Best bang for the buck sound card?

PCNoobXCVII · Mar 1, 2017

I'm wanting to improve the quality of my microphone since I just got a fairly decent one (ModMic 5, I know it's not the best). The issue is that with my onboard sound card it sounds just like my 4 year old TurtleBeach headset.

I'm on a bit of a budget since I'm in college so the max I can spend is like 60$ - 70$. That being said, the cheaper the better (so long as it's still good).

Also, if you have something that would improve the mic quality more than a dedicated sound card then please suggest it.

Garilia · Mar 1, 2017

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4RE4XA9790

noidea_77 · Mar 1, 2017

I don't think, the Realtek® ALC892 on your mobo is the problem. If the quality is bad, moving power cabels in the case away from the sound chip and plugging the mic in the back, not front panel may help.

PCNoobXCVII · Mar 1, 2017

noidea_77 :

It's not that the audio quality is bad, it's just not as good as I expected or have heard in Youtube videos showing the sound quality of the mic.
I don't know exactly where the sound chip is on the motherboard, but I'm pretty sure that no power cables are near it (and wouldn't that cause audible interference if it were the issue? There's none of that). Also, I am already plugged into the rear audio panel.

Garilia · Mar 1, 2017

I repeat

PCNoobXCVII · Mar 1, 2017

Garilia :

I know, have some patience. I'm waiting to see if anyone else suggests something that may be better (mostly because I don't want to have to deal with shipping from Asia).

Edit: I just realized that the card you suggested is like 13 years old... I have a sneaking suspicion that my onboard may be on par if not better than that.

Garilia · Mar 1, 2017

PCNoobXCVII :

It's a great card for a reason. It would have been helpful to know you were in Asia in the first post.

PCNoobXCVII · Mar 1, 2017

Garilia :

PCNoobXCVII :

It's a great card for a reason. It would have been helpful to know you were in Asia in the first post.

I'm not, If you look on newegg the card ships from Asia.

noidea_77 · Mar 2, 2017

PCNoobXCVII :

And it's not because of the processing / compression / recoding? Quality is even bad, if you record plain uncomressed wav?

Garilia · Mar 2, 2017

PCNoobXCVII :

What I saw when looking at that page was free shipping available. When I read the fine print about Corn Electronics, they mention that they have warehouses in the USA and China, but Newegg puts Ships from China. My wife gets stuff from China, Thailand, and Malaysia quite frequently. Shipping cost is miniscule, shipping time is usually the issue. But she eventually gets everything she's ordered.

Meanwhile, low end discrete sound cards are fading away, because the onboard audio on mobo's has gotten so good. You seem to have audiophile tendencies, and you most likely will not be pleased with any sound cards in your budget.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132053

PCNoobXCVII · Mar 3, 2017

Garilia :

PCNoobXCVII :

What I saw when looking at that page was free shipping available. When I read the fine print about Corn Electronics, they mention that they have warehouses in the USA and China, but Newegg puts Ships from China. My wife gets stuff from China, Thailand, and Malaysia quite frequently. Shipping cost is miniscule, shipping time is usually the issue. But she eventually gets everything she's ordered.

Meanwhile, low end discrete sound cards are fading away, because the onboard audio on mobo's has gotten so good. You seem to have audiophile tendencies, and you most likely will not be pleased with any sound cards in your budget.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132053

You are completely correct on most accounts. It is just the shipping that I don't care to deal with. Shipping from Asia is usually cheap but it takes like a month for it to arrive and I hate waiting so long.
As for the audiophile tendencies, I wouldn't call myself an audiophile, I don't really care about the sound I hear, but I do want the mic I spent 70$ on to sound better than a 4 year old headset that was 60$ total.

PCNoobXCVII · Mar 3, 2017

noidea_77 :

PCNoobXCVII :

And it's not because of the processing / compression / recoding? Quality is even bad, if you record plain uncomressed wav?

I haven't tried that, but I would assume that the difference in sound quality would at least be somewhat present over discord and such. Am I wrong to assume that?

noidea_77 · Mar 3, 2017

PCNoobXCVII :

Discord says: Discord is built with the latest tech using a modern jitter buffer, automatic gain control, noise suppression, echo cancellation, system attenuation on Windows and more. I guess the result of this processing at the end doesn't reflect the mic quality in any way. Try to record something with Audacity, export the sound file in different formats and see if and how the quality changes.

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Best bang for the buck sound card?

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