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[Metalman]

Hello all, I am looking to upgrade my stock soundcard built into the motherboard on my XP equipped machine to a high performance stand alone card like the esi juli@, however i read on another post that it supposedly will not output in WASAPI, which i though is the best for audio, so i was thinking about the new Dragonfly USB dac, even though it is about hundred dollars more, and it would be really plug-n-play, but would the audio be going thru my (junk) sound card to the dragonfly? Or could i bypass it with my MC17? Any pros, cons, suggestions would be appreciated. Currently my audio is output from the stock 3/16 lime green connector on the motherboard to a high performance Mapleshade Purist Mini-To-RCA Adapter, into Monster cable 500 Studio-link RCA-1/4 cables into my Mackie monitors. thanks!!

[Listener]

Hello all, I am looking to upgrade my stock soundcard built into the motherboard on my XP equipped machine to a high performance stand alone card like the esi juli@, however i read on another post that it supposedly will not output in WASAPI, which i though is the best for audio,

WASAPI is not available on Win XP.  The Juli@ card comes with ASIO drivers that allow MC to send a bit perfect stream to the card.

Nothing wrong with ASIO for audio output if the driver is well written.

I've used a Juli@ card for about 5 years with MC on a Win XP MusicPC.  I'll continue to use that card when I move to a new MusicPC running Win 7.  However, when I buy a new DAC, it will probably be a USB DAC.

> so i was thinking about the new Dragonfly USB dac, even though it is about hundred dollars more,

In general, the Dragonly DAC might produce somewhat better sound than analog output from the Juli@ card.  Opinions differ on the significance of the difference.  You need to calibrate your own preferences.

USB audio is a better fit with Vista or Win 7 than it is with Win XP.  The DragonFly DAC relies on the USB audio drivers provided in Windows and Audioquest doesn't provide an ASIO driver.  KernelStreaming or ASIO4All are less desirable alternatives.

> but would the audio be going thru my (junk) sound card to the dragonfly?
> Or could i bypass it with my MC17? Any pros, cons, suggestions would be appreciated.

When you select the Dragonfly or the Juli@ card for output in MC, audio does not go through your soundcard.

> Currently my audio is output from the stock 3/16 lime green connector on the motherboard to a high performance Mapleshade Purist Mini-To-RCA Adapter, into Monster cable 500 Studio-link RCA-1/4 cables into my Mackie monitors.

Starting with onboard audio is a hood idea until you understand your choices and have calibrated your preferences.

Just how good or bad onboard audio is depends on the PC.  Audio output from a recent desktop motherboard can be pretty decent.

Bill

[Metalman]

Thanks Bill, that's just the answers i was looking for!! I guess the Julia is the way for me to go, but i am having a hard time finding a place to source it from, the place i usually go does not stock it anymore, and their website really does not list any normal vendors.

[pcstockton]

I have no experience with the other, but I used the Juli@ for years without any issues.  ASIO is your way.

I originally bought it as it was one of the few cards that supported auto sample rate switching.

-Patrick

[Listener]

Thanks Bill, that's just the answers i was looking for!! I guess the Julia is the way for me to go, but i am having a hard time finding a place to source it from, the place i usually go does not stock it anymore, and their website really does not list any normal vendors.

I have purchased audio gear from Florida Music Company.  They went out of their way to get me a DAC at their advertised price after the US distributor nearly doubled the price.

http://www.floridamusicco.com/proddetail~prod~juli.htm

The Juli@ XTE PCIe card has a PCIe interface rather than the PCI interface the plain Juli@ uses.
http://www.floridamusicco.com/proddetail~prod~julixte.htm

Amazon has it too.
http://www.amazon.com/ESI-Juli-Interface-Swappable-Socket/dp/B000N97TY8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345742987&sr=8-1&keywords=ESI+Juli%40

---
Two things to be aware of about the Juli@ card ASIO drivers:

1. You should not use the ASIO interface from more than one program at a time.  (The driver is not multi-client.)

2. The ASIO driver does not recover properly after the PC awakes from a sleep state.  It is pretty common in the pro audio world to turn off sleep / hibernate functions in a PC used for DAW work.

---
I used analog outputs from the Juli@ for a long time and now I use the COAX and Toslink (optical) SPDIF outputs to external DACs.

Bill

[Metalman]

OK, Bill, so now you actually use the digital outs from the Julia to feed an outboard DAC???  Do you consider this a step up in sound?  Most people (lately) seem to prefer USB feeds to their DAC, so i am assuming you have an XP machine too? I am still confused how audio from a USB port (a digital output) can have the same or better quality sound than from digital outputs on a dedicated sound card. Unless, as you wrote they are using USB with a WIN7 or above PC.

The Juli@ XTE PCIe card has a PCIe interface rather than the PCI interface the plain Juli@ uses.

I saw this new XTE version, but i do not know what are the differences in interface's.

[Listener]

so i am assuming you have an XP machine too?

I wrote two detailed posts in answer to your questions.  Please read them before asking questions that have already been answered.

> OK, Bill, so now you actually use the digital outs from the Julia to feed an outboard DAC??? 

See above.

> Do you consider this a step up in sound? 

Maybe.  Practical considerations about ground loops, the layout of my rooms and cost played a role too.

> Most people (lately) seem to prefer USB feeds to their DAC,

Opinions vary.  There are practical considerations that may favor USB or SPDIF connections.  I use both kinds. I described what I used in the past, what I use now and what I expect to buy next.  Part of my current system:



>  I am still confused how audio from a USB port (a digital output) can have the same or better quality sound than from digital
> outputs on a dedicated sound card. Unless, as you wrote they are using USB with a WIN7 or above PC.

Kernel streaming for a USB DAC may or may not work with a particular output device.  (Switching sample rates may be a problem even if the device works at 16/44.1.)  If it works, USB under XP may be quite satisfactory.  With some constraints on setup, even DirectSound can be OK on an XP PC.

>> The Juli@ XTE PCIe card has a PCIe interface rather than the PCI interface the plain Juli@ uses.

> I saw this new XTE version, but i do not know what are the differences in interface's.

My guess is that the PCIe version uses the same drivers as the PCI card.

Bill

[Metalman]

Thanks Bill for all your input!! You helped a lot 

[erniemit]

A question for the Juli@ experts as I attempt to improve the system I am using.   I am using the ADC in my NAD phono preamp to send ripped LPs via USB digital to my Windows 7 PC.  Both the NAD ADC and the USB microphone driver is 16 bit x 48kHz.  I considered changing out the phono preamp to a Furutech, which has 24 bit x 96 kHz ability, but the PC driver is still limited to 16 bit due to the USB microphone driver in the PC.   I use Vinyl Studio to rip the LPs, and that can record my FLAC files at either 16 bit or 24 bit, so that's not a bottleneck.    I use WinAmp Pro to play the FLAC digital media I get from either ripping or buying from HDTracks.   Finally, I have a X-Fi Audio extreme sound card to output audio on optical digital at 24b x 96K to a DAC Magic.   That same sound card has an optical input that supports higher resolution, but how would you connect to that input with a device that is universally (from what I can tell) USB.  (USB turntables and phono preamps.)?

So, my two big questions are:
1.  Would the Juli@ solve my problems and get me to a place where all the parts in the chain support 24b x 96k?   
2.  Does the Juli@ with Cubase support FLAC encoding?  I noticed that after upgrading it would support 24b x 96, but the docs do not say what format it stores music in.  (Could be WMA or ALAC?)