Sound Card questions.

[romeozdistress]

I currently have a HP p6774y desktop. I listen to alot of music on my computer. i have a set of logitech z623 2.1 speakers. I am currently using the mobo chipset. i was wondering if a sound card would improve sound while listening to music through my speakers? i have been looking at asus xonar dgx 5.1 and dsx 7.1. would either of these make a significant improvement in sound quality with music and movies? i dont game much at all. the chipset is a alc888. thank in advance.

 

[JKatwyopc]

It might make a difference but you probably won't be able to tell. The built-in sound system on most motherboards is more than adequate for audio playback of music, videos and games. The main advantage of an add-in sound card is for use in recording and composing music and audio (aka sound production).

 

[Traildriver]

Some people notice a difference with an add-on card. Takes some work load off the motherboard. Definitely if you had top of line hadphones or speakers a definite improvement would be noticed with a sound card.

 

[romeozdistress]

i just have some logitech z623 2.1 they are 200 watts. cost is about $150. so nothing amazing. i just want to make sure its worth the 40 or 50 bucks to upgrade.

 

[photonboy]

Yes. It's worth it to upgrade.

I've tested several sound cards versus addon sound and a half-decent sound card does make a big difference.

Your speakers are good enough that you'd notice a difference in QUALITY music and movie audio. Not low-quality audio though.

I recommend an audio card that can support BOTH your headphones and speakers at the same time.

*My speakers support headphones, however the power has to be on for the jack to be of use and the amplifier gets very hot so it uses power. My headphones AND speakers are simply BOTH hooked up to my sound card.

My headphones luckily have audio control so I simply turn the sound off and leave them plugged in.

**You will really have to consider the connections though because most headphones don't have audio control so they would create sound when plugged in.

 

[romeozdistress]

my speakers have a headphone jack. and which card would you suggest? i was hoping to only spend 40-50. but i dont know very much about sound cards at all. it needs to be pci express. any suggestions would be cool. thanks man. ps. i always tyr to keep most of my mp3s at 320. is that what you meant by quality?

 

[photonboy]

FYI,
I use the Auzentech X-Fi Forte.
It's awesome but it's also just over $100. It does have dual outputs (one is stereo, the other stereo up to 7.1).

Just remember, with onboard sound you have a REAR output for your speakers and can use the case FRONT output for headphones.

Most sound cards only have one output, and from what I understand MOST speakers need to be powered ON to use the headphone jack from them.

I sort of repeated myself but it gets confusing. Good luck.

 

[romeozdistress]

thats not a big issue for me. i rarely ever use headphones with my computer. i just like listening to loud heavy music. thanks for the info though man. also my power supply is only 250, would i need a bigger power supply to run a sound card?