What to look for in a sound card?

new_guy120

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Hello. I'm planning on purchasing a new sound card for a friend to install. I have no knowledge about sound cards so I'm hoping someone can help :p
What are some of the key features/specs to look for when buying a sound card? And if possible, why? 8O
 

astrallite

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Questions to as are:


(1) What do I want?
subgroup (a) I just want a no frills surround sound card.

A barebones surround sound card with bitperfect SPDIF optical playback can be had for as low as $20, the Chaintech AV-710.

(b) I really like that marketting jargon. That EAX-stuff and all those surround effects.

Try the Creative X-Fi. The lowest range is $75 roughly. Yar! But you do lose out on bitperfect analog playback; everything gets resampled to 48KHz.

(c) I need a breakout box in the front. For recording and extra connectivity!

Try the Creative X-Fi's larger brothers, with breakout boxes. Around $300ish?

(2) What is my budget?

subgroup (a) I don't know!

Then think hard about it...

(b) I know what it is!

If you need more specific suggestions, be more specific in your needs. The electronics and noise level differences are pretty neglible today for most PCI sound cards. The difference is mostly in specific features, such as Dolby Digital real time encoding, or specific software soundeffects, or bitperfect playback, etc, etc.
 

inuyashafly

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I got the x fi music. I love it to death. I am a audiophile. It makes stuff sound better than the origional mp3 cd etc.

Do you play games?
EAX advanced hd 5.0
while it is a catchy name or whatever here is what it means(as far as I rmember) 128 simultanius sound as apposed to 64 or 32. so just more and more detail in games(so far only in fear BF2 Quake 4 some others probly) that is the big thing. there is also new stuff for programmers mostly but it means you will get more varied effects such as when bullets hit different textures and such.

If you maybe play some games and kinda like music but dont really care.
I say one of the cheaper audigy or just a mobo with onboard surround sound or somthing. Doesn't make much difference. but audighy can do eax advanced hd 4.0 most common onboard and cheap stuff do like eax 2 wich inst really even half as good as 4.0

so I say get the x fi music(or as he stated above if you want the extra bay) get the bigger ones. also the bigger ones have 64mb xram. sound memory, it isn't used much yet but you know whatever, it will be.
 

xChaoSx

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I got the x fi music. I love it to death. I am a audiophile. It makes stuff sound better than the origional mp3 cd etc.

Isnt that a paradox? Audiophile and mp3? Shouldnt you be saying your lossless audio files sound better with your x fi card?
 

halcyon

Splendid
I really want to jump off the X-Fi bandwagon and be more specific and objective. Yet I do appreciate the X-Fi's abilities.

Astrallite is dead-on, if you're just going to listen to music you really don't need to spend upwards of $80 on a X-Fi. If you only do occassional gaming I might not recommend it either.

However, if you're looking for a good card that you'll likely be happy with in 3 or 4 years you might want to select a better card today. I understand that M-Audio makes nice cards. ...and so does Creative. You could get an SB Audigy 4SE for less than $40 or go with an Audigy 2 series and you'd likely be happy.

The X-Fi might be a good choice if you have highly compressed MP3s as it has a DSP feature that may make those sound a lot better you. The X-Fi will undoubtedly give you outstandng performance in games...but @ $100 or more, it should!

Remember, and ask yourself. How long to plan to keep your soundcard before the next upgrade? What kind of quality do you want? What's your budget? For example, if you're an audiophile and $$ is not an object...you can do better than the Audigy or X-Fi lines...given good speakers or headphones.

Personal experience: This past weekend I bought an X-Fi Platinum and Creative iTrigue L3800s. That's $350...to me, that's a lot. ...and I'm trying hard not to like the combo so I can take it back, get my money back and be happy with my old Harmon Kardon SoundSticks.

...but I can't, it sounds too good TO ME...and the speakers likely stink by audiophie standards. ... but the combo is blowing the SoundSticks away...and I honestly thought they would be better than the iTrigue L3800s.

The X-Fi has GOT to be having a lot to do with the perceived quality and thus why I can't take ...that...durned...combo back and save my $$. This is all subjective and perhaps I'm a bit spoiled.

With all that said give it some thought. A good sound card and even descent speakers can go a long way in adding to your enjoyment.
 

thedirtybubble

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Just curious..Im putting together a gaming system with a Asus A8n32 sli deluxe...right now i can get the X-Fi dirt cheap retail...after the $30.00 rebate and a $20.00 credit...it would run me about $66.00...what's kinda scaring me off is all the talk of compatibilty problems with the these two products.....Are you having any problems ???

Is any one out there using the Asus A8n32-sli with the X-Fi card with no problems????

Thanks
 

halcyon

Splendid
You're getting the S939 king of mobos IMHO. Again, just to re-iterate, I think as long as you disable onboard sound on the mobo before even installing windows (and, of course, not installing the onboard sound drivers) you'll be pleased with that king of mobo and your X-Fi.
 

thedirtybubble

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Thanks for the info!!

just curious...is the on board sound on these newer mobos decent to begin with???...Im really a stickler on quality and perfomance in general...but I do not like to waste cash either
 

halcyon

Splendid
I'm not trying to encourage you to waste your money but even a $35 Audigy SE is likely going to lay waste to onboard sound. Here's a couple of reasons why:

1) Most games and such are written with Creative's line of SoundBlasters in mind, so if you want a card that has the best chance of being supported in games, its likely from Creative.

2) Onboard audio chipsets do not typically offer hardware acceleration. So, if you're using the card for gaming, your CPU has to add the games audio mixing/rendering to its other task. Too bad, because those CPU cycles could be used better for other things...like...increasing frame rate.

3) Onboard sound lives quite a bit closer to the other chips and noisemakers on your motherboard...so there's a much higher likelihood that you're gonna hear hissssssssssssssssssss, snaps, crackles, & pops.

Now, I'm not saying that the onboard sound on that super high end Asus A8N SLi Deluxe could never have any use. ...but if sound quality is a priority for you, and you've stated that it is, I'd consider getting an audio board.

SoundBlaster's are not the only choice in quality, by any means! ...only if you're seriously into gaming...then a Creative SoundBlaster of some genre (at least an $30 SB Live!) is where you'd want to head.

This is, of course, just my opinion and the fact that I currently use Bose Companion 3 speakers says you may not want to trust my opinion. Hopefully, others will post as well.
 

thedirtybubble

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I ordered the X-Fi today...I could not pass up the deal I got...considering I already have the Klipsch 5.1 system ...I think it will be a good trio with the mobo

Again....Thanks for all the info