA out tho, cos i am goin to a good (well, was good for its time) stereo amp.

Hmmm.... I wouldn't pay over £40 for using it with vista... maybe look into an m-audio or e-mu?

I've experienced no conflicts using one when the other is enabled too... it also is useful to use the onboard for headphone monitoring while I'm using the card for different audio (live music stuff)
I wouldn't worry too much about RCA... the output signal is (well, should be) exactly the same from any other unbalanced connector - you just need the right cable to change between them - or make your own.

As for the ASUS sonar - i've never used one so I can't tell for sure, but it looks a bit pants to me...

£40! where is that then!

the m-audio 192 looks nice, i.e the other 1 you were lookin at! (i am not copying btw)

while at the minute i will be primarily gaming, and music listening, hopefully when i go to uni i will be doing a lot more editing/recording/mixing etc that i will be able to use a full featured card for. maybe an X-Fi would suit my needs, but they are so expensive, and a bit crap in vista

EDIT:

Been reading around, and really like the idea of a decent sound card, still liking the Juli@, as it seems M-Audio only have BETA drivers for 64 as well
Looking at these 3 cards, any opinions?

Juli@
E-MU 1212
M-Audio

Am completely open to new suggestions as well, or maybe and X-Fi if you can convince me

no opinions?!

maybe the edit didnt bump the post into the new posts section.
Liking the E-Mu at the minute, but it is expensive compared to the others. Anyone know of good online shops (UK based, with Northern Ireland shipping)?

Wwll, I like the E-MU but I didn't go for it because of the price... however if they've got decent vista x64 drivers...

Yeah, price is a little more than i wanted. Cant see anywhere that really mentions their drivers.

I sort of ruled the M-Audio out, as i dont like the idea of trailing cables, the ESI is ok, cos MIDI will not be used regularly at my desk.

Hmm... I'll test the midi and stuff when I get home (I havn't used it yet on Vista) and let you know

it wasnt really the vista stuff i was worried about! it was me kicking the trailing cables, and bending a jack, or something!

No sound card at the minute seems to get decent drivers for x64, they all are in the 0.XX series, i.e still beta (ish)

Edit 1: Is there anywhere that would do the Juli@ for <£60? about £80 seems normal, inc delivery to NI

Edit 2: I can really see the need for a decent sound card! I just fixed my old, crap Awia CD player, (with its 1bit D/A converters, and 8 times oversampling) and you can hear the world of difference between it, and the same CD ripped to the PC at Mp3 256VBR. The sound card is clearly not great on this board!

ok, another question, do i replace my amp (details in sig), as it is goin slightly, as the pan control doesnt do anything, and sometimes the inputs crackle on a channel, until the input is reselected. Bear in mind this amp and speaker combo is 20 years old!

Replacement amp also in sig = aprox £170, would i be better with some active studio monitors from ESI or the like?

I use studio monitors as I do mastering and video mixing... if you're just listening to stuff for pleasure I would recommend getting proper hi-fi speakers (they'll make it sound 'richer')

About the cheapest I've found: http://www.andertons.co.uk/acatalog/info_ESIJUL200.html - I got mine from Dolphin Music (not the cheapest)

Edit: Yeah, it takes fiddling to get MIDI to work properly - I don't think the sync is right And I can't test the digital

well, at the minute, mainly for pleasure, but hoping to go do this next year, so would like to be able to do my own work in my own set-up!

Sweet. My film/video degree is based in a TV studio which has tons of cool gear you'd probably like then (I've been bluescreening it up today - fun!)

awesome, cos the course i am lookin at is a sandwich, i get a year out, hopefully in a TV studio or somewhere! think i might go for the E-Mu from that site u posted, as it is £100 dead, instead of the £110+ from other places, and i like the look of the optical digital in, as i will be able to run my CD player through it for proper lossless ripping to Adobe Audition!

it seems our set-ups are very similar lol! 24" dell screens, good pro sound cards, decent speakers (even if mine are 20 yrs old!)

just as a question, i have a mono 4 band parametric EQ, like for a direct out off a mixing desk to eq a channel, there isnt any jack in on these smaller sound cards for usin it? (i dont really need it, but if i put my speakers closer to the wall, the bass drops off, and i like hardware EQ better than software EQ, specially cos it is easier to tweak!)

hmm, it seems that postage to northern ireland evens out about all prices lol! that sucks!

