Best sound card?
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Best sound card?
I am getting some sound card, in order to replace my crappy Realtek
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Re: Best sound card?
What is your usage? Music listening, music production, gaming...?LG is noisy wrote:I am getting some sound card, in order to replace my crappy Realtek
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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.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
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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!
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!
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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.lm wrote:My motherboard has those connectors as well, so what's the benefit vs that?rjhythloday wrote:I really like this AuzenTech since it has both optical and coax digital out.
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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.
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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.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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_Stream_Input/Output
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 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.
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.