*GOOD* audio cards, get rid of the crap

[senseless]

Creative is dead!

There are a couple threads with discussions about creative sound cards and how they compare to onboard.

Creative is going to give you round about the same quality as your standard ac97 onboard soundcards. The only thing different really is how pretty the utilities are, and the breakouts you might get with some of the various high end creative products. The reason for this misconception is that most people aren't into high end audio gear, and don't really know what is out there. Obviously you're going to get a small improvement going from ac97 to a creative live or better.. But, once you get a chance to compare the output from a live card to the output of a fireface 800, or one of the cards mentioned below you will understand what i mean. For the price you are paying for some of the creative cards, you could easily go and buy something twice or three times the quality and performance.

Anyone who wants GOOD audio for their gaming needs to check out the following. This should end the battle between onboard and creative.. They both suck.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Audiophile2496-main.html
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Revolution71-main.html
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Revolution51-main.html

Those are the 3 best audio cards for gaming.


If you have 1500$+ to spend on an audio card, and want something insane, you're going to want a fireface 800.

 

[CntdwnToExtn]

lol, i can't justify spending 1500+ dollars on a sound card when my creative live mp3+ is gonna kick out juice or my onboard ac97.

 

[senseless]

check the pricing on the other cards.

the other cards are 99, 129, 129.. and they'll kick the arse out of creative products.

 

[CntdwnToExtn]

my creatlive live mp3+ has held it's own over the years. and i payed 110 canadian back about.....6-7 years ago, and it's still pumpin'....
i'm not knockin' the fireface cards though.

 

[dale5605]

I <3 my audigy 2 ZS, it's on newegg for like $65, great value.

 

[HAVOC]

Why are those 3 the best audio cards for gaming?
Because you said so? Can you give us a little bit of fact to base your statements on? If not, then it's just one mans opinion. Do you have benchmarks? Or can you provide some proof?

In and Sound card "taste" test could you tell the difference?

Two identical systems. (Two different sound cards) could you tell me which is the M-Audio and which on is the Creative? I doubt you could.

 

[senseless]

i think i may have an extra revolution 7.1 i can take home and run some tests on off my rig. I'll post results tonight/tomorrow. I may even be able to scrounge up a audigy 2 zs to compare the revolution against.

 

[hu_xu]

I have listened to M-audios and they are not great but better than Live! cards. But Live! cards are also the lower tier Creative cards but there is not denying that onboard has gotten unbelievably better albeit sucking performance out of your CPU. Also, Creative cards ARE the best for gaming but the M-audio is BETTER for music because it doesn't resample like Creative's cards. Do you HEAR THAT Creative...FIX YOUR DRIVERS!!! I swearCreative has the WORSE driver support for a company with that large of a reputation. I also find M-audio software MUCH better but Creative more user friendly.

EDIT: Also to add the best sound card for music I have heard is the DMX 6Fire. It DESTROYS any Audigy 2 ZS versions. I have not heard the Audigy 4 yet. Also you can't compare the