Soundcard for Ultimate Ears

[xera]

Recently I purchased some In Ear earphones from Ultimate Ears. (http://pro.ultimateears.com/en-gb/home)
They are extremely sensitive. I can hear music clearly when my windows volume is up by just one notch..
I can hear all the noise that comes from my P8P67 Deluxe's on-board soundcard. This is very bad for FPS games etc. I can even hear something when I move my mouse, or move windows around, that might be interference from the GPU.

So I'm looking for a soundcard that would work well with these, that wouldn't receive any interference from other parts in the PC, and could also accurately control gain at low levels (see above why).
Of course I would also like good sound quality, as I listen to all music in FLAC, sometimes 24bit 48KHz, and also good frequency range, not the standard 20-20KHz.

Budget.. Not sure, I guess 1-2k

Any suggestions please?

 

[Electric]

This sounds fishy.
You shouldn't be hearing interference from your pc unless there's some sort of cable feedback.

Focusrite Scarlet 2i2

 

[HavocXphere]

You bought in ear headphones and want to connect them to a 2k soundcard? You're joking right?

To answer your question - a xonar card will do & should fix the interference too. Cost like <500 so you've even go some spare budget to buy some noise blocking over ear headphones.

 

[TJ99]

This sounds fishy.
You shouldn't be hearing interference from your pc unless there's some sort of cable feedback.

Focusrite Scarlet 2i2

LOLWUT? On-board sound cards produce an incredible amount of hissing, it's the main reason anyone that's into audio considers them useless. You can hear it even on even half-decent speakers or headphones.

OP: Which UE's are they? I had the 700's, they work great with the Asus Xonar cards. If it's like the 700 or Triple-fi's the cheaper cards should work fine as you don't need amplification. Otherwise look at an Essence or external DAC/amp instead.

 

[Rickster]

Recently I purchased some In Ear earphones from Ultimate Ears. (http://pro.ultimateears.com/en-gb/home)
They are extremely sensitive. I can hear music clearly when my windows volume is up by just one notch..
I can hear all the noise that comes from my P8P67 Deluxe's on-board soundcard. This is very bad for FPS games etc. I can even hear something when I move my mouse, or move windows around, that might be interference from the GPU.

So I'm looking for a soundcard that would work well with these, that wouldn't receive any interference from other parts in the PC, and could also accurately control gain at low levels (see above why).
Of course I would also like good sound quality, as I listen to all music in FLAC, sometimes 24bit 48KHz, and also good frequency range, not the standard 20-20KHz.

Budget.. Not sure, I guess 1-2k

Any suggestions please?

I got the Asus Xonar D2X for R1350, damn I love it.

 

[TJ99]

You bought in ear headphones and want to connect them to a 2k soundcard? You're joking right?

Depends on which in-ears. The cheaper ones would work great with cards even under a grand, the UE Custom stuff needs much, much more expensive amplification to get the best out of them.

 

[Electric]

LOLWUT? On-board sound cards produce an incredible amount of hissing, it's the main reason anyone that's into audio considers them useless. You can hear it even on even half-decent speakers or headphones.

OP: Which UE's are they? I had the 700's, they work great with the Asus Xonar cards. If it's like the 700 or Triple-fi's the cheaper cards should work fine as you don't need amplification. Otherwise look at an Essence or external DAC/amp instead.

I haven't touched an on board card for years.
Excuse my ignorance.
I only use external sound interfaces.
Not a gaming soundcard.

 

[xera]

You bought in ear headphones and want to connect them to a 2k soundcard? You're joking right?

To answer your question - a xonar card will do & should fix the interference too. Cost like <500 so you've even go some spare budget to buy some noise blocking over ear headphones.

Like I said, I don't know. I'm new to this. I would like something good. What would you recommend?

I have the UE7 (http://pro.ultimateears.com/en-gb/home/7-Pro)

External might be nice, if I can use it with other things and not just my desktop.

 

[genetic]

I have an external Alesis FireWire mixer which I use as my sound card.

The integrated audio solutions are always sub-par.

 

[xera]

To answer your question - a xonar card will do & should fix the interference too. Cost like <500 so you've even go some spare budget to buy some noise blocking over ear headphones.

These block out the noise perfectly, thanks. I don't want over ear.

 

[HavocXphere]

These block out the noise perfectly, thanks. I don't want over ear.

Poor choice of words on my part. It was intended more as a reference to a closed design. Like so:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headphones#Open_or_closed_back

Nonetheless - if you're happy with what you've got then more power to you. Add a couple hundred for a nice sound card and you'll be all set.

edit
Something like this should work if you have free PCI-E ports:
http://www.pricecheck.co.za/offers/...GX+PCI+Express+5.1-Channel+Gaming+Audio+Card/

 

[garyc]

With the type of audio files you are listening to the Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 mentioned by Electric would be a good choice. I upgraded from an Asus Xonar Essence STX to one of these.

There is a strong audible difference between 16 and 24 bit FLAC files with this interface. This is running it off a system with a low latency kernel and with the sound server tweaked for minimum jitter error. Even on a normal desktop system there is some difference.

