I can’t tell original from MP3. Is it my h/w? Can buying more help me?, [TOS #6: was “Please help this Pc audio ignoramus”] Options

[probedb]

As in, I have to wiggle the jack into the socket pretty much every time I pick up my headphones (which always remain plugged in when not in use), and sometimes while I'm using them. The problem developped over only 2-3 months of daily use, which is why I stopped recommending the E7.

Odd. I've had my E7 over a year and phones are constantly in and out of it and never have a problem.

Did you send it back in for repairs? 2-3 months should be well inside any warranty period.

[skamp]

I didn't feel like shipping it back to China and waiting Gawd knows how long for them to return it. I had my eye on the O2/ODAC anyway (overkill gives me a warm fuzzy feeling), so I ordered that.

[mzil]

There must surely be something between 5000 dollar systems and cheapo motherboard integrated sound cards?

It depends on what we are taking about... Sure, a $5000 speaker system or these Wilson Audio speakers will sound MUCH BETTER than the computer speakers on my desktop.

You might be surprised. I once battled a pair of Wilson Audio Tiny Tots (then $10k/pr) against comparably sized Boston Acoustic A-40s (MKI if memory serves) which sold for under $150/pr, in a impromptu, blind test. So as to eliminate any lateral shifting or width change of the sound stage [test "give aways"], I mounted the A-40s on top of the WATTs, inverted, so their tweets were just inches away from each other (so as to minimize any vertical sound stage shifting, at least as best I could). One third of my test subjects (one audio salon salesperson of three) picked the BA as the better speaker!

This post has been edited by mzil: Jun 22 2012, 19:07

[db1989]

you know, there is something inherently difficult about discussing these issues in forums.
all i can do in the end is try different hardware.

Well, don’t spend too much at first, so you don’t waste money in the event that the particular hardware causing your bottleneck turns out to be biological…

[uart]

this is true...
you know, there is something inherently difficult about discussing these issues in forums.
all i can do in the end is try different hardware.

Hi rondo, does your laptop have a line-in input. If so then you most definitely can do something. You can use RMAA (rightmark audio analyser freeware) to perform a loopback test. Please perform this test as it will tell you (and us) exactly what you have to start with.

Built in (onboard) audio can be surprisingly good. In the thread below I link the RMAA results of my plain old Realtek audio, which came built-in with my 4 year old computer mainboard. Please take a look at the RMAA results linked there.

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....mp;hl=amplifier


BTW. You cam download RMAA here: http://audio.rightmark.org/download.shtml

This post has been edited by uart: Jun 26 2012, 18:01