Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
A few years ago, similar performance to the 4770 or 4790 chips could only be obtained with a computer with a liquid cooling system as the chips ran so hot. Let’s hope the next generation of high performance chips after Haswell does not require liquid cooling. Kelly On 7/6/14, Brent Harding br...@hostany.net wrote: I thought I heard awhile now that they hit a plateau where they can't get higher ghz ratings without significantly more heat being generated. I wonder if they will go to something like quad, 6, and 8 core ones, which probably means you can do more things at a time without it seeming to slow down. - Original Message - From: Brian Olesen br...@blindkom.dk To: PC Audio Discussion List pc-audio@pc-audio.org Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2014 3:34 AM Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi, wow Really great story! Thanks. The fourth generation I7 CPUs mostly focus on the graphics part and in other terms only gains 7 % more performance over the third generation. So it doesn't really matter weather you have a 3. generation chip or not especially if you're using a deticated graphics card. I don't know the specs for the fifth generation, but I expect it to be cool! I've always been a fan of Intel since the 8086. grin Regarding Windows. Hmm I'm very satesfied with Windows 7 even though I'm running windows 8.1 on afew of my machines. It's not that I don't like windows 8. It's more that I don't feel I get much interesting new stuff from it. best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Kelly Pierce Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2014 4:18 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hamit, The Dell XPS 8700 purchase was two years in the making. I had a Pentium 4 computer that I bought in 2004 running Windows XP. I was unimpressed with Windows 7 when it was released in 2009 and soon heard about new technology that would be the next generation of innovation in personal computers. Specifically, this included USB 3, flash hard drives, and faster processors from Intel. In September 2011, my computer stopped working. Thank god for external backup drives. I decided to wait until the upcoming windows 8 so I could have a computer with the latest technology. I bought a used HP D530C from Chicago Surplus Computer for $85 to tide me over until the next generation of computing arrived. As we all know, the initial windows 8 rollout was a disaster, particularly for the screen reader user. The interface was too futuristic for most. Microsoft regrouped and delivered the vastly improved Windows 8.1 last fall. To my delight, Intel opened a store here in Chicago in late November to display products from its vendors and inform the public about its processors. I learned there how a computer choice starts with the chip and learned about the fastest chip for desktop computers. I searched around and found that a local outlet of a computer superstore chain was selling a customized version of the Dell 8700. The computer had a 256 GB solid-state drive along with a 2 Tb regular rotating hard drive, loads of USB 3.0 jacks, 24 GB of RAM along with the fast Intel 4770 chip. It was everything I wanted and much more. I raced to the store on December 26 with a bad cold to snatch it before it was bought by someone else. Now, the Intel 4770 is no longer the fastest. It has been surpassed by the 4790, an incremental upgrade. The next big boost in performance will be with the next generation of Intel processors that will be released either later this year or in the first half of next year. When this new generation of processors is combined with Windows 9, we can enjoy the next generation of desktop computing. We are now in a transition period between the Haswell processors and Windows 8.1 to the new generation of Intel processors and Windows 9. If you can wait until next year, you will likely be pleased at the performance you can obtain for the money. The Roland Duo Capture audio interface can be bought at a number of outlets that sell professional audio equipment. I believe I have the model before the current shipping version. Mine cannot support recording from an iPhone or iPad while the current shipping version can. The eBay offering sold for a more than 80 percent discount than the current shipping version. The drivers for it though support Windows 8.1. If I were to pay full price, I would actually purchase the Roland Quad Capture audio interface. It is just $70 more than the full retail price of the Roland Duo Capture and has a few more worthwhile features. It has a maximum capacity of 192,000 samples for recording. The Duo Capture’s upper limit is 44,100 samples. Both support 24-bit audio though. Useful functionality for the blind computer user is the Auto-Sens function that intelligently sets optimal input levels for both of the unit’s pre-amps. Roland Quad Capture is the audio interface
Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
Hi, wow Really great story! Thanks. The fourth generation I7 CPUs mostly focus on the graphics part and in other terms only gains 7 % more performance over the third generation. So it doesn't really matter weather you have a 3. generation chip or not especially if you're using a deticated graphics card. I don't know the specs for the fifth generation, but I expect it to be cool! I've always been a fan of Intel since the 8086. grin Regarding Windows. Hmm I'm very satesfied with Windows 7 even though I'm running windows 8.1 on afew of my machines. It's not that I don't like windows 8. It's more that I don't feel I get much interesting new stuff from it. best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Kelly Pierce Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2014 4:18 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hamit, The Dell XPS 8700 purchase was two years in the making. I had a Pentium 4 computer that I bought in 2004 running Windows XP. I was unimpressed with Windows 7 when it was released in 2009 and soon heard about new technology that would be the next generation of innovation in personal computers. Specifically, this included USB 3, flash hard drives, and faster processors from Intel. In September 2011, my computer stopped working. Thank god for external backup drives. I decided to wait until the upcoming windows 8 so I could have a computer with the latest technology. I bought a used HP D530C from Chicago Surplus Computer for $85 to tide me over until the next generation of computing arrived. As we all know, the initial windows 8 rollout was a disaster, particularly for the screen reader user. The interface was too futuristic for most. Microsoft regrouped and delivered the vastly improved Windows 8.1 last fall. To my delight, Intel opened a store here in Chicago in late November to display products from its vendors and inform the public about its processors. I learned there how a computer choice starts with the chip and learned about the fastest chip for desktop computers. I searched around and found that a local outlet of a computer superstore chain was selling a customized version of the Dell 8700. The computer had a 256 GB solid-state drive along with a 2 Tb regular rotating