External Soundcard when you have MIXER and EQUALIZER (physical ones)?

[Mitizaro]

Ok say we have a gym. Say we have a nice speaker setup. Those speakers connect with a big ass Mixer+Equalizer (physical ones) to power em up.
Now the input is NOT a cd changer or something like that. The input will be a PC! A budget gaming class PC (sorta 500$, AMD six core, etc.)! (not some high end 2000$ shit)
Now we shall be using SPOTIFY because surprisingly the VORBIS quality is very nice (i've had that setup in another gym already once), the music is free and the volume is CONSISTENT. Our country's legal regulations for music royalties do NOT care for the source, we are charged in a different way than in the USA (i'm not 100% sure how you do it over there) but basically i can play from whatever source i want after i get certified.

My question is -- will we gain something by using EXTERNAL SOUND CARD after the PC and BEFORE the Mixer+Equalizer  (like Xonar U7) ? What i'm looking for is to further refine the source of the sound by having EXTERNAL sound card instead of internal one, and having a good one. I DO KNOW that we're not putting lossless music, yes... but LAST time i had similar setup with exactly U7 and i was very pleased.
However also i noted some small lag? when going through the external card... maybe because of USB connection to the PC?

[anothertom]

Technically, yes you would get slightly better audio, but it's really not worth it once you move from a very controlled listening area (i.e. headphones or a properly set up HiFi) into a highly uncontrolled, large room, especially if this is a sports hall type gym with large flat reflective surfaces. And if you're using a streaming service then on-board audio will do you fine.

 

Also if you're buying a computer specifically for this purpose then you can get away with a much less powerful (and expensive) option. Any small laptop with an i3 should be able to cope with streaming perfectly well.

 

In summary, there's no need for an external soundcard, and you don't need to spend $500 on a computer just to play audio.

[Mitizaro]

Yeah i had done the following setup for our previous gym:
The building was METAL construction so it is one of the worst accoustinc-wise einviourments.

We had THE CHEAPEST laptop with quad core (200$) and a very powerful and sorta high-class setup. We're not talking about a fucking PC-grade 5W speakers, but full blown high-end YAMAHA setup with one of their highest level stage mixers/Control cubes YAMAHA provides.
HOWEVER we used external sound card ASUS XONAR U7 external sound card and the difference WAS VERY BIG! I loved it.

I AGREE that the PC needs not be any powerful at all for MUSIC, however we will get a little better computer because it will be used for Light video-editing, photo editing, social media maintaince and of course clients Data Base program along with security software.

My point was DOES THE external sound card AFFECT the result in terms "principaly speaking" (which i'm almost sure it does) OR does the MIXER itself play the role of external sound card taking the "music" outside the PC (like the external card will do) and thus the external sound card placed before him actually making things WORSE? Because i'm not familiar with the exact "inner working" of the latter one.
 

[anothertom]

7 minutes ago, Mitizaro said:

My point was DOES THE external sound card AFFECT in terms of... "principle" (which i'm almost sure it does) OR does the MIXER itself play the role of external sound card taking the "music" outside the PC (like the external card will do)? Because i'm not familiar with the exact "inner working" of the latter one.
 

19 minutes ago, anothertom said:

Technically, yes you would get slightly better audio.

Depending on what exact mixer you're using it may have usb playback ability, but it's unlikely. The soundcard would be decoding the audio to an analog signal.

 

9 minutes ago, Mitizaro said:

I AGREE that the PC needs not be any powerful at all for MUSIC, however we will get a little better computer because it will be used for Light video-editing, photo editing, social media maintaince and of course clients Data Base program along with security software.

I'm not an expert, but it's usually not a good idea to have everything in one place, running on a single system.

 

I mean, come on, it's a gym, not a live music venue, who is really going to be paying attention to the small details of the music. You won't be using a point source system, and any quality you did have will be lost through room acoustics and cancellations. I'd be looking for something really cheap just to play music, separately from any systems used for software or databases.

[Mitizaro]

1 minute ago, anothertom said:

Depending on what exact mixer you're using it may have usb playback ability, but it's unlikely. The soundcard would be decoding the audio to an analog signal.

 

I'm not an expert, but it's usually not a good idea to have everything in one place, running on a single system.

 

I mean, come on, it's a gym, not a live music venue, who is really going to be paying attention to the small details of the music. You won't be using a point source system, and any quality you did have will be lost through room acoustics and cancellations. I'd be looking for something really cheap just to play music, separately from any systems used for software or databases.

I get your idea and it certainy has its merit.
I would politely need to disagree though -- Now thats MY opinion on it: nothing kills the atmosphere more than a fucked up audio system inside a gym. ME PERSONALLY i dont ever hear the music at all! I'm deeply concetrated and dont care if i'm listening to my faourite Disturbed, or some st00pid Justin beiber or valz, or house, or no music at all. I literally DONT listen to music anymore.
BUT for the avarage joe, a well built setup with decent bass (not too much, we dont need more headache) and clarity will be very nice.
I've always hated when the gym goes with those small fucked-up speakers and uses 4 per wall, instead of 1 or 2 big ass quality stuff which CAN make the whole crowd EXPLODE in the peak hours (trust me, we've done that very well!).

