Heard the Emu1212 last night

Computer Audio Asylum

Music servers and other computer based digital audio technologies.

My buddy is a fellow audio nut and he recently got a new toy, the Emu 1212m for his small bedroom pc audio setup. He asked if I wanted to come over and have a listen and asked if I could bring over my cd player and dac to compare. So I packed up my modded Marantz cd67 and Zhaolu 2.5 dac and drove over to his place. I was pretty excited because ive been looking for an upgrade for my Xfi. His system is based around a PC I built for him, a basic entry level AMD dual core setup modded to be queit. Speakers are active Tannoy Reveal 5a on moveable stands, they can be moved close together for nearfeild or further apart for midfeild when your not at the PC. He uses EAC+FLac for ripping and Foobar for playback. So we started out with a long listen to the EMU 1212m and I was very impressed, very clean and clear sounding with lots of detail and very low noise for a soundcard, barely audible hiss with your ear next to the tweeter. EMU must have done a good job with keeping noise out of the power supply. We then compared the EMU with my modded MArantz cd67. These two are quite different sounding, the Marantz is very smooth and easy to listen to but sacrifices detail and is lacking in the PRaT departments, the EMU is much more detailed and lively sounding, the CD67 is almost boring in comparison. Next up was the modded Zhaolu 2.5/CD67 combo. This combo was much better then the cd67 alone, we agreed that it betters the EMU by a small margin, its very smooth yet at the same time very detailed and has plenty boogey, bass is quick and clean with good extension. But dont forget both the cd67 and Zhaolu 2.5 have pretty extensive mods and the EMU is bone stock. I think it more or less comes down to what your system sounds like, if its already a bright forward system the EMU may not be the best match. So if you couldn't already tell i am very impressed with this sound card especially since it can be had for $150!! I really wanted to get a Lynx, but being a rather poor college student the Lynx is out of my budget right now. So the EMU may be just the ticket for those of us who can only afford sub $200 sound cards. I know ill be buying one in the near future to replace my XFI in my PC based system,. Sorry my writing skills arent the best if you have any questions please feel free to ask.
Thanks

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Topic - Heard the Emu1212 last night - Frank25 10:25:55 02/14/07 (11)

E-Mu 1212M is the best bang for the buck I've heard - Scrith 12:22:11 02/15/07 (3)

Re: E-Mu 1212M is the best bang for the buck I've heard - Todd Krieger 21:10:54 02/18/07 (0)

Re: E-Mu 1212M is the best bang for the buck I've heard - Christine Tham 15:30:14 02/15/07 (1)

I don't think you are experienced enough! - fmak 21:51:38 02/18/07 (0)

What mods on the Zhaolu? - Jon L 10:22:49 02/15/07 (3)

Re: What mods on the Zhaolu? - drwkng 18:08:36 02/15/07 (2)

Re: What mods on the Zhaolu? - Jon L 15:15:24 02/16/07 (1)

Re: What mods on the Zhaolu? - drwkng 23:52:32 02/17/07 (0)

Re: Heard the Emu1212 last night - chesebert 15:35:38 02/14/07 (1)

Re: Heard the Emu1212 last night - Frank25 07:18:27 02/15/07 (0)

Balanced inputs? - edward 11:25:16 02/14/07 (1)

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