hard drive, loads of USB 3.0 jacks, 24 GB of RAM along with the fast Intel 4770 chip. It was everything I wanted and much more. I raced to the store on December 26 with a bad cold to snatch it before it was bought by someone else. Now, the Intel 4770 is no longer the fastest. It has been surpassed by the 4790, an incremental upgrade. The next big boost in performance will be with the next generation of Intel processors that will be released either later this year or in the first half of next year. When this new generation of processors is combined with Windows 9, we can enjoy the next generation of desktop computing. We are now in a transition period between the Haswell processors and Windows 8.1 to the new generation of Intel processors and Windows 9. If you can wait until next year, you will likely be pleased at the performance you can obtain for the money. The Roland Duo Capture audio interface can be bought at a number of outlets that sell professional audio equipment. I believe I have the model before the current shipping version. Mine cannot support recording from an iPhone or iPad while the current shipping version can. The eBay offering sold for a more than 80 percent discount than the current shipping version. The drivers for it though support Windows 8.1. If I were to pay full price, I would actually purchase the Roland Quad Capture audio interface. It is just $70 more than the full retail price of the Roland Duo Capture and has a few more worthwhile features. It has a maximum capacity of 192,000 samples for recording. The Duo Capture’s upper limit is 44,100 samples. Both support 24-bit audio though. Useful functionality for the blind computer user is the Auto-Sens function that intelligently sets optimal input levels for both of the unit’s pre-amps. Roland Quad Capture is the audio interface personally used by Bill McCann, the founder and President of Dancing Dots, on his machines. When I spoke with Bill earlier this year about the two audio interfaces, it seemed I was more impressed with the Auto-Sens functionality than he was. Yet, how could I disagree with the wise master, who has set his own levels on audio devices for decades, for his exquisite audio choice given that he handles and listens to these devices every day. Talk to you later. Kelly On 7/5/14, Kelly Pierce kellyt...@gmail.com wrote: Petro, A driver needs to be installed on the computer each time it is plugged into a USB jack. This likely would be once for a home-based computer. The installer for the driver has one button that cannot be recognized by JAWS in Windows 8.1. It took a sighted person less than 30 seconds to find the button on the screen and activate it with the mouse though. Once
Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
I thought I heard awhile now that they hit a plateau where they can't get higher ghz ratings without significantly more heat being generated. I wonder if they will go to something like quad, 6, and 8 core ones, which probably means you can do more things at a time without it seeming to slow down. - Original Message - From: Brian Olesen br...@blindkom.dk To: PC Audio Discussion List pc-audio@pc-audio.org Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2014 3:34 AM Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi, wow Really great story! Thanks. The fourth generation I7 CPUs mostly focus on the graphics part and in other terms only gains 7 % more performance over the third generation. So it doesn't really matter weather you have a 3. generation chip or not especially if you're using a deticated graphics card. I don't know the specs for the fifth generation, but I expect it to be cool! I've always been a fan of Intel since the 8086. grin Regarding Windows. Hmm I'm very satesfied with Windows 7 even though I'm running windows 8.1 on afew of my machines. It's not that I don't like windows 8. It's more that I don't feel I get much interesting new stuff from it. best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Kelly Pierce Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2014 4:18 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hamit, The Dell XPS 8700 purchase was two years in the making. I had a Pentium 4 computer that I bought in 2004 running Windows XP. I was unimpressed with Windows 7 when it was released in 2009 and soon heard about new technology that would be the next generation of innovation in personal computers. Specifically, this included USB 3, flash hard drives, and faster processors from Intel. In September 2011, my computer stopped working. Thank god for external backup drives. I decided to wait until the upcoming windows 8 so I could have a computer with the latest technology. I bought a used HP D530C from Chicago Surplus Computer for $85 to tide me over until the next generation of computing arrived. As we all know, the initial windows 8 rollout was a disaster, particularly for the screen reader user. The interface was too futuristic for most. Microsoft regrouped and delivered the vastly improved Windows 8.1 last fall. To my delight, Intel opened a store here in Chicago in late November to display products from its vendors and inform the public about its processors. I learned there how a computer choice starts with the chip and learned about the fastest chip for desktop computers. I searched around and found that a local outlet of a computer superstore chain was selling a customized version of the Dell 8700. The computer had a 256 GB solid-state drive along with a 2 Tb regular rotating hard drive, loads of USB 3.0 jacks, 24 GB of RAM along with the fast Intel 4770 chip. It was everything I wanted and much more. I raced to the store on December 26 with a bad cold to snatch it before it was bought by someone else. Now, the Intel 4770 is no longer the fastest. It has been surpassed by the 4790, an incremental upgrade. The next big boost in performance will be with the next generation of Intel processors that will be released either later this year or in the first half of next year. When this new generation of processors is combined with Windows 9, we can enjoy the next generation of desktop computing. We are now in a transition period between the Haswell processors and Windows 8.1 to the new generation of Intel processors and Windows 9. If you can wait until next year, you will likely be pleased at the performance you can obtain for the money. The Roland Duo Capture audio interface can be bought at a number of outlets that sell professional audio equipment. I believe I have the model before the current shipping version. Mine cannot support recording from an iPhone or iPad while the current shipping version can. The eBay offering sold for a more than 80 percent discount than the current shipping version. The drivers for it though support Windows 8.1. If I were to pay full price, I would actually purchase the Roland Quad Capture audio interface. It is just $70 more than the full retail price of the Roland Duo Capture and has a few more worthwhile features. It has a maximum capacity of 192,000 samples for recording. The Duo Capture’s upper limit is 44,100 samples. Both support 24-bit audio though. Useful functionality for the blind computer user is the Auto-Sens function that intelligently sets optimal input levels for both of the unit’s pre-amps. Roland Quad Capture is the audio interface personally used by Bill McCann, the founder and President of Dancing Dots, on his machines. When I spoke with Bill earlier this year about the two audio interfaces, it seemed I was more impressed with the Auto-Sens functionality than he was. Yet, how could I disagree with the wise master, who has set his own levels on audio devices for decades, for his exquisite audio choice given that he