Also the 80$ for ASUS U7 is not that much of a price anyway. Now there is the X7 from CREATIVE, which is about 300$... that beast is overkill and i dont think we will ever see the difference except in the pocket in this scenario!


So the sound-card makes the signal from audio to analog... i see.

How about lag? Is there such thing, or was i imagining it? Doesn't the usb introduce some lag in the system?
 

[anothertom]

1 minute ago, Mitizaro said:

I get your idea and it certainy has its merit.
I would politely need to disagree though -- Now thats MY opinion on it: nothing kills the atmosphere more than a fucked up audio system inside a gym. ME PERSONALLY i dont ever hear the music at all! I'm deeply concetrated and dont care if i'm listening to my faourite Disturbed, or some st00pid Justin beiber or valz, or house, or no music at all. I literally DONT listen to music anymore.
BUT for the avarage joe, a well built setup with decent bass (not too much, we dont need more headache) and clarity will be very nice.
I've always hated when the gym goes with those small fucked-up speakers and uses 4 per wall, instead of 1 or 2 big ass quality stuff which CAN make the whole crowd EXPLODE in the peak hours (trust me, we've done that very well!).

Also the 80$ for ASUS U7 is not that much of a price anyway. Now there is the X7 from CREATIVE, which is about 300$... that beast is overkill and i dont think we will ever see the difference except in the pocket in this scenario!


So the sound-card makes the signal from audio to analog... i see.

How about lag? Is there such thing, or was i imagining it? Doesn't the usb introduce some lag in the system?
 

If there really was a large difference from the  on-board audio then i suspect that something was wrong.

 

The Asus U7 is a 7.1 decoder, which is overkill if you're only looking for a stereo output. have a look at the Fiio E10k or the audioquest draonfly for a simple stereo output.

 

There will be some delay due to the usb interface, but there isn't much you can do about it.

[Mitizaro]

2 minutes ago, anothertom said:

If there really was a large difference from the  on-board audio then i suspect that something was wrong.

 

The Asus U7 is a 7.1 decoder, which is overkill if you're only looking for a stereo output. have a look at the Fiio E10k or the audioquest draonfly for a simple stereo output.

 

There will be some delay due to the usb interface, but there isn't much you can do about it.

Are you saying that the Fiio E10K is BETTER as a quality, or just cheaper? Because the U7 is NOT too expensive for us.

[anothertom]

1 minute ago, Mitizaro said:

Are you saying that the Fiio E10K is BETTER as a quality, or just cheaper? Because the U7 is NOT too expensive for us.

Either would be fine, but you won't be using the full functionality of the U7. buy whichever is cheaper.

 

[Mitizaro]

2 minutes ago, anothertom said:

Either would be fine, but you won't be using the full functionality of the U7. buy whichever is cheaper.

 

Yeah, the U7 would actually be same price or even cheaper, because its available in my country, wheres those two i have to dig from amazon or smth  and with shipping and taxes would actually be more.

I see they launched a U5 now. I guess U5 vs U7 wont have any difference for us? The price difference is totaly negectable for business... its more for the cheap-ass home user oriented lowering (like 15$ less)

[anothertom]

18 minutes ago, Mitizaro said:

I guess U5 vs U7 wont have any difference for us?

I doubt they use different components as they're from the same product line.

[Ahoy Hoy]

Mini Jack to stereo XLR cables.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/3-5mm-Stereo-Audio-Signal-Cable/dp/B01BYGQ6CE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487026744&sr=8-1&keywords=mini+jack+to+stereo+xlr

[Mitizaro]

BTW in the Price Class of Asus Xonar U7 -- is that the best choice? I certainly believe it is just a tad better than Creative's atlernative, but there are other companies like Schiit and etc.

[Ahoy Hoy]

28 minutes ago, Mitizaro said:

BTW in the Price Class of Asus Xonar U7 -- is that the best choice? I certainly believe it is just a tad better than Creative's atlernative, but there are other companies like Schiit and etc.

If your built in audio is working well then it is seriously not worth buying a sound card as it wont improve anything just get a cable adapter or a DI box.

[Mitizaro]

On 15.02.2017 г. at 4:28 PM, Ahoy Hoy said:

If your built in audio is working well then it is seriously not worth buying a sound card as it wont improve anything just get a cable adapter or a DI box.

It is not. I have tested such setup with bult-in soundcard, and theres a big difference as i said in my earlier posts.
BUT that goes for LOW level PCs... if a high-end gaming PC or laptop was to be taken for the job, maybe it would be different. But then again, this would make even less sense financially given that i dont need such beast.


 

[Ahoy Hoy]

23 hours ago, Mitizaro said:

It is not. I have tested such setup with bult-in soundcard, and theres a big difference as i said in my earlier posts.
BUT that goes for LOW level PCs... if a high-end gaming PC or laptop was to be taken for the job, maybe it would be different. But then again, this would make even less sense financially given that i dont need such beast.


 

Most modern low end motherboards have decent audio. If its modern it be fine