Sound Card for Speakers

[mrscientific13]

I want to get these logitech speakers http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16836121126
The only problem is, that I know nothing about sound cards...the only thing I know is that onboard sound just isn't going to cut it. I need to know. What sound card should I buy to get the maximum out of these speakers (the cheapest possible).

 

[Green Radience]

I won't recommend the X-FIs as they're pretty expensive, but;

This will blow you away.

But you probably don't want to spend more on a Sound Card than you did on those [very good] speakers, so;

This will have to do.

 

[alexsabree]

same... an xfi is good but it wont b fully harnessed with those speakers.

 

[odysseus]

if one were to have the money for an Xfi would it really be worth it? And is there any difference in the Platinum model for $200 compared to the XtremeMusic at $117?

 

[Tyler1989]

Stay away from and X-Fi brand if you use Linux or UNIX ("includes a mac"). If you use Windows it's a great card.

Creative will not release any *nix drivers and the card itself is a brand new architecture so it will be a long time before you hear any sound on a *nix OS with that card.

 

[odysseus]

so it would be worth it?

 

[odysseus]

but what about upgrading from extrememusic to Platinum?

 

[Waphlez]

I would go for the X-Fi XtremeMusic for around $122 mainly because it supports EAX 5.0 and can have 128 simultaneous sounds playing. Out of the 4 X-Fi cards I believe only 2 of them are really worth the money, which is the XtremeMusic and Platinum; the Fatal1ty and Elite are very expensive and really aren't worth the money.

 

[Green Radience]

I would go for the X-Fi XtremeMusic for around $122 mainly because it supports EAX 5.0 and can have 128 simultaneous sounds playing. Out of the 4 X-Fi cards I believe only 2 of them are really worth the money, which is the XtremeMusic and Platinum; the Fatal1ty and Elite are very expensive and really aren't worth the money.

Way to quote me word for word

XtremeMusic and Fatal1ty are worth it, and even then, only because the Fatal1ty gives you the extra 64MB RAM. Platinum and Elite are the ones not worth it, because they don't really give you anything more to justify the price from the version directly below them.

IMO, there's no reason to buy anything other than a XtremeMusic. The 64MB RAM is there to offload the CPU (don't ask me how they got to that conclusion) but it really never does anything at all. As of right now, I do not know of ANY advantages of the Sound Cards higher up than the XtremeMusic.

Good job on thurning this thread upside down though. The guy has $50 speakers, he's not going to buy a $125 sound card. Are you people crazy?

 

[Waphlez]

The platinum comes with the front panel and some people might want that. I didn't recommend the platinum to him I'm just saying if your going to get a new soundcard try and get one that supports the latest EAX (which X-Fi currently does). And maybe if he gave us a budget then I might want to consider the pricetag, it's not like he is going to be stuck with those speakers forever. I layed out an option that he could take, I'm not making him buy it, so stop crapping on me and telling decisions for others "he's not going to buy a $125 sound card". Stuff like that should come out of the person who is paying for it, not some other guy off the internet. If he doesn't want to pay $xxx dollars for a soundcard he doesn't have to.

The platinum comes with a front panel and a remote for 50 dollars more. What do you get for paying $120 dollars more than the platinum for the fatal1ty? 64MB of useless X-RAM. So the XtremeMusic is the one I perfer and recommend the most, but if they want the front panel and remote than the platinum is there for them. I can't even believe people take the fatal1ty as worth the money.