RE: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
Steve, Motherboard sound chips will handle basic audio adequately but even though they may claim HD or high def audio, they are still mass produced to a price. I suggest that you go to www.techbuy.com.au and do a search for Asus XONAR (that's spelled X O N A R). Asus has a variety of sound cards and one of them should meet your needs. The DG and D2 cards are worth a look. You should also do a search for Creative sound card. Creative still makes a wide variety of sound cards and, indeed, looking at them, one can't help wondering if some of them are not the one card with different labels attached to them. Also make sure you know what slot on the motherboard you are going to be using, that is to say, PCI or PCI Express. Note also that some of the cards are low profile cards intended for half height back plane slots on small form factor PCs. Bob Nelson -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Steve Pattison Sent: Saturday, 5 July 2014 10:29 AM To: PC Audio Subject: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. With the rapid advancements in motherboards and hardware generally I'm interested in people's thoughts about whether it's still better to buy a dedicated sound card or have we now reached the stage where using integrated sound on the motherboard is adequate? I bought my current PC in July 2008 so it is about six years old. I'm currently running a Creative sound card. I've never used integrated sound on the motherboard on my home PC before. Also I don't need the most expensive sound card available but I don't want it to be too basic either. One feature I would like is the ability to provide some type of virtual surround sound as I have limited space where my PC is located and only room for a two speaker system. I appreciate there is no right or wrong answer to this question but I thought this list would be a good place to ask because there are bound to be a lot of people who are a bit more fussy about audio quality etc. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you. Regards Steve.
Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
Do you want one sound card for window Eyes and another for other audio? -Original Message- From: Steve Pattison Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 10:29 AM To: PC Audio Subject: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. With the rapid advancements in motherboards and hardware generally I'm interested in people's thoughts about whether it's still better to buy a dedicated sound card or have we now reached the stage where using integrated sound on the motherboard is adequate? I bought my current PC in July 2008 so it is about six years old. I'm currently running a Creative sound card. I've never used integrated sound on the motherboard on my home PC before. Also I don't need the most expensive sound card available but I don't want it to be too basic either. One feature I would like is the ability to provide some type of virtual surround sound as I have limited space where my PC is located and only room for a two speaker system. I appreciate there is no right or wrong answer to this question but I thought this list would be a good place to ask because there are bound to be a lot of people who are a bit more fussy about audio quality etc. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you. Regards Steve.
Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
Hi Steve, The audio on one of the better motherboards today is fine for most use. But when we speak hifi quality high bit rates, and real good sound you'd still need a deticated sound card with better cerkitry. I use a pretty expensive audio card from RME called Babyface which sounds amazing, but i'm fully sattesfied with the build in sound card of my laptop for everyday use. Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Steve Pattison Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 2:29 AM To: PC Audio Subject: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. With the rapid advancements in motherboards and hardware generally I'm interested in people's thoughts about whether it's still better to buy a dedicated sound card or have we now reached the stage where using integrated sound on the motherboard is adequate? I bought my current PC in July 2008 so it is about six years old. I'm currently running a Creative sound card. I've never used integrated sound on the motherboard on my home PC before. Also I don't need the most expensive sound card available but I don't want it to be too basic either. One feature I would like is the ability to provide some type of virtual surround sound as I have limited space where my PC is located and only room for a two speaker system. I appreciate there is no right or wrong answer to this question but I thought this list would be a good place to ask because there are bound to be a lot of people who are a bit more fussy about audio quality etc. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you. Regards Steve.
Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
how much does the sound card you use cost ? On 7/5/2014 3:10 AM, Brian Olesen wrote: Hi Steve, The audio on one of the better motherboards today is fine for most use. But when we speak hifi quality high bit rates, and real good sound you'd still need a deticated sound card with better cerkitry. I use a pretty expensive audio card from RME called Babyface which sounds amazing, but i'm fully sattesfied with the build in sound card of my laptop for everyday use. Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Steve Pattison Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 2:29 AM To: PC Audio Subject: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. With the rapid advancements in motherboards and hardware generally I'm interested in people's thoughts about whether it's still better to buy a dedicated sound card or have we now reached the stage where using integrated sound on the motherboard is adequate? I bought my current PC in July 2008 so it is about six years old. I'm currently running a Creative sound card. I've never used integrated sound on the motherboard on my home PC before. Also I don't need the most expensive sound card available but I don't want it to be too basic either. One feature I would like is the ability to provide some type of virtual surround sound as I have limited space where my PC is located and only room for a two speaker system. I appreciate there is no right or wrong answer to this question but I thought this list would be a good place to ask because there are bound to be a lot of people who are a bit more fussy about audio quality etc. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you. Regards Steve.
Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
Hi, About $ 700 Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Sunshine Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 10:15 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? how much does the sound card you use cost ? On 7/5/2014 3:10 AM, Brian Olesen wrote: Hi Steve, The audio on one of the better motherboards today is fine for most use. But when we speak hifi quality high bit rates, and real good sound you'd still need a deticated sound card with better cerkitry. I use a pretty expensive audio card from RME called Babyface which sounds amazing, but i'm fully sattesfied with the build in sound card of my laptop for everyday use. Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Steve Pattison Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 2:29 AM To: PC Audio Subject: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. With the rapid advancements in motherboards and hardware generally I'm interested in people's thoughts about whether it's still better to buy a dedicated sound card or have we now reached the stage where using integrated sound on the motherboard is adequate? I bought my current PC in July 2008 so it is about six years old. I'm currently running a Creative sound card. I've never used integrated sound on the motherboard on my home PC before. Also I don't need the most expensive sound card available but I don't want it to be too basic either. One feature I would like is the ability to provide some type of virtual surround sound as I have limited space where my PC is located and only room for a two speaker system. I appreciate there is no right or wrong answer to this question but I thought this list would be a good place to ask because there are bound to be a lot of people who are a bit more fussy about audio quality etc. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you. Regards Steve.
Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
can you give us a sample of this cards sound quality? On 7/5/2014 4:16 AM, Brian Olesen wrote: Hi, About $ 700 Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Sunshine Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 10:15 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? how much does the sound card you use cost ? On 7/5/2014 3:10 AM, Brian Olesen wrote: Hi Steve, The audio on one of the better motherboards today is fine for most use. But when we speak hifi quality high bit rates, and real good sound you'd still need a deticated sound card with better cerkitry. I use a pretty expensive audio card from RME called Babyface which sounds amazing, but i'm fully sattesfied with the build in sound card of my laptop for everyday use. Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Steve Pattison Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 2:29 AM To: PC Audio Subject: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. With the rapid advancements in motherboards and hardware generally I'm interested in people's thoughts about whether it's still better to buy a dedicated sound card or have we now reached the stage where using integrated sound on the motherboard is adequate? I bought my current PC in July 2008 so it is about six years old. I'm currently running a Creative sound card. I've never used integrated sound on the motherboard on my home PC before. Also I don't need the most expensive sound card available but I don't want it to be too basic either. One feature I would like is the ability to provide some type of virtual surround sound as I have limited space where my PC is located and only room for a two speaker system. I appreciate there is no right or wrong answer to this question but I thought this list would be a good place to ask because there are bound to be a lot of people who are a bit more fussy about audio quality etc. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you. Regards Steve.
Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
Steve, It all depends on the kind of system you have and the fussiness of your ears. At the end of last year, I bought a Dell 8700 computer with the Intel i7 4770 processor, the fastest chip on the market at the time. It had built-in HD audio. When the Dell pre-amp was configured, the audio sounded as good as the M-Audio 24/96 sound card I bought 10 years ago with the highly regarded Casio drivers. The computer came with separate jacks for a quadrophonic speaker setup as well as 5.1 audio in addition to the regular jacks for traditional stereo, line in and microphones. Computers with less sophisticated microprocessors may not have as many options or HD audio. That said, I want one sound card for the screen reader and one sound card for audio playback and recording. To that end, I bought a Roland Duo USB audio interface for $37 on eBay. It normally retails for $200. Dancing Dots recommends this audio interface to its customers using Windows computers. The company is the leader in accessible music and audio production by the blind. The audio from the Roland interface sounds real and lifelike and instruments are more distinct than the integrated sound card. This should be no surprise as the audio is processed outside the machine in a different cycle from the computer. Try as they do, Intel and Dell cannot deliver in a mass-market product the quality that audio focused companies have been doing for years. If you just listen to spoken word audio and popular music, the integrated card could be acceptable. If you like listening to classic jazz performances, classical music, or instrumental music and deejay or stream capture or edit audio on your PC, then a second sound card or an audio interface is needed. For a lousy $37, including shipping, why is anyone anguishing and spending precious brain cells on such an obvious decision. Kelly On 7/5/14, Sunshine sunsh...@abe.midco.net wrote: can you give us a sample of this cards sound quality? On 7/5/2014 4:16 AM, Brian Olesen wrote: Hi, About $ 700 Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Sunshine Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 10:15 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? how much does the sound card you use cost ? On 7/5/2014 3:10 AM, Brian Olesen wrote: Hi Steve, The audio on one of the better motherboards today is fine for most use. But when we speak hifi quality high bit rates, and real good sound you'd still need a deticated sound card with better cerkitry. I use a pretty expensive audio card from RME called Babyface which sounds amazing, but i'm fully sattesfied with the build in sound card of my laptop for everyday use. Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Steve Pattison Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 2:29 AM To: PC Audio Subject: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. With the rapid advancements in motherboards and hardware generally I'm interested in people's thoughts about whether it's still better to buy a dedicated sound card or have we now reached the stage where using integrated sound on the motherboard is adequate? I bought my current PC in July 2008 so it is about six years old. I'm currently running a Creative sound card. I've never used integrated sound on the motherboard on my home PC before. Also I don't need the most expensive sound card available but I don't want it to be too basic either. One feature I would like is the ability to provide some type of virtual surround sound as I have limited space where my PC is located and only room for a two speaker system. I appreciate there is no right or wrong answer to this question but I thought this list would be a good place to ask because there are bound to be a lot of people who are a bit more fussy about audio quality etc. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you. Regards Steve.
Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
Is this Roland unit plug n play? No software and does it have controls on it? - Original Message - From: Kelly Pierce kellyt...@gmail.com To: PC Audio Discussion List pc-audio@pc-audio.org Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 1:56 PM Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Steve, It all depends on the kind of system you have and the fussiness of your ears. At the end of last year, I bought a Dell 8700 computer with the Intel i7 4770 processor, the fastest chip on the market at the time. It had built-in HD audio. When the Dell pre-amp was configured, the audio sounded as good as the M-Audio 24/96 sound card I bought 10 years ago with the highly regarded Casio drivers. The computer came with separate jacks for a quadrophonic speaker setup as well as 5.1 audio in addition to the regular jacks for traditional stereo, line in and microphones. Computers with less sophisticated microprocessors may not have as many options or HD audio. That said, I want one sound card for the screen reader and one sound card for audio playback and recording. To that end, I bought a Roland Duo USB audio interface for $37 on eBay. It normally retails for $200. Dancing Dots recommends this audio interface to its customers using Windows computers. The company is the leader in accessible music and audio production by the blind. The audio from the Roland interface sounds real and lifelike and instruments are more distinct than the integrated sound card. This should be no surprise as the audio is processed outside the machine in a different cycle from the computer. Try as they do, Intel and Dell cannot deliver in a mass-market product the quality that audio focused companies have been doing for years. If you just listen to spoken word audio and popular music, the integrated card could be acceptable. If you like listening to classic jazz performances, classical music, or instrumental music and deejay or stream capture or edit audio on your PC, then a second sound card or an audio interface is needed. For a lousy $37, including shipping, why is anyone anguishing and spending precious brain cells on such an obvious decision. Kelly On 7/5/14, Sunshine sunsh...@abe.midco.net wrote: can you give us a sample of this cards sound quality? On 7/5/2014 4:16 AM, Brian Olesen wrote: Hi, About $ 700 Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Sunshine Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 10:15 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? how much does the sound card you use cost ? On 7/5/2014 3:10 AM, Brian Olesen wrote: Hi Steve, The audio on one of the better motherboards today is fine for most use. But when we speak hifi quality high bit rates, and real good sound you'd still need a deticated sound card with better cerkitry. I use a pretty expensive audio card from RME called Babyface which sounds amazing, but i'm fully sattesfied with the build in sound card of my laptop for everyday use. Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Steve Pattison Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 2:29 AM To: PC Audio Subject: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. With the rapid advancements in motherboards and hardware generally I'm interested in people's thoughts about whether it's still better to buy a dedicated sound card or have we now reached the stage where using integrated sound on the motherboard is adequate? I bought my current PC in July 2008 so it is about six years old. I'm currently running a Creative sound card. I've never used integrated sound on the motherboard on my home PC before. Also I don't need the most expensive sound card available but I don't want it to be too basic either. One feature I would like is the ability to provide some type of virtual surround sound as I have limited space where my PC is located and only room for a two speaker system. I appreciate there is no right or wrong answer to this question but I thought this list would be a good place to ask because there are bound to be a lot of people who are a bit more fussy about audio quality etc. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you. Regards Steve. --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com
RE: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
You have the Dell XPS 8700? Epic! I so want one. I would expect the audio from it to be very good since it's a home theater PC. Thanks for sharing how good it is though. -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Kelly Pierce Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 1:56 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Steve, It all depends on the kind of system you have and the fussiness of your ears. At the end of last year, I bought a Dell 8700 computer with the Intel i7 4770 processor, the fastest chip on the market at the time. It had built-in HD audio. When the Dell pre-amp was configured, the audio sounded as good as the M-Audio 24/96 sound card I bought 10 years ago with the highly regarded Casio drivers. The computer came with separate jacks for a quadrophonic speaker setup as well as 5.1 audio in addition to the regular jacks for traditional stereo, line in and microphones. Computers with less sophisticated microprocessors may not have as many options or HD audio. That said, I want one sound card for the screen reader and one sound card for audio playback and recording. To that end, I bought a Roland Duo USB audio interface for $37 on eBay. It normally retails for $200. Dancing Dots recommends this audio interface to its customers using Windows computers. The company is the leader in accessible music and audio production by the blind. The audio from the Roland interface sounds real and lifelike and instruments are more distinct than the integrated sound card. This should be no surprise as the audio is processed outside the machine in a different cycle from the computer. Try as they do, Intel and Dell cannot deliver in a mass-market product the quality that audio focused companies have been doing for years. If you just listen to spoken word audio and popular music, the integrated card could be acceptable. If you like listening to classic jazz performances, classical music, or instrumental music and deejay or stream capture or edit audio on your PC, then a second sound card or an audio interface is needed. For a lousy $37, including shipping, why is anyone anguishing and spending precious brain cells on such an obvious decision. Kelly On 7/5/14, Sunshine sunsh...