Which Sound Card Should I Get?

MrJak · Feb 9, 2014

I'm looking at choosing between two different sound cards on Newegg, both being refurbished.
My choices are the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme or the Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D

Since it's so close, price isn't a concern between the two, but is one better than the other?
I will be using this for both Music and gaming. My primary concern being gaming/chat, so if one has sound background noise cancelation (or better) that one is better to me.

(I'd also consider the Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D Fatal1ty Professional but it's sold out and I can't afford to spend much.)

Also, felt like pointing out that I'm upgrading from a sb0220.

MrJak · Feb 9, 2014

I already decided to get the Recon3D

bob hays · Feb 10, 2014

are you sure you even need a soundcard?

MrJak · Feb 10, 2014

bob hays :

Yes, only because my motherboard, the 790i, has low quality on-board audio, one problem being the front panel makes buzzing noise in the headset and microphone. I'm getting this as a relatively cheap fix for that, while providing higher quality, and using a PCI-E slot, instead of a PCI. It'll also free up the USB port I'm using for a plug-n-play headphone jack that has even worse quality.

and I'd prefer not to use a USB DAC as of now, especially since they tend to be more expensive.

bob hays · Feb 10, 2014

ok that makes sense. I just asked because many modern motherboards have decent on board sound so usually theres no reason to get a soundcard

MrJak · Feb 10, 2014

bob hays :

Yeah, I would question the need too if that were the case. Thanks for checking.

gamerk316 · Feb 12, 2014

Got here too late, because I'd recommend neither. Both are obsolete at this stage. The Soundblaster Z is a far superior card to the Recon3D lineup.

MrJak · Feb 12, 2014

gamerk316 :

I know it is, and I wish I could afford it. Fairly strict budget here.

MrJak · Feb 28, 2014

I got it, and it does one thing well: chat, but other than that, I can't configure it the way I want, but other than not being able to use the front panel (headset) and rear panel (speakers) at the same time, it works well-enough. I'll be looking into getting a converter for the digital audio cable, so that I may be able to use both that way. I'll update when I can try that out.

bob hays · Feb 28, 2014

I wish it would allow you to do that. I could do it with one of the computers I had because the drivers allowed me to combine the front and rear so it treated both as a single output. Other than that you can just get a splitter cable and connect both.

MrJak · Mar 1, 2014

bob hays :

Yeah, but I'd prefer separate streams. Luckily, having a second Sound card lets me do this, without losing too much (percieved) quality.

bob hays · Mar 2, 2014

I never thought of having two soundcards, maybe you can use the onboard at the same time as the discrete one?

MrJak · Mar 2, 2014

bob hays :

Yes, but I've already found out that the onboard sound for this motherboard is sub-par. I can use both, but I prefer the Sb0220 for my speakers than some old Realtek, that is audibly worse than my last PC, which definitely had a worse motherboard, even if they both are LGA-775.

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Which Sound Card Should I Get?

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