Another advantage it has for headphone use is a dedicated volume control for the jack. The drawback is that this interface was made for musical production, so you may find some rough edges with normal desktop use.

 

[xera]

This sounds fishy.
You shouldn't be hearing interference from your pc unless there's some sort of cable feedback.

Focusrite Scarlet 2i2

How should I find the source of feedback? I think it's GPU related because when something on the screen changes, like turning in a
FPS game, or dragging a programs window, then I hear it.

With the type of audio files you are listening to the Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 mentioned by Electric would be a good choice. I upgraded from an Asus Xonar Essence STX to one of these.

There is a strong audible difference between 16 and 24 bit FLAC files with this interface. This is running it off a system with a low latency kernel and with the sound server tweaked for minimum jitter error. Even on a normal desktop system there is some difference.

Another advantage it has for headphone use is a dedicated volume control for the jack. The drawback is that this interface was made for musical production, so you may find some rough edges with normal desktop use.

How is the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2? What are it's drivers like? do they work well under windows 7?
Is this thing recommended for listening, or is it more for recording?

 

[Pada]

xera,
try disabling Enhanced Intel Speedstep (EIST) and CPU spread spectrum.

I had this issue with my AMD 2600+ when it was idling using Windows XP's idling state, where as when I ran some idle app, those noises were eliminated IIRC <-- this was like 6years ago

@garyc:
I'm curious to know how that Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 compares to the M-Audio Delta66, which I'm currently using for recording and playback to-and-from a Yamaha LS9 sound desk, linked to a church PA system.

What I love about it is its XLR input & outputs, and according to its specs it has better SNR and less THD.
It has to be pretty impressive if you're saying its better than the Xonar Essense STX, which I have an I'm very fond of!

 

[xera]

xera,
try disabling Enhanced Intel Speedstep (EIST) and CPU spread spectrum.

I had this issue with my AMD 2600+ when it was idling using Windows XP's idling state, where as when I ran some idle app, those noises were eliminated IIRC <-- this was like 6years ago

Thanks tried that, but didn't help, there is still noise.

 

[crysis]

This sounds fishy.
You shouldn't be hearing interference from your pc unless there's some sort of cable feedback.

Focusrite Scarlet 2i2

+1, that thing has a frequency response curve flatter than julias melemas brain. Zero feedback too.

 

[bullzeye.za]

I had a similar issue recently, you can try and put on an EMI shield, but the solution for me ( Xonar Essence STX + SEnnheiser HD598s ) was to move my GPU one slot further away from my sound card, and that eliminated 99% of the noise.

I still want to get a handful of these guys, just for futures sake: http://www.mantech.co.za/ProductInfo.aspx?Item=14M4818

 

[garyc]

@xera

I only tried the 2i2 out for one evening under Windows 7 out of curiosity. It worked very well with no drivers needed – the Win7 USB audio driver handled it. There is bunch of software that comes with it as well for the recording side of things. One thing that I did notice was that there can be a click from the speakers as the audio server changes state. Don’t know if this can be dealt with, it did not bug me enough to try.

It has a pair of musical instrument / line inputs for recording, but it handles playback very well. There are a pair of audio line level outputs (both balanced and un-balanced), as well as a headphone output. All of these have level controls on the box. One thing to watch out for is that this is studio type equipment and so it does not use RCA outputs for the line level audio. There are a pair of ¼ inch TRS jack outputs instead, so you may have to solder up your own cables (or have the music shop do it).

@Pada

I have not had an opportunity to do a direct comparison against an M-Audio Delta66. The only direct A/B I have done was against an EMU 0404, where the 2i2 worked out better for me. It would be difficult to compare the Focusrite and M-Audio on the quoted numbers since both companies have a reputation for being conservative with specs. The actual performance can be better than they claim (e.g. I have sometimes used the 2i2 at higher sample rates than they claim it can support).

On sounding better than the STX, this may also be a matter of personal taste. The STX has the fuller bodied sound preferred by many (most?) audiophiles. The 2i2 on the other hand has a cleaner and more analytical sound. I was chasing after the three dimensional soundstage that I used to get from my old vinyl rig that has been missing from the subsequent digital audio setups (this was a Linn LP12 with the Ittok / Asaka / Valhalla stuff). With the correct OS tweaks the 2i2 was able to give good three dimensionality from 24 bit FLAC files, with reasonable results from 16 bit files.

@OP

If you are looking at trying to shield your sound card, an old trick from recording studios was to fold a piece of aluminium foil up a whole lot of times and stuff it in a zip-lock bag. Attach an earth wire to the bag, seal it all up, place it where it is needed and lead the wire to an external earth point. It costs nothing to try, but this is probably not your problem. Almost sounds like an earth path issue.

 

[GreyBush]

So glad I'm not an audiophile, I just put any headphones into my on-board sound, I play my games and get on with my life.

 

[Electric]

So glad I'm not an audiophile, I just put any headphones into my on-board sound, I play my games and get on with my life.

I am currently using a pair of Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro which retail for around R2500
And a focusrite 2i2 with a separate headphone amp.

Wouldn't change for anything.