What software will let me Improve/alter cd/mp3 audio?

[Lizard_King24]

What can I buy to make audio sound better on my pc? I already have a good sound card ( Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer) and sweet headphones (sony 50mm extra bass).... My other specs are: Windows Vista -32 Bit, AMD Phenom 9600 2.3 (quad-core), Nvidia Geforce 8800GT, 4 GB DDR2 Dual-Channel Ram.

 

[sandyk]

Lizard_King24

 

You are unlikely to be able to make substantial improvements with any software, especially in the case of MP3 files, where you have discarded much of what helps make a musical track sound it's best.

A good USB DAC, or a good SPDIF DAC using your SPDIF output from the X-FI card is capable of far better results.

There are plenty of suitable DACs mentioned in other threads here.

SandyK

 

[boleary]

http://www.phasure.com/index.php

 

[sandyk]

boleary

My comments were based on the fact that the soundcard mentioned is classed as entry level,and available for as low as US$90 (unless I checked out the wrong card !) I am going by my own experience with an X-Fi Extreme Music, where the SQ vastly improved when using a high quality DAC via SPDIF, in comparison with Analogue Out.

However, replacing the front channel 's generic dual I.C. with a more upmarket type did lift the performance from Analogue Out quite noticeably.

I agree though, that Peter St's fine software would make a very worthwhile improvement , although Creative Media Source Player, when using Asio, is much better than many realise. Personally, I prefer it over the often raved over Foobar.

When I migrate to to the soon to be released Windows 7, there is a very good chance that I will also be paying a visit to the link you gave. A friend of mine uses XXHE, and is very happy with it.

 

SandyK