Best sound card?

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best sound card

Xfi Xtreme Gamer
2
11%
Xfi Xtreme Music
2
11%
Club 3D Agrippa
0
No votes
others
14
78%
 
Total votes: 18

LG is noisy
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Best sound card?

Post by LG is noisy » Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:13 am

I am getting some sound card, in order to replace my crappy Realtek

sjoukew
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Post by sjoukew » Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:32 am

creative x-fi has still no linux support.
It also took creative a bloody long while before the vista drivers started working. So if you are not a hardcore gamer and you don't want EAX, I should look around for something else then a creative.

Sizzle
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Post by Sizzle » Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:25 pm

I use my onboard Realtek with DTS Connect.

Mats
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Post by Mats » Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:46 pm

Why not include Asus Xonar? :?

Michael Sandstrom
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Post by Michael Sandstrom » Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:51 pm

Why not include M-Audio and Chaintech AV-710?

LG is noisy
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Post by LG is noisy » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:07 pm

I dont use linux lol.

spookmineer
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Post by spookmineer » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:11 pm

Auzentech: Creative licensed them the use the X-Fi chips and the X-Fi Prelude seems to be really good.

Aris
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Post by Aris » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:18 pm

onboard is fine long as you use digital connectors. onboard should be an option.

qviri
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Re: Best sound card?

Post by qviri » Wed Apr 23, 2008 6:01 pm

LG is noisy wrote:I am getting some sound card, in order to replace my crappy Realtek
What is your usage? Music listening, music production, gaming...?

jhhoffma
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Post by jhhoffma » Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:26 am

Also, OS choice is important. If you using Vista, stick with the onboard. It's not worth buying a new card and getting very poor support or, worse, not even being able to use the features of your card. Steer clear of Creative unless all you do is game in WindowsXP. There are better cards out there.

xafier
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Post by xafier » Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:31 am

I've been thinking of getting an Asus Xonar as I use Vista x64 and I use my PC for both gaming, listening to music and watching movies... anyone here tried an Asus Xonar yet? They seem to be getting quite good reviews

Sizzle
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Post by Sizzle » Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:09 am

xafier wrote:I've been thinking of getting an Asus Xonar as I use Vista x64 and I use my PC for both gaming, listening to music and watching movies... anyone here tried an Asus Xonar yet? They seem to be getting quite good reviews
I had the D2X. I finally ditched it because of the crummy driver support (at least for Vista 64). Initial drivers worked OK, then DTS stopped working. With the latest drivers they did not work. Many other posts of the same issue.

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Post by Das_Saunamies » Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:04 am

I wouldn't trust Asus to even make the box my Creative came in, too many bad experiences with their motherboards.

Zero problems with XtremeMusic so far, be it with music, games or video playback. Granted that Creative has become a behemoth that drags its ass when it comes to drivers, but for basic use this card is all I need. It's nowhere near as bad as their Live! 1024 was, which I used until using integrated for two years, just due to sheer frustration with Creative software. I haven't even had to update this one's drivers yet, nor was I forced to install any Creative bloatware! Audio settings manager is reasonable for once.

XtremeMusic's pricetag wasn't bad, considering I made back 15 euros selling the included headset! :lol:

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Post by aristide1 » Sat Apr 26, 2008 9:56 am

Any card that has zero eletrcolytic capacitors.

rjhythloday
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Post by rjhythloday » Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:21 am

I should preface I'm an audio media user, not a gamer

M-audio is one of my favorite

I really like this AuzenTech since it has both optical and coax digital out.

Image

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Post by lm » Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:37 pm

rjhythloday wrote:I really like this AuzenTech since it has both optical and coax digital out.
My motherboard has those connectors as well, so what's the benefit vs that?

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Post by Aris » Wed Apr 30, 2008 12:43 pm

lm wrote:
rjhythloday wrote:I really like this AuzenTech since it has both optical and coax digital out.
My motherboard has those connectors as well, so what's the benefit vs that?
Nothing. The only reason to have a sound card at all is to get a good Digital to Analog converter (DAC). If its never being converted to analog, and leaves the system digital, you dont need anything except the onboard audio digital connectors.

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Post by aristide1 » Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:55 pm

Actually if your look at that last card closely you will see the op-amps are socketed, ie they are upgradeable. That's a big part off getting better sound from a sound card. Often the op-amp alone costs more than the entire motherboard integrated audio setup. Expect better regulation and noise rejection as well.

Michael Sandstrom
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Post by Michael Sandstrom » Wed Apr 30, 2008 2:14 pm

Aris wrote:Nothing. The only reason to have a sound card at all is to get a good Digital to Analog converter (DAC). If its never being converted to analog, and leaves the system digital, you dont need anything except the onboard audio digital connectors.
I don't think the statement above is entirely true. Depending on driver capability and features, digital output of some add in cards is much preferred over some onboard digital output. The deciding factor for me has to do with the path of the digital stream from source to output. For example, a soundcard whose drivers support native Audio Stream Input/Output (ASIO) can output a bit-perfect stream that is not degraded by Kmixer in Windows XP. Refer to the link below for information re ASIO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Stream_Input/Output

ame
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Post by ame » Wed Apr 30, 2008 3:14 pm

I don't think the statement above is entirely true. Depending on driver capability and features, digital output of some add in cards is much preferred over some onboard digital output. The deciding factor for me has to do with the path of the digital stream from source to output. For example, a soundcard whose drivers support native Audio Stream Input/Output (ASIO) can output a bit-perfect stream that is not degraded by Kmixer in Windows XP. Refer to the link below for information re ASIO.
Yeah, true that ASIO is superior in many ways to a standard MME driver. Yet ASIO is typicall only supported by audio/video software and not by games or media players that use the windows driver. so it really depends on what you want to use it for.

I also like M-Audio for their cost effective/high preformance solutions. their D/A converters and signal to noise ratio are miles away from onboard audio, and they come with ASIO drivers (in addition to standrd driver) if you use any software that would support it.

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