@abe.midco.net wrote: can you give us a sample of this cards sound quality? On 7/5/2014 4:16 AM, Brian Olesen wrote: Hi, About $ 700 Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Sunshine Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 10:15 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? how much does the sound card you use cost ? On 7/5/2014 3:10 AM, Brian Olesen wrote: Hi Steve, The audio on one of the better motherboards today is fine for most use. But when we speak hifi quality high bit rates, and real good sound you'd still need a deticated sound card with better cerkitry. I use a pretty expensive audio card from RME called Babyface which sounds amazing, but i'm fully sattesfied with the build in sound card of my laptop for everyday use. Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Steve Pattison Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 2:29 AM To: PC Audio Subject: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. With the rapid advancements in motherboards and hardware generally I'm interested in people's thoughts about whether it's still better to buy a dedicated sound card or have we now reached the stage where using integrated sound on the motherboard is adequate? I bought my current PC in July 2008 so it is about six years old. I'm currently running a Creative sound card. I've never used integrated sound on the motherboard on my home PC before. Also I don't need the most expensive sound card available but I don't want it to be too basic either. One feature I would like is the ability to provide some type of virtual surround sound as I have limited space where my PC is located and only room for a two speaker system. I appreciate there is no right or wrong answer to this question but I thought this list would be a good place to ask because there are bound to be a lot of people who are a bit more fussy about audio quality etc. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you. Regards Steve.
RE: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
How current is it? Can one only get it on E-Bay? What sample rate and bit deapth can it do? -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Petro Giannakopoulos Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 3:06 PM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Is this Roland unit plug n play? No software and does it have controls on it? - Original Message - From: Kelly Pierce kellyt...@gmail.com To: PC Audio Discussion List pc-audio@pc-audio.org Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 1:56 PM Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Steve, It all depends on the kind of system you have and the fussiness of your ears. At the end of last year, I bought a Dell 8700 computer with the Intel i7 4770 processor, the fastest chip on the market at the time. It had built-in HD audio. When the Dell pre-amp was configured, the audio sounded as good as the M-Audio 24/96 sound card I bought 10 years ago with the highly regarded Casio drivers. The computer came with separate jacks for a quadrophonic speaker setup as well as 5.1 audio in addition to the regular jacks for traditional stereo, line in and microphones. Computers with less sophisticated microprocessors may not have as many options or HD audio. That said, I want one sound card for the screen reader and one sound card for audio playback and recording. To that end, I bought a Roland Duo USB audio interface for $37 on eBay. It normally retails for $200. Dancing Dots recommends this audio interface to its customers using Windows computers. The company is the leader in accessible music and audio production by the blind. The audio from the Roland interface sounds real and lifelike and instruments are more distinct than the integrated sound card. This should be no surprise as the audio is processed outside the machine in a different cycle from the computer. Try as they do, Intel and Dell cannot deliver in a mass-market product the quality that audio focused companies have been doing for years. If you just listen to spoken word audio and popular music, the integrated card could be acceptable. If you like listening to classic jazz performances, classical music, or instrumental music and deejay or stream capture or edit audio on your PC, then a second sound card or an audio interface is needed. For a lousy $37, including shipping, why is anyone anguishing and spending precious brain cells on such an obvious decision. Kelly On 7/5/14, Sunshine sunsh...@abe.midco.net wrote: can you give us a sample of this cards sound quality? On 7/5/2014 4:16 AM, Brian Olesen wrote: Hi, About $ 700 Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Sunshine Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 10:15 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? how much does the sound card you use cost ? On 7/5/2014 3:10 AM, Brian Olesen wrote: Hi Steve, The audio on one of the better motherboards today is fine for most use. But when we speak hifi quality high bit rates, and real good sound you'd still need a deticated sound card with better cerkitry. I use a pretty expensive audio card from RME called Babyface which sounds amazing, but i'm fully sattesfied with the build in sound card of my laptop for everyday use. Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Steve Pattison Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 2:29 AM To: PC Audio Subject: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. With the rapid advancements in motherboards and hardware generally I'm interested in people's thoughts about whether it's still better to buy a dedicated sound card or have we now reached the stage where using integrated sound on the motherboard is adequate? I bought my current PC in July 2008 so it is about six years old. I'm currently running a Creative sound card. I've never used integrated sound on the motherboard on my home PC before. Also I don't need the most expensive sound card available but I don't want it to be too basic either. One feature I would like is the ability to provide some type of virtual surround sound as I have limited space where my PC is located and only room for a two speaker system. I appreciate there is no right or wrong answer to this question but I thought this list would be a good place to ask because there are bound to be a lot of people who are a bit more fussy about audio quality etc. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you. Regards Steve. --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com
Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
