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New to audio/sound cards, what am I looking for?

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  • Audio
  • Graphics Cards
  • Components
  • Sound Cards
Last response: in Components
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April 8, 2014 9:21:54 PM

So as the title says I'm brand new to sound cards. I was wondering what am I looking for when looking at sound cards? Like in graphics cards you look at clock and number of cores and all that stuff. Also, what is a good price range for a 7.1 card (7.1 means like 7.1 surround sound capable right?) ? AND finally, I'm looking to get a home theater system going in my home office coming form the computer, on newegg it seems that it's showing me theatre systems for TVs. Unless of course that'll work on computers as well.

More about : audio sound cards

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a b U Graphics card
April 8, 2014 9:31:27 PM

There are some quite cheap sound cards that will do 7.1 i have one that i got for bout 40$ and it runs my tiamat 7.1 well. I would steer clear from creative soundblaster cards due to really bad customer support and virtually no driver updates. But Asus are quite good. The card i use is http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-sound-card-xonardsx

For a home theatre system you computer will be able to output to your amp/hub. All your speakers will connect to this and there will be multiple inputs where virtually any incoming sound will be able to play through the speakers.

If you really wanted to get into the nitty gritty you can look at what capacitors the card uses or what op-amp is on the board. What sound chip is on it. Tbh it doesn't really matter that much since everyones ears are different. The best thing to do if possible is going to the shop and listening to each audio output by each card and comparing them for yourself.
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a b U Graphics card
April 8, 2014 9:34:39 PM

Krishna Moorthy said:
There are some quite cheap sound cards that will do 7.1 i have one that i got for bout 40$ and it runs my tiamat 7.1 well. I would steer clear from creative soundblaster cards due to really bad customer support and virtually no driver updates. But Asus are quite good. The card i use is http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-sound-card-xonardsx

For a home theatre system you computer will be able to output to your amp/hub. All your speakers will connect to this and there will be multiple inputs where virtually any incoming sound will be able to play through the speakers.

If you really wanted to get into the nitty gritty you can look at what capacitors the card uses or what op-amp is on the board. What sound chip is on it. Tbh it doesn't really matter that much since everyones ears are different. The best thing to do if possible is going to the shop and listening to each audio output by each card and comparing them for yourself.


Yep, that Asus Xonar DSX is a very good sound card, especially for the price.
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a b U Graphics card
April 8, 2014 9:38:18 PM

Rationale said:
Krishna Moorthy said:
There are some quite cheap sound cards that will do 7.1 i have one that i got for bout 40$ and it runs my tiamat 7.1 well. I would steer clear from creative soundblaster cards due to really bad customer support and virtually no driver updates. But Asus are quite good. The card i use is http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-sound-card-xonardsx

For a home theatre system you computer will be able to output to your amp/hub. All your speakers will connect to this and there will be multiple inputs where virtually any incoming sound will be able to play through the speakers.

If you really wanted to get into the nitty gritty you can look at what capacitors the card uses or what op-amp is on the board. What sound chip is on it. Tbh it doesn't really matter that much since everyones ears are different. The best thing to do if possible is going to the shop and listening to each audio output by each card and comparing them for yourself.


Yep, that Asus Xonar DSX is a very good sound card, especially for the price.


I have it and it is amazing i would have payed double the price for what i got :3
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April 8, 2014 9:41:50 PM

One of my friends said that I should get a card with the optical audio (toslink) output, what exactly does that do?
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a b U Graphics card
April 8, 2014 9:44:05 PM

LiquidAurum said:
One of my friends said that I should get a card with the optical audio (toslink) output, what exactly does that do?


If your amp has an optical input then it is warranted. The sound quality transfer is better over long distances. It is also em shielded so you wont get electrical interference.

But the cables are quite expensive
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a b U Graphics card
April 8, 2014 9:45:03 PM

LiquidAurum said:
One of my friends said that I should get a card with the optical audio (toslink) output, what exactly does that do?


If your home theater doesn't support digital input, it would be a way to still connect. Other than that I'm not sure.
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April 8, 2014 9:51:38 PM

So as far as most home theatre systems go, I won't need an optical cable?
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a b U Graphics card
April 8, 2014 9:53:54 PM

LiquidAurum said:
So as far as most home theatre systems go, I won't need an optical cable?


It depends on your amp and what inputs it takes. But any good amp will take multiple inputs so you shouldn't need to splash out on a super expensive sound card.
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April 8, 2014 10:34:36 PM

So the sound card you suggested (the ASUS DSX), that will work fairly well with most AMPs?
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a b U Graphics card
April 9, 2014 5:28:04 PM

LiquidAurum said:
So the sound card you suggested (the ASUS DSX), that will work fairly well with most AMPs?


Yep has 6 3.5 jacks and a spdif output jack as well plenty of choice.
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