Hi all. About 9 or 10 years ago when I worked in a local computer repair shop, I happened across an ad for an internal PCI sound card that had a 12AX7 tube onboard, and drew power from the power supply pigtails, like some higher end video accelerators. It was made by a chinese company, I forget who. It looked like it waqs designed to be marketed to audiophiles who swear by tubes, but it didn't look like it was really thought out... that was my impression anyway.
I was wondering if anybody has seen anything like that, and if so, were they worth the money? I came up with about a dozen heat-related issues that could arise from this card, and a dozen more likely RFI problems, but I moved away from computer-based sound as back then, the technology just wasn't there yet, so I never really followed up on any of it. From what I've been reading on here, a lot has changed in the last 5 or 6 years as far as high-end sound cards and chipsets and now, I'm interested again.
I was wondering if anybody has seen anything like that, and if so, were they worth the money? I came up with about a dozen heat-related issues that could arise from this card, and a dozen more likely RFI problems, but I moved away from computer-based sound as back then, the technology just wasn't there yet, so I never really followed up on any of it. From what I've been reading on here, a lot has changed in the last 5 or 6 years as far as high-end sound cards and chipsets and now, I'm interested again.
I remember seeing ads for a motherboard not too long ago that had a tube or tubes for onboard audio. I think it was aimed as much towards modders who want something different as for audiophiles.
I think the place to put the tube is after an outboard DAC, either USB with external power or S/PDIF (or I2S or ?) from an internal sound card.
I think the place to put the tube is after an outboard DAC, either USB with external power or S/PDIF (or I2S or ?) from an internal sound card.
You talking about this?
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/aopentube/
YEp, that's it... I think. I thought it was a separate card, but come to think of it, the P4s were starting to hit the market around that time. And, the only thing in english on the whole ad was the AOpen logo, so this has to be it. I remember the huge caps, too. All that effort put into making a board with a tube amp, and they used the worst (IMO) audio chip they possibly could.
Although not a huge fan of AOpen, I still wouldn't mind getting my hands on one just to mess around with.
Although not a huge fan of AOpen, I still wouldn't mind getting my hands on one just to mess around with.
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