ASus P5b Deluxe Onboard sound > Soundblaster Audigy SE??

[Estrang]

I was reading the specs on my motherboard and realized that the onboard sound ran 24bit/192m sound.

I read the specs on the soundblaster audigy card and as you can see:
FEATURES


Legendary Sound Blaster quality, value and performance.
The Sound Blaster® Audigy® SE is an excellent value upgrade to 7.1 surround sound on the PC. Featuring high quality audio specifications including 24-bit/96kHz recording and playback with 100dB signal to noise ratio and digital output, it's the ideal partner for surround music and movie playback. For realistic gaming, EAX® ADVANCED HD™ 3.0 support delivers acoustic effects and detailed 7.1 3D surround sound in gaming. The included Creative MediaSource™ software is a comprehensive tool for creating MP3s, managing a music collection, adding effects and burning custom CD compilations.

7.1 surround output
24-bit/96kHz audio resolution.
100dB signal to noise ratio.
Comprehensive Creative Media Source software provided.
EAX ADVANCED HD 3.0 support for gaming.
CMSS up-mixes stereo content to 7.1 surround.
Available in America and Europe.

its only 24-bit/96kHz audio resolution, does this mean I'm better off not installing the sound card from my previous pc?

 

[the_stiffmeister]

Not necessarily, you get EAX support on creative cards. Depends if you game a lot.

 

[slim142]

Not necessarily, you get EAX support on creative cards. Depends if you game a lot.

True, but I think that card is a little outdated, if you really want true sound, get an updated card from newegg with EAX 5.0

 

[Estrang]

when i bought the soundblaster audigy it was pretty much a 50/50 upgrade for gaming and music. So I'm building my new computer waiting on my e4300 and didn't know if I should install the sound card or stick with the onboard, its 8.1 supported so I assumed it was decent to begin with, however im only running a 2.1 set up.

Whats the advantage of EAX? is it better to have EAX at 96khz or non eax at 192khz?

 

[slim142]

EAX is a technology which improves sound quality in dvd movies, games and applications. the higher version of eax you have, the better sound you will get.

Now, I think is not if you have eax or not, but how good the card you have is, generally, any sound card bundled will not be as good as any other retail card sold separately.

 

[uncle_ben]

Going from 96 to 192 kHz sampling rate makes no audible difference at playback unless you have a source that is sampled so high. There are some DVD Audio discs that use 192kHz sampling rate for stereo but you most likely do not have anything like this.
Your CDs are sampled at 44.1kHz and your DVD at 48kHz so do not be led by these numbers.
Onboard audio might be bad or less bad and with Audigy SE it is probably the latter case. Nonetheless if you are seriously into gaming or have some nice speakers the separate X-Fi card would be much better option. I would never go back to onboard sound but if it sounds good to you then don't worry

 

[Estrang]

Thanks for the help ben, but just for the record the soundblaster audigy is a seperate soundcard I purchased, not X-fi but pretty good sounding so far, glad to hear I wont need that 192khz from the onboard sound, the sound card goes in.