UPDATE:

Got fed up tryin to decide, so i went and ordered the E-MU 1212v2! and some nice enough interconnects (£19 - £6, not that worried yet)

Cool, let us know how she sounds

Hi J-Stew, good craic over there? My GF is from Downpatrick We've been into Lisburn many a time.

If you are lucky and hunt a wee bit, you can find some genuine mint bargains on eBay, esp if they are collection only in NI. I got my Tannoy M3 floorstanders (in the sig) for £50 (!!) and the Yamaha amp, which is 17 years old, for £30. The amp looks like it came right out of the box too ... I was gobsmacked.

Regarding soundcards, well, I have an X-Fi that hardnrg hotrodded for me, so it sounds much better than the stock card Even though I have a somewhat budget setup all-in-all, it's a really superb sound.

Hope you get to do the course you want in Salford - it's not that far away from where I live right now You can join hardnrg, jammin and me on a booze night

lol, thanks!

hope she sounds good lol, but might have to upgrade the speakers/headphones to do it justice!
Lisburn isnt 2 bad lol, bit boring after 18 years lol!
My Hi-Fi isnt 2 bad, but had forgotten about ebay, might have a look-see for a new amp!

Sneaky Jager depth-charges all round then eh!

Oh yeah ... then letting me go and drive home over the limit .. nice one

Long time with no update, but time for a wee rant

I ordered on 6th May, thinking it would b about the 8th before i got the card!
Well.....
It is now the 14th and still no card! Absolute Music Solutions SUCK! They havent even shipped it, and there have been no emails as to why

/end rant

And i was thinkin of ordering more from there! So much for that!

Hmm... They were fine when I used them - it was Dolphin Music (highly regarded for some reason) that sucked ..

It seems that there is a general supply issue with the E-MU card, so the order is cancelled for a while
waited 3 weeks and still no shippment, and i had to email them to get a response.

I will prob order from there again cos they have the best price i can find on the card, with reasonable shipping, and i am thinking of ordering speakers as well, so they have the biggest range there

The M-Audio Studiophile BX5A has £10 off this weekend only, looks an attractive offer.

this weekend like 31st - 1st?

i think i get paid this thursday, or on the 31st, so will see how it goes

Are the M-Audio's good speakers? I had been looking at them, ESI, or Fostex Speakers. I like Bass in my music, so the bigger the better, or with a sub?

Depends, my Sub doesn't add a lot of audible bass, but it does decrease the roll-off, and makes it more accurate. 75% of it depends on the room you're in when you get below 100hz (don't quote me )

hmm, there are a lot of options lol!

those M-Audio's look nice, specially for the price, then there are the bigger versions, then the ESI speakers in the same sizes, then the Fostex PM0.5, PM1 or PM0.5 + sub lol!

Cant decide!

Decided

Ordered last nite, including some BX5a's and the E-MU 1212M. Cant wait! next on the list is a sub to accompany the BX5a's as the 56Hz roll-off is quite high

Got the Stuff! WOOP!! It is awesome! The speakers are louder, clearer, more bassy that hi-fi speakers twice the size! i couldnt believe the difference! i now need to get the old speakers in the new soundcard, to see how much difference that makes

Sweet, let's see some pics

ok, here we are

1st is the whole setup at my desk, the bottom speakers will go as soon as i can be bothered to unhook them!


The Speakers (old under new)


The Rear Panel (taken quickly under my desk, being the idiot that i am, i didnt take pics on install)


The Cards in the PC (the 2 below the GTS Perfect length to avoid the fan lol! ignore the black spot at the bottom, it is just the lens hood, i couldnt b assed movin it, i already had to change lenses )

Cool! They look rather sweet

they are! i am well impressed the bass is surprisingly good for a small speaker, with no EQ tweaks either! I can hold off from buying a sub for a while!

Looks pretty good!

I'd have me a NOICE audio setup if I had the space, the availability to listen to it at the volumes I desire and most importantly the money.

meh...


I'm still gonna buy/build a nice headphone amp some millennia...

I wish i could listen to this at the vol. i like, but the parents don't like it lol! When they go out, the neighbours must hate me, cos it is seriously loud! A 5.1 setup of these would be nice, but gettin a good soundcard with TRS out and 5.1 is hard lol!

hmm? pretty much all soundcards have TRS (3.5mm "stereo") and 5.1 though...

the M-Audio's are Balanced 1/4" TRS jack, so gettin those from stereo 3.5mm is a bit annoying
maybe "good" was the wrong word, cant think of a better 1 tho