Best sound card for a cheap set of headphones?

[tornados2111]

Buying a sound card because of some microphone issues but I might as well improve my sound quality as well. I have some normal headphones, not 7.1 or anything fancy like that. I was wondering if there was any point in buying 7.1 sound card for just normal headphones, will it just be not compatible or will it still work? Or should I just go with the cheapest possible?

 

[iceclock]

whats ur budget?

 

[tornados2111]

whats ur budget?

I don't really have an exact budget, I just want to find out if I will benifit from a 7.1 sound card, if it will even work with my headphones or if I should just stay with a normal cheap soundcard

 

[iceclock]

well give me a number, i do recommand addin cards if u do gaming or love music, and goes great with a new pair of headphones, whats ur budget for soundcard and headphones and whats ur motherboard ?

 

[tornados2111]

well give me a number, i do recommand addin cards if u do gaming or love music, and goes great with a new pair of headphones, whats ur budget for soundcard and headphones and whats ur motherboard ?

I'm not prepared to spend money on a completely new headset. I have a P5Q SE2 motherboard and my budget for a sound card is about 30 euro. I've seen 7.1 sound cards go for 20 euro, not sure if they are reliable brands or anything. But even saw a 5.1 ASUS sound card for just under 30 euro. So my question. Will 7.1 actually work with normal cheap headphones? or if I don't want to upgrade my headphones should I just stay with a cheap soundcard

 

[iceclock]

what part of europe u live in?

 

[tornados2111]

what part of europe u live in?

Ireland. I'm mainly using 2 websites, dabs.ie and elara.ie

 

[PassMark]

> if I will benifit from a 7.1 sound card

No you wont get any benefit from 7.1. If fact pretty much no one will, as very few music sources and movies have 8 channels of audio. Can also say the same for very high samples rates, 24bit audio, gold connectors, etc... as well. All if it pretty much useless for most people.

Having a optical fibre output and 8 separate speakers outputs doesn't make sense if you are using a cheap pair of headphones.

Just use the on board sound card if you have one.

Having said that, there is really no price difference between a 5.1 and 7.1 channel sound card. You can get a reasonable card for $30. Don't pay the $180 for something like the Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium unless you upgrade the rest of your sound system as well.

 

[iceclock]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PC-Sound-Card-Creative-SoundBlaster-Audigy-2-ZS-SB0350-7-1-Firewire-PCI-Upgrade-/200879658554?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_SoundCards&hash=item2ec55c563a

10$ euros and cant beat anything at that price and better than any new xonar or junk cards at this price range

 

[tornados2111]

> if I will benifit from a 7.1 sound card

No you wont get any benefit from 7.1. If fact pretty much no one will, as very few music sources and movies have 8 channels of audio. Can also say the same for very high samples rates, 24bit audio, gold connectors, etc... as well. All if it pretty much useless for most people.

Having a optical fibre output and 8 separate speakers outputs doesn't make sense if you are using a cheap pair of headphones.

Just use the on board sound card if you have one.

Having said that, there is really no price difference between a 5.1 and 7.1 channel sound card. You can get a reasonable card for $30. Don't pay the $180 for something like the Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium unless you upgrade the rest of your sound system as well.

I don't want to use my on-board sound because I have some issues with it with my microphone. It's the main reason I am getting a sound card to begin with. You said that most music and movies don't support 8 channels of audio. Do many games support it?
Also, how does this one look if I decide to stay with just a normal 2.1 stereo? http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=WCESC011

 

[tornados2111]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PC-Sound-Card-Creative-SoundBlaster-Audigy-2-ZS-SB0350-7-1-Firewire-PCI-Upgrade-/200879658554?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_SoundCards&hash=item2ec55c563a

10$ euros and cant beat anything at that price and better than any new xonar or junk cards at this price range

Is there anything better about that card than this one? http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=WCESC011 Don't really want to pay for postage on that :\

 

[iceclock]

also the card i chose for the audigy 2 zs is better than the asus xonars u talked about.

and cheaper.

unless u have issues with good quality used hardware.