Help with choosing sound card

[vaderpro]

Hey guys and gals,

Been outta the loop for a while.... I still have the same old rig and it's serving it's purpose. BUT, i do need a sound card and have never owned one. My budget is $50-$100 but will only spend the $100 if it honestly a better choice for whatever reason....all I really need it for is music playback, so any suggestions appreciated!

Thx

 

[ohGrFreak]

I do not have a lot of experience with soundcards, but if I were in your situation and needed it for mostly music playback, I would get the middle-of-the-pack creative that fit my budget accordingly. You don't need 7.1 or 5.1 for music, so if you wanted to keep it lower, you could get a decent stereo card.

 

[StealthTools]

If I were you I would get the Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro Series

with X-Ram or just get the Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme gamer.. I know the audio performance (including the drivers that run them) are totally wicked and produce superior quality sound to anything I have ever heard...

The Xtreme Gamer card (not fatal1ty) has 3 audio modes.. Game mode, Music mode, and audio creation mode... all of which are awesome.

The Fatal1ty card is more advanced in it's sound ability but a little more expensive.. I will have both cards soon as I already have the Xtreme Gamer waiting on the Fatal1ty...

Bottom line these cards totally own.. they ARE my PC, Don't know what I would do without them vs onboard audio. They made my junky speakers actually sound like high dollar ones and these cards are no doubt worth the money.

 

[NightSurge]

I would steer clear of Creative. They have faulty Vista drivers, and poor views of the consumer. If you've checked news sites lately you may have seen all the bad press they've received lately.

 

[StealthTools]

Sound quality rocks though... I am using XP

 

[NightSurge]

Yep. If you have XP you're safe

 

[thirdshiftdj]

I would steer clear of Creative. They have faulty Vista drivers, and poor views of the consumer. If you've checked news sites lately you may have seen all the bad press they've received lately.

I posted modified drivers that work awesome in the audio section. Makaveli and myself are both using them and they are great. Brought back Dolby/DTS encoding plus a bunch of extra's including Alchemy

http://www.techist.com/forums/f12/creative-audigy-vista-xp-support-pack-drivers-171563/

 

[JonS]

Auzentech. Great bang for the buck.
Newegg.com - AuzenTech XPlosion 7.1 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card - Sound Cards

 

[StealthTools]

It may seem like a good deal but When it comes to things like "Sound" I only post a reply and recommend on things I own... Because if I have it it is of excellent quality. I am a melancholy choleric and that says it all, lol

Auzentech. Great bang for the buck.
Newegg.com - AuzenTech XPlosion 7.1 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card - Sound Cards

The sample rate on this card is 96KHz and the sound blaster Fatal1ty card has a sample rate of 192KHz and I don't believe that this card comes with X-Ram.... I am too lazy to check on the original Sound Blaster X-Treme gamer sound card that I have but you can just NewEgg it.

 

[NightSurge]

I posted modified drivers that work awesome in the audio section. Makaveli and myself are both using them and they are great. Brought back Dolby/DTS encoding plus a bunch of extra's including Alchemy

http://www.techist.com/forums/f12/creative-audigy-vista-xp-support-pack-drivers-171563/

Ah, but those drivers, while not illegal to use, were illegally made. If you paid attention to the whole fiasco it went something like this.

Creative has faulty Vista drivers but never tells anyone. One gamer with programming knowledge gets fed up and corrects the drivers for a lot of cards. Creative publicly denounces this guy and says he is stealing from them. Creative tells him to stop illegally altering THEIR drivers. The worst part is that Creative Labs ADMITS that keeping the faulty drivers was of their own decision and as of yet have no plan to revise them!