Looking for a decent sound card under $100

[DHFF]

Hello everyone,

I am in the process of building a workstation for my wife, she listens to a lot of music and does a lot of audio processing of recorded meetings at work (stripping out background noise ect) and although most motherboards come with sound integrated, I wanted to give her a little step up. however I have no experience with sound cards, its never been a factor for me as I am happy with the built in sound.

Any suggestions on what I could pick up for under $100 that would give her a nice upgrade to her audio experience?

Thanks,

DHFF

 

[gamerk316]

At under $100, there's three main options:

1: ASUS Xonar DG(X): ~$30. A step up from onboard, at a very good price for what it offers.
2: ASUS Xonar DX: ~$70. A bigger step up from the DG(X). Biggest disadvantage here is the lack of a dedicated headphone amp, which may be an issue for headphone users.
3: Creative Soundblaster Z: ~$99. The newest (And best) of the three products.

Comes down to cost really.

 

[DHFF]

For Headphones she has a pair of Turtle Beach X-12 which are USB powered and have dedicated volume controls. I dont know if that makes a difference in reference to the card not having a dedicated headphone amp.
With the soundblaster, am I getting a better quality of sound or just more features? If it is just features I am getting for the extra $20 then I might just get the cheaper one as in the end the only thing she is really going to care about is how clear is sounds.

 

[soullStream]

Dont bother with a soundcard. They dont really offer much more in terms of audio quality over your motherboards generally, have a watch of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1rXcJuEsy0 Honestly a DAC will help much more.

 

[DHFF]

A Sound card wont offer me any real improvement in sound quality? So the only reason to have one is for extra features or capabilities?

 

[Illumynization]

To those that work with audio on a daily basis, a sound card is essential. To the average user there is no difference between on-board and PCIe sound card.

I use the creative sound blaster Z mentioned in a few posts above. It is a phenomenal card and you can get an OEM version from newegg for a bit cheaper:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102054&cm_re=creative_sound_blaster-_-29-102-054-_-Product

I use it for media production, it works so much better than my onboard which is a great onboard sound as well but not nearly as great as the creative card. To the untrained ear, both will sound the same.

 

[soullStream]

Sorry if this is a bit late, but if you are just listening to music etc and not doing heavy sound work then you would be a lot better with a dac and/or amp combo, and also a new set of headphones can dramatically increase the sound quality. Personally a loath turtlebeach the same as beats by dre, from what i have heard on them they arent anywhere near the quality of other brands. I would start with getting a nice pair of sennheisers or something similar and go from there, and then if the audio quality still isnt good enough invest in a dac and amp combo.

 

[DHFF]

She would notice the difference from on-board and a dedicated sound, But starting with the headphones makes sense. we seldom use speakers because usually there are 4 of us on at a time an without headphones we would all be overlapping

Could you recommend a decent pair of headphones? If there are some selections that are clearly worth it I might pinch other parts of the budget in order to go over $100 for the headphones.

 

[soullStream]

Before I recommend any headphones we need to clarify some things.

Are you all within the same area to each other?
Because that can influence whether you go for an open back or closed back pair of headphones. Closed back are generally noise cancelling with stronger base whereas open back (well are open, they generally have a mesh back or something similar so more noise pollution both to the users and people around them) to allow a wider sound stage and a more 'airy' or spacious sounding mid and high range sound.

Once you've decided on that it will be much easier, obviously comfort will be a factor as it seems your wife will be wearing them for extended periods of time. I'm personally a very big sennheiser fan even though i currently dont own a pair (due to breaking my last ones stupidly), but beyerdynamic along with audio technica all have a great line up of headphones.

 

[DHFF]

Ok I checked with her and she said she would rather not replace the headphones since she just bought this pair a few months ago and would rather not upgrade them only to have this pair collecting dust.

So working with a pair of turtle beach X-12, should I bother with a sound card or will she not benefit any from it due to the headphones?

 

[soullStream]

No I wouldn't bother. The first place I would start would be headphones, but if she is happy with the ones she has atm and doesn't want them to go to waste then I doubt adding a sound card or any other hardware would really be worth it as the quality increase will be minimal, if at all.

 

[DHFF]

Thank you, that is a huge help. I will spare adding the $100 to the budget then and if she is ready to replace her headphones, its easy enough to plug a new sound card in.
Thanks for all your help.


When she is ready to upgrade however, what would you suggest for closed back style headphones that can take full advantage of the Sound Blaster Z?

 

[soullStream]

If you arent looking for a huge soundstage (for using virtual surround sound mainly in games) and want deeper bass (a generalization) with noise cancelling, then definitely go the closed back style. Once again, I personally wouldn't recommend spending so much on sound cards as there are other areas where you can invest the money with a higher quality return (such as the headphones themselves, $100 can be a big difference in headphone quality). Of course if your motherboard comes with really bad sound (these days most new ones a pretty good though) then sure go for it. But i definitely recommend watching the video link I posted above before you decide, even though its based around gaming it cuts a lot of the BS marketing so you know what you are looking for and what you need to spend.

 

[DHFF]

alright cool thanks.

 

[DHFF]

Ok I watched the video and now I am looking for a decent DAC lol. they range from $30 to $275... ahhh too many choices!!

 

[soullStream]

Yeah I know! I need to buy a new one myself as I gave my one to a relative haha tough decisions! But I'm glad I could help