From owner-freebsd-multimedia@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Apr 2 20:33:55 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9ACD2106564A for ; Wed, 2 Apr 2008 20:33:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kgunders@teamcool.net) Received: from koyukuk.teamcool.net (koyukuk.teamcool.net [209.161.34.19]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6E62B8FC1F for ; Wed, 2 Apr 2008 20:33:55 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kgunders@teamcool.net) Received: from hermes.teamcool.net (unknown [192.168.1.57]) by koyukuk.teamcool.net (TeamCool Rocks) with ESMTP id 2EB10F8FC for ; Wed, 2 Apr 2008 14:15:24 -0600 (MDT) Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2008 14:15:58 -0600 From: Ken Gunderson To: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org Message-Id: <20080402141558.f2712305.kgunders@teamcool.net> X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.4.8 (GTK+ 2.12.9; i386-portbld-freebsd7.0) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: audio card advice - juli@ or Prodigy hd2 X-BeenThere: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Multimedia discussions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2008 20:33:55 -0000 Hello: I'm looking for well supported audio card for my fbsd box (7.0-RELEASE). Target is good quality 2 channel audio for varied musical tastes - no gaming. Speakers are Event Alp5s, w/both balanced and unbalanced inputs. Cable run is only 10' but do still get some low level hum on unbalanced inputs from using the onboard sound (hey, just finished building this box..). Cans are currently some Senns, but I might like to get some AKG701's. I note that the snd_envy24ht drivers is now in stable so that opens up the door for some pretty sweet cards (big thanks to you driver dev heads). The juli@ and Prodigy HD2 are on my short list. The HD2's offer built in headphone amp, wh/might be pretty nice for the AKG's, while the Juli@ sports balanced outputs, wh/might be pretty nice to take advantage of the balanced speaker inputs. So feature wise 6 of one and half dozen of the other and ultimately it's the sound that matters most anyways. It's probably a bit of a crap shoot which which might be best sounding because as I'm guessing the differences in DAC's in this instance likely take a back seat to how well the snd_envy24ht driver works with each of these puppies. The DACs on the HD2 are a bit "superior" but I've read some reviews indicating the Juli@ card is cleaner electronically and sounds better. At least on Winblows. So I'm curious if anybody running either of these cards running under FreeBSD can offer any feedback. TIA-- -- Ken Gunderson