what kind of sound card should i get?

[turboxchaz]

i've been noticing recently that classical kind of music sounds like i can actually hear the sound waves, but the waves seem to be slower, so like it sounds like i have lag or something in my sounds lol.

so wouldn't sound cards make my quality of sound be smoother? of course, i have onboard sound so yeah quality sucks.

what kind of sound card is recommended? i use a 5.1 logitech surround sound.

 

[eyeCpc]

That will depend surprizingly on the version of Windows you are running. For one of the new Creative X-FI models the autoupdater will see Vista drivers downloaded onto an XP machine! The dec. 06 update is for XP with the web updater1 seen. But the july 2007 is actually the web updater3 for Vista!

What happened to updater2 for XP? is a mystery. That was seen on the lower end or rather simply lower priced Xtreme Audio model while the difference between that and the Xtreme Gamer is simply the software. Both cards are identical except with the Gamer you see 3 not one face plate in XP(theatre) with another in Vista(Entertainment).

The Gamer can use all 3 in both XP or Vista. That's the story with Creative seen on a new build here. An alternative brand seeing good reviews would be the Diamod brand of sound cards. But the old Audigy 4 Pro was good for both multimedia and gaming.

 

[EricB]

get the x-fi. it is the best sounding compatible card. there are better sounding cards but they aren't compatible with a like of xp stuff like media center and basic sound schemes.

I know that I once argue here that the x-fi sound just as good as the audigy series. I've since learn that
I was wrong about that. the x-fi an m-audio higher end cards sounds way better. So I apologized to 003 and dj chris who tried to hip me to that fact.

the audigy series distorts when the volume is past 3/4. the better cards don't distort at any volume when the eq is flat. I've never put the audigy card at the clipping level so that was of no concern to me, that was part of my argument (I said that they sounded the same if you didn't clip the outputs). but the audigy also has a high end rolloff in the treble that most people won't notice until they hear a better card. the x-fi also put out 2 volts on the outputs (the m-audiophile 192 does 4)

 

[eyeCpc]

The thing that urks me about the X-FI models is no line in jack. With some tv tuner and video capture cards you have to patch into that for capturing audio along with the video portion.

The Audigy 4 Pro was always crystal clear when the volume was raised here for multimedia players like PowerDVD and even WMP 10. The Audigy 2 series stunk however.

Once you get the correct XP drivers on the three X-FI models Gamer, Audio, and even the Xtreme Music do offer some good sound. But the thing to watch for with XP is the auto updater putting Vista drivers on XP? That's a headache for sure!

 

[EricB]

The thing that urks me about the X-FI models is no line in jack. With some tv tuner and video capture cards you have to patch into that for capturing audio along with the video portion.

The Audigy 4 Pro was always crystal clear when the volume was raised here for multimedia players like PowerDVD and even WMP 10. The Audigy 2 series stunk however.

Once you get the correct XP drivers on the three X-FI models Gamer, Audio, and even the Xtreme Music do offer some good sound. But the thing to watch for with XP is the auto updater putting Vista drivers on XP? That's a headache for sure!

do you use the digital out? Do you have a digital out piece from another computer laying around? I can show you how to hook that up so that you can turn your digital out on your sound card into line in

 

[Crysalis]

get the x-fi. it is the best sounding compatible card. there are better sounding cards but they aren't compatible with a like of xp stuff like media center and basic sound schemes.

I know that I once argue here that the x-fi sound just as good as the audigy series. I've since learn that
I was wrong about that. the x-fi an m-audio higher end cards sounds way better. So I apologized to 003 and dj chris who tried to hip me to that fact.

the audigy series distorts when the volume is past 3/4. the better cards don't distort at any volume when the eq is flat. I've never put the audigy card at the clipping level so that was of no concern to me, that was part of my argument (I said that they sounded the same if you didn't clip the outputs). but the audigy also has a high end rolloff in the treble that most people won't notice until they hear a better card. the x-fi also put out 2 volts on the outputs (the m-audiophile 192 does 4)

DOH! You've gone to the dark side!! Nah... the X-fi has a much better pre-amp stage (no clipping at high levels), but I still miss the Audigy's ZERO latency.

 

[eyeCpc]

The only other jack besides the speaker outputs is the mic in. The old Audigy 4 Pro was the one that saw the line in and digital option. The problem however is that the audio and video source alike is still analog/composite.

 

[EricB]

DOH! You've gone to the dark side!! Nah... the X-fi has a much better pre-amp stage (no clipping at high levels), but I still miss the Audigy's ZERO latency.

I didn't know that it had ZERO latency.

The only other jack besides the speaker outputs is the mic in. The old Audigy 4 Pro was the one that saw the line in and digital option. The problem however is that the audio and video source alike is still analog/composite.

I have the extreme music card. I change the digital out to line in. these cards have pins on them on the inside. creative wants to charge an arm and legs for their breakout box. but if you are savvy enough, you can make you own connections. I now use an asus optical and spdif out pci slot as my digital connections

 

[eyeCpc]

Fortunately the actual need for the moment isn't there since the tv tuner card also is able to capture sound and video over the old Ultra TV cards that did need a patch. Presently I need one that works in Vista since no patch for the AVerMedia 1500 MCE edition besides a tuner driver ever came out. The card is self contained for sound but useless in Vista.

With the software for the Xtreme Music there do you have two appearance modes like Entertainment with the volume, bass, and tremble knobs, or can you change the mode to see the sound mixer? When going from the Audio to Gamer the only noticable difference was the software.

 

[Crysalis]

I didn't know that it had ZERO latency.

With ASIO drivers, yes.