Petro, A driver needs to be installed on the computer each time it is plugged into a USB jack. This likely would be once for a home-based computer. The installer for the driver has one button that cannot be recognized by JAWS in Windows 8.1. It took a sighted person less than 30 seconds to find the button on the screen and activate it with the mouse though. Once the driver is installed, all of its properties can be adjusted with JAWS. In addition, all the controls on the unit are tactile and are either toggle buttons or volume sliders. When the toggle buttons are pressed, they are depressed so a blind person or a sighted person in a dark location can tactilely feel if the button is activated. I hope this has been helpful. Kelly On 7/5/14, Petro Giannakopoulos petro...@clear.net wrote: Is this Roland unit plug n play? No software and does it have controls on it? - Original Message - From: Kelly Pierce kellyt...@gmail.com To: PC Audio Discussion List pc-audio@pc-audio.org Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 1:56 PM Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Steve, It all depends on the kind of system you have and the fussiness of your ears. At the end of last year, I bought a Dell 8700 computer with the Intel i7 4770 processor, the fastest chip on the market at the time. It had built-in HD audio. When the Dell pre-amp was configured, the audio sounded as good as the M-Audio 24/96 sound card I bought 10 years ago with the highly regarded Casio drivers. The computer came with separate jacks for a quadrophonic speaker setup as well as 5.1 audio in addition to the regular jacks for traditional stereo, line in and microphones. Computers with less sophisticated microprocessors may not have as many options or HD audio. That said, I want one sound card for the screen reader and one sound card for audio playback and recording. To that end, I bought a Roland Duo USB audio interface for $37 on eBay. It normally retails for $200. Dancing Dots recommends this audio interface to its customers using Windows computers. The company is the leader in accessible music and audio production by the blind. The audio from the Roland interface sounds real and lifelike and instruments are more distinct than the integrated sound card. This should be no surprise as the audio is processed outside the machine in a different cycle from the computer. Try as they do, Intel and Dell cannot deliver in a mass-market product the quality that audio focused companies have been doing for years. If you just listen to spoken word audio and popular music, the integrated card could be acceptable. If you like listening to classic jazz performances, classical music, or instrumental music and deejay or stream capture or edit audio on your PC, then a second sound card or an audio interface is needed. For a lousy $37, including shipping, why is anyone anguishing and spending precious brain cells on such an obvious decision. Kelly On 7/5/14, Sunshine sunsh...@abe.midco.net wrote: can you give us a sample of this cards sound quality? On 7/5/2014 4:16 AM, Brian Olesen wrote: Hi, About $ 700 Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Sunshine Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 10:15 AM To: PC Audio Discussion List Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? how much does the sound card you use cost ? On 7/5/2014 3:10 AM, Brian Olesen wrote: Hi Steve, The audio on one of the better motherboards today is fine for most use. But when we speak hifi quality high bit rates, and real good sound you'd still need a deticated sound card with better cerkitry. I use a pretty expensive audio card from RME called Babyface which sounds amazing, but i'm fully sattesfied with the build in sound card of my laptop for everyday use. Best regards Brian -Oprindelig meddelelse- From: Steve Pattison Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 2:29 AM To: PC Audio Subject: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. With the rapid advancements in motherboards and hardware generally I'm interested in people's thoughts about whether it's still better to buy a dedicated sound card or have we now reached the stage where using integrated sound on the motherboard is adequate? I bought my current PC in July 2008 so it is about six years old. I'm currently running a Creative sound card. I've never used integrated sound on the motherboard on my home PC before. Also I don't need the most expensive sound card available but I don't want it to be too basic either. One feature I would like is the ability to provide some type of virtual surround sound as I have limited space where my PC is located and only room for a two speaker system. I appreciate there is no right or wrong answer to this question but I thought this list would be a good place to ask because there are bound to be a lot of people who are a bit more fussy about audio quality etc. Any feedback
Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
Hamit, The Dell XPS 8700 purchase was two years in the making. I had a Pentium 4 computer that I bought in 2004 running Windows XP. I was unimpressed with Windows 7 when it was released in 2009 and soon heard about new technology that would be the next generation of innovation in personal computers. Specifically, this included USB 3, flash hard drives, and faster processors from Intel. In September 2011, my computer stopped working. Thank god for external backup drives. I decided to wait until the upcoming windows 8 so I could have a computer with the latest technology. I bought a used HP D530C from Chicago Surplus Computer for $85 to tide me over until the next generation of computing arrived. As we all know, the initial windows 8 rollout was a disaster, particularly for the screen reader user. The interface was too futuristic for most. Microsoft regrouped and delivered the vastly improved Windows 8.1 last fall. To my delight, Intel opened a store here in Chicago in late November to display products from its vendors and inform the public about its processors. I learned there how a computer choice starts with the chip and learned about the fastest chip for desktop computers. I searched around and found that a local outlet of a computer superstore chain was selling a customized version of the Dell 8700. The computer had a 256 GB solid-state drive along with a 2 Tb regular rotating hard drive, loads of USB 3.0 jacks, 24 GB of RAM along with the fast Intel 4770 chip. It was everything I wanted and much more. I raced to the store on December 26 with a bad cold to snatch it before it was bought by someone else. Now, the Intel 4770 is no longer the fastest. It has been surpassed by the 4790, an incremental upgrade. The next big boost in performance will be with the next generation of Intel processors that will be released either later this year or in the first half of next year. When this new generation of processors is combined with Windows 9, we can enjoy the next generation of desktop computing. We are now in a transition period between the Haswell processors and Windows 8.1 to the new generation of Intel processors and Windows 9. If you can wait until next year, you will likely be pleased at the performance you can obtain for