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Suggestion on buying a sound card

Forum CPU & Components : Sound Cards - Suggestion on buying a sound card

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Anonymous   05-14-2001 at 12:03:43 PM

Dear all,

Recently I've bought a AV amplifier that support hardware AC3 and DTS decoding. (see http://www.sony.com.hk/Electronics [...] k215.htm). I'm considering to upgrade my soundcard that support optical output to feed into the amplifier. Is there any good suggestion? I really prefer the Soundblaster live series but I don't know which one is the most cost effective for this solution. Can anyone please help me for this?

Regards,
Derek Leung.

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Secretninja   05-14-2001 at 07:06:39 PM
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i think that the platinum has optical im put. but personaly i prefer the hurcules game therater xp. i got one last month this has optical in and out. also the sound is great. and it is cheaper than the creative. and finaly looking throught the forum there are a lot of problems from the creative one

Reply to Secretninja
Anonymous   05-15-2001 at 03:36:50 AM
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Thanks for your opinion. What I really concern is that is it okay for any soundcard that has optical output can feed into those AV amplifiers which have optical input. Since my AV amplifier already has AC3/DTS decoder, that means I don't need to buy a soundcard that is built-in with decoder but just with optical output, is it correct? If so, I don't have to buy that expensive platinum one...

Anyone please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

Reply to Anonymous
blah   05-15-2001 at 05:32:40 AM
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Haven’t heard about anything that has that thing but SB Live! Drive, so after you complete your own search, log into the www.creative.com and buy that thing if you really want it. I am connecting my card to receiver through the basic stereo cable on the back of the card and it works like a champ, but if you have such sensitive ears, I don’t mind you spending 200 bux on the thing, I have returned it on the third day I got it. Did not like its sound at all.

Have fun.


Post, we'll do the "search"... :wink:

Reply to blah
Anonymous   05-15-2001 at 06:30:21 AM
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You don't have to buy SoundBlaster Planitum. There are cheaper options: SoundBlaster MP3+ and SoundBlaster XGamer (they only differ from Platinum in packaging, and are about half the price). And the cheapest of them all: SoundBlaster Value.

I personally prefer Hercules Game Theater XP, though.

Leo

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blah   05-15-2001 at 07:02:44 AM
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>> You don't have to buy SoundBlaster Planitum. There are cheaper options<<

You probably missed the point... the guy said:

>> I'm considering to upgrade my soundcard that support <font color=red>optical output</font color=red> to feed into the amplifier <<

Apparently those "cheaper options” do not provide <font color=red>that</font color=red> if you don’t consider Platinum Live! Drive.


Post, we'll do the "search"... :wink:

Reply to blah
Anonymous   05-16-2001 at 09:18:55 PM
- 0 +

Well, in that case Hercules Game Theater XP too has optical input/output. And it's somewhat cheaper than SoundBlaster Platinum.

Leo

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Anonymous   05-17-2001 at 09:22:02 AM
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I saw an oem version of the game theater xp for $120, it includes the sound card and external rack.

<i>The more you brag about your CPU, the more we realize how small you are in other areas.</i>

Reply to Anonymous
Anonymous   05-18-2001 at 11:18:38 AM
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Thanks for all your comment. I am just wondering whether there is an option for the soundblaster live! DE 5.1 card to bypass it's AC-3 decoder during the optical output. Since my amplifier already has AC-3 and DTS decoder inside, I just want to use the soundcard as an interface to transmit raw signal to the amplifier.

Derek.

Reply to Anonymous
Anonymous   05-21-2001 at 05:32:23 AM
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I've tried it! My friend has a SB Live Value and an daughter board that support digital output through optical cable. We just use WinDVD and PowerDVD to play DVD. By enabling the SPDIF output, the amplifier can detect there is AC-3 signal from the cable. It works!

Reply to Anonymous
dhlucke   05-29-2001 at 09:02:35 AM
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This may sound ignorant, but what in the world are you doing with these sound cards? I have a top of the line stereo system, so I suppose I could hook my computer up to it for some insane sound, but my wife watches TV using my amp when I'm on the computer so there is no point.

I know that I'm looking for a soundcard that sounds good and has input and output jacks so that I can record my tapes into mp3 format, but what else can sound cards do today besides hook up to a nice stereo?

I should note that although I have a DVD-rom drive, I was inspired right from the begining to buy a real DVD player with DTS etc which I run composite to my TV, so I have no use to output dvd to a tv either.

I was just thinking of getting the SB Value, but is there something more that I should be looking for?

<font color=red>Amd or Intel? Who cares?? Not me...</font color=red>

Reply to dhlucke
baron   05-29-2001 at 09:47:26 AM
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have u considered Philips Acoustic Edge 5.1? I read reviews that it is good for DvDs.

IMacs for the blind

Reply to baron
Anonymous   06-02-2001 at 12:09:30 AM
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in order to get digtal optical output from the sound card (sblive series )you need the live drive II or the live drive ir(sblive platinum 5.1).

Reply to Anonymous
Anonymous   06-02-2001 at 03:25:30 AM
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The live drive is not really needed. I've bought a daughter board which just costs about HKD170 to connect to the SB Live Value. That daughter board has SPDIF IN/OUT and optical IN/OUTs.

Reply to Anonymous
Anonymous   06-03-2001 at 12:43:31 AM
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Watch out for SB Live Value because it can't record to a standard volume from Line-in. If I compare the volume of a line-in recording it is about half that of previous recordings done using a SB 128, or CD playback, or MP3 playback etc. This is true on both Win98SE and NT4 SP6.

This really sux!

I can obtain a reasonable level if I use "What you hear" instead of the "Line-in" option. However I don't know if the sound quality is the same.

If anyone has found a solution/patch etc for this problem please let me know (email would be best as I can't get back here too often).

Thanks

John

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