silentknyght

In 2019, in an effort to find a better sound solution for my then-new Sennheiser HD6xx headphones, I ended up purchasing--and falling in love with--the EVGA Nu Audio internal sound card for my computer. This was after trying an Fiio K3 external unit and being wholly unimpressed with it; if I remember correctly, my headphones were rather quiet even on max volume for that device. Generally, I didn't know what I was doing.

Fast-foward, it's been almost five years, and I'm still using the audio card. Unfortunately, I view it as an unwanted crutch: I'm designing the rest of my PC builds around the need to include it, because I fear going without. For context, despite the lackluster community discussion 4-5 years ago ( https://www.reddit.com/r/audiophile/comments/afhmos/nu_audio_new_soundcard_from_evga/ ), the card really does a much better job than its critics suspected; certainly, it has performed much better than the Fiio K3 which was often recommended instead (at that time). Unfortunately, the card is basically unsupported and, as EVGA is basically out of business, I will eventually need something else.

Though I learn a bit more everyday, I regret that I still don't understand a lot about audiophile nomenclature, so comparing this product to others makes me go cross-eyed. These are the specs for this card that I was able to scrape from the site (https://www.evga.com/articles/archive/01281/evga-nu-audio/default.asp ):

Audio DSP:
XMOS xCORE-200
Native DSD Support (up to x256)

Output Configuration:
2 Channel (Analog)
5.1 Channel (Digital via S/PDIF)

Dynamic Range (DNR) / Signal-to-Noise (SNR):
123dB (Stereo Playback)

Playback Format:
Up to 384kHz, 32bit (Stereo)
Up to 192kHz, 24bit (Optical)

Headphone Amp:
16-600ohm (Independent Analog Control)

Maximum Voltage:
8Vrms

Maximum Current:
250mA

I/O:
Stereo Out (RCA L/R)
Headphone Out (6.3mm)
Line-In (3.5mm)
Mic-In (3.5mm)
Optical Out (TOSLINK Passthrough)
Front Panel Header

Premium Components:
DAC - AKM AK4493
ADC - AKM AK5572
OP-AMP (Headphone) - ADI OP275
OP-AMP (Line Out) - ADI AD8056
Capacitors - WIMA, Audio Note(UK), Nichicon
Power Regulators - Texas Instruments TPS7A47/TPS7A33 ultralow-noise power solution

Switchable OP-AMPs:
Headphone, Line out

Which of these specs is important to ensure that I have similar performance for my headphones, with whatever replacement product I choose? Are there any specs I can safely ignore? If you need another product example, I was recently looking at the Fiio K7, as it's about $200 (about what I paid for the EVGA card 4-5 years ago).

P.S. Right now, I use the provided RCA to 3.5mm adapter (https://images.evga.com/products/gallery/712-P1-AN01-KR_XL_2.jpg) to connect to a pair of powered Klipsch desktop speakers. I don't use external speakers much anymore, but I'd like to maintain this versatility. I would plan on doing something similar, unless there's a better way?

I suppose it could be a random hardware failure, but I literally touched nothing not listed in the iFixit SSD guide; the Start button itself (the three lines) isn't anywhere near there!

I've already tried moving back and forth in the beta & stable software channels to no effect.

Edit: it's technically the "menu" button, but I think it gets often confused with the button labeled with the word "Steam"

Source: personal testing on two phones.

I prefer wired IEMs, and have been using a Truthear Shio USB DAC with pleasure on my P7 for much of this year. Plugging it into my P8p or my wife's p8 results in LOUD static in the left channel only, and virtually nothing else. Maybe hints of what's actually supposed to be playing, but I'm not tough enough to suffer a listen.

It doesn't appear to be a well-publicized problem. I found one meagre reddit post where someone with a similar, Tanchjim Space USB DAC had what appears to be the same thing. Also, one other on Crinacle's discord.

I have a simple dongle/adapter, with a cx31993 chipset in it. It seems to work fine with the P8p; no static. I will conduct more testing with cheap dongles, but I have only the one expensive one (the Shio). Your testing and comments are welcome.

TLDR: I feel like I wasted a day of my life over the Hue terms and conditions change, and am not convinced that the terms & conditions change panic was worth my time (...and I still "lost", as I gave in to it). Perhaps you can commiserate with my frustration, or if you're feeling charitable, tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Long story: Like many of you, I own & operate about a dozen Hue light bulbs, and for many years. Unlike many of you, I am completely new to home assistant; I've never used it before. But, reading about the terms & conditions change for Philips Hue, I bought into the hyperbole, and decided I would do something about it.

I bought a Sonoff "P" zigbee dongle, and plugged it into my Unraid server. I set up Home Assistant (first in Docker, then in VM). I tried zigbee2mqtt and/or ZHA back-and-forth several times.

This stuff is NOT user-friendly. Home Assistant wasn't a terrible experience; it is confusing, but it found & behaved well with most of the stuff in my house... except for those damn light bulbs. Perhaps I'm merely mediocre for this community, but I am easily the most technically savvy person I know in real life, and this was an exercise in frustration just for a dozen light bulbs.

Neither z2m nor zha was ever as good as the Philips hub. Maybe it was my dongle, or the extension cable, or a myriad of other variables I never had to consider with the Philips hub. ZHA was much easier to setup, but it was SLOW, requiring 4 full seconds to change a bulb 10 feet away, and that was when it worked. z2m never found all my bulbs, though its setup was so user-unfriendly it's possible I was doing something wrong. I don't think I ever got either system fully set up how I wanted it to be, and I just gave up after hours and hours of frustration. Because my wife expects this stuff to "just work," I reluctantly went back to the Hue hub and... I had everything reconnected and restored in under an hour. And then, I laughed till I cried--setting up the Philips Hub in home assistant took 10 seconds.

There's probably a better community than this for my frustration--as it's not with HA but rather the light bulbs--but perhaps this community can tell me what I'm doing wrong. The idea of a fancy dongle to control my light bulbs without giving in to "the man" is still tempting, but it really needs to just work.

It seems like microfiber materials should be a major contributor to micro plastics, especially with all the laundering of the microfiber cloths and clothes.

P.s. Reddit mods deleted this because it "wasn't related to the Steam Deck.". This is my first post on Lemmy. Please be nice and at least let this languish in obscurity rather than remove it outright and cut off any hope of discussion. :(

I'm sharing this because I couldn't neatly carry everything I wanted or needed to carry in the stock case, with the stock power adapter, and I think I got lucky with some accessory tetris from which others might benefit. I am pretty happy with my Steam Deck carrying case setup, but it's not 100% perfect: the battery is just a bit too big, and the deckmate clip or adhesive square don't help, but (almost) everything I want fits safely, if a bit snugly. I'm notably missing some earbuds.

I'm also sharing this because I'd like to know what your Steam Deck gear bag or carrying case setup looks like. Perhaps you also got lucky with your accessory purchases such that everything fits perfectly? If so, please share!

Pics:

https://imgur.com/a/o76XGRP

Gear List, FYI:

Case: Annapro (Toennesen?) case https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BKPNFPC8/

Battery: Baseus 65W https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08JV4W4NY/ Note: this one looks wider & slimmer than mine, but the dimensions listed on the page match mine.

Charger: Anker 65W Nano II https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09C5RG6KV/

Cable: Whatever came with the baseus charger

Deckmate kickstand bundle: https://deckmate.me/products/