the money. The Roland Duo Capture audio interface can be bought at a number of outlets that sell professional audio equipment. I believe I have the model before the current shipping version. Mine cannot support recording from an iPhone or iPad while the current shipping version can. The eBay offering sold for a more than 80 percent discount than the current shipping version. The drivers for it though support Windows 8.1. If I were to pay full price, I would actually purchase the Roland Quad Capture audio interface. It is just $70 more than the full retail price of the Roland Duo Capture and has a few more worthwhile features. It has a maximum capacity of 192,000 samples for recording. The Duo Capture’s upper limit is 44,100 samples. Both support 24-bit audio though. Useful functionality for the blind computer user is the Auto-Sens function that intelligently sets optimal input levels for both of the unit’s pre-amps. Roland Quad Capture is the audio interface personally used by Bill McCann, the founder and President of Dancing Dots, on his machines. When I spoke with Bill earlier this year about the two audio interfaces, it seemed I was more impressed with the Auto-Sens functionality than he was. Yet, how could I disagree with the wise master, who has set his own levels on audio devices for decades, for his exquisite audio choice given that he handles and listens to these devices every day. Talk to you later. Kelly On 7/5/14, Kelly Pierce kellyt...@gmail.com wrote: Petro, A driver needs to be installed on the computer each time it is plugged into a USB jack. This likely would be once for a home-based computer. The installer for the driver has one button that cannot be recognized by JAWS in Windows 8.1. It took a sighted person less than 30 seconds to find the button on the screen and activate it with the mouse though. Once the driver is installed, all of its properties can be adjusted with JAWS. In addition, all the controls on the unit are tactile and are either toggle buttons or volume sliders. When the toggle buttons are pressed, they are depressed so a blind person or a sighted person in a dark location can tactilely feel if the button is activated. I hope this has been helpful. Kelly On 7/5/14, Petro Giannakopoulos petro...@clear.net wrote: Is this Roland unit plug n play? No software and does it have controls on it? - Original Message - From: Kelly Pierce kellyt...@gmail.com To: PC Audio Discussion List pc-audio@pc-audio.org Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2014 1:56 PM Subject: Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Steve, It all depends on the kind of system you have and the fussiness of your ears. At the end of last year, I bought
Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
Hi all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. With the rapid advancements in motherboards and hardware generally I'm interested in people's thoughts about whether it's still better to buy a dedicated sound card or have we now reached the stage where using integrated sound on the motherboard is adequate? I bought my current PC in July 2008 so it is about six years old. I'm currently running a Creative sound card. I've never used integrated sound on the motherboard on my home PC before. Also I don't need the most expensive sound card available but I don't want it to be too basic either. One feature I would like is the ability to provide some type of virtual surround sound as I have limited space where my PC is located and only room for a two speaker system. I appreciate there is no right or wrong answer to this question but I thought this list would be a good place to ask because there are bound to be a lot of people who are a bit more fussy about audio quality etc. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you. Regards Steve.
Re: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
Personally I think it's still better to get a different card. As a broadcaster I wouldn't use the integraded audio. - Original Message - From: Steve Pattison s...@internode.on.net To: PC Audio pc-audio@pc-audio.org Sent: Friday, July 04, 2014 5:29 PM Subject: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. With the rapid advancements in motherboards and hardware generally I'm interested in people's thoughts about whether it's still better to buy a dedicated sound card or have we now reached the stage where using integrated sound on the motherboard is adequate? I bought my current PC in July 2008 so it is about six years old. I'm currently running a Creative sound card. I've never used integrated sound on the motherboard on my home PC before. Also I don't need the most expensive sound card available but I don't want it to be too basic either. One feature I would like is the ability to provide some type of virtual surround sound as I have limited space where my PC is located and only room for a two speaker system. I appreciate there is no right or wrong answer to this question but I thought this list would be a good place to ask because there are bound to be a lot of people who are a bit more fussy about audio quality etc. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you. Regards Steve. --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com
RE: Is Integrated Sound Adequate?
If you want virtual surround sound or as I state it, fake surround sound, then let me recommend the Bose Companion 5 Multy Media speakers. Note they are #$300 though. But they are cool for what they are. They at least will give you epic Bose sound. -Original Message- From: Pc-audio [mailto:pc-audio-boun...@pc-audio.org] On Behalf Of Steve Pattison Sent: Friday, July 04, 2014 8:29 PM To: PC Audio Subject: Is Integrated Sound Adequate? Hi all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. With the rapid advancements in motherboards and hardware generally I'm interested in people's thoughts about whether it's still better to buy a dedicated sound card or have we now reached the stage where using integrated sound on the motherboard is adequate? I bought my current PC in July 2008 so it is about six years old. I'm currently running a Creative sound card. I've never used integrated sound on the motherboard on my home PC before. Also I don't need the most expensive sound card available but I don't want it to be too basic either. One feature I would like is the ability to provide some type of virtual surround sound as I have limited space where my PC is located and only room for a two speaker system. I appreciate there is no right or wrong answer to this question but I thought this list would be a good place to ask because there are bound to be a lot of people who are a bit more fussy about audio quality etc. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you. Regards Steve.
