PC to DAC to PreAmp

I broke down and bought the Extigy, and am very happy with it's sound and also some of it's features. I can understand why one would say the Audigy 2 was only a slight improvement over the Audigy, but then again concider your going from 24/96 DACs to 24/192. Going from my Live card to the Extigy is a huge difference, and I like the ability to take the Exitgy on the road and get 5.1 sound from my laptop. Like most things, its good if it meets your needs...the Extigy certainly does for me.

I've been wanting to play all the cool web radio stations I've been listening to at work (using just a $25 sony earphones hooked to the soundcard of a standard issue corporate Compaq PC) through my fancy 2-Ch stereo at home. After reading this thread & others like it, I went ahead purchased a M-Audio "Sonica" USB gadget. I hooked up my newly aquired Laptop to a "Supratek" tube preamp (+ Air-Tight ATM-2 tube power amp, Kharma 2.2 speakers).

Sure the setup works, in fact it cut out a lot of the line noise I'm used to hearing at work. But the overall sound quality is, well, actually I was quite embarrassed to have put my much loved 2-channel through this experiment. The sound is very dull and lifeless -- not for the a-goners I'm afraid. I'm sure if I had a separate good quality 24/192 DAC (such as a bel canto) it could have made all the difference. But as it is with Sonica's onboard 24/96 DAC, I was not very impressed... For now I'm going back to the earphones for web applications.

Just to add to the fray, I also use an MAudio 24/96 to a Perpetual Tech P-3A and have been very hapy with it. File format is FLAC and occasionally MP3. Good luck.

It's best to use the coaxial output from a soundcard to a DAC and to an amp - avoid using audio output from a soundcard for better quality. Coaxial cable gives best results connecting - also true in connecting a transport to a DAC.

M-audio is pretty good - if you want to spend more for even better quality, check out soundcards from Lymx, or RME Hammerfall - what the pros use.

I've read the reponses in this thread, and I have to recommend to stay away from the Creative SoundBlaster solutions unless you play a lot of games on your PC. If you want high end audio sound from your PC, then consider the RME, Digital Audio Labs Card Deluxe, or even better yet, the Lynx 2 or Lynx 22. These are all pro audio quality cards. To take advantage of the Extigy's higher resolution audio features, you actually have to bypass a lot of the built-in digital sound processors that Creative lumps into their systems. By then, you lose some fidelity. Going to a pro audio solution will provide much better S/N ratios, greater dynamic range and a more natural sound. With the RME and Lynx solutions, you can clock synch the card's digital I/O to your DAC to minimize jitter, a huge source for horrible digital artifacts.