best 2 channel soundcard

[raverx3m]

it mights sound outdated with all the people chasing after 33423476726.1 channel surround cards (5-6-7.1) but i just enjoy a stereo sound more than surround and im looking for a soundcard that has better quality 2 channel i dont really care about the rest of channels

anyone could recommend me a good one?

ps: ima big hater of creative because theres no more aureal soundcards which was good sound for the price(yes i still got aureal cardx2)

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

Hey I was still using an aureal card for quite a while for recording purposes, until last xmas when it didnt work with my PC. I also hate creative

I agree stero is better, expisally for music.

Now I just ordered one of these, after much research. http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOAP2496

What do you plan on using the soundcard for?

 

[raverx3m]

what about the envy24 chip and intel's new sound chip?

i also saw the new creative x-fi card review but cant judge if its good or not

heres the link
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/multimedia/creative-x-fi.html

 

[raverx3m]

oh ye i plan on using it to mostly play music andstuff like FL studio acid dj and other audio priggies, but mostly for winamp playing music and occasional gaming but i dont need surround i purposely bought 2.1 speakers instead of 5-6-7.1

 

[DJ-CHRIS]

Intel makes intergrated soundchips, and VIA Envy looks like one too.

X-FI does seem to be the card for gaming, but is a card meant for gaming and you would not get the same quality of sound, adjustable buffer sizes or ect.

The M-Audio Audiophile will be great for FL anc Acid and general music playing.

However if you want to wait a week or two, I can tell ya how well it does in games...

 

[raverx3m]

im not concerned about gaming sound as i understand the quality of game sound samples is not very hi so a quality soundcard shouldnt have problem handling it im more concerned about video in games

i also thought that envy24 chip is used in the professional soundcards and cheaper version of envy chip is used in onboard sound
also i saw somwhere that intel is almost done developing a replacement for ac97 which will have better quality and some other stuff

im not concerned about recording quality

and i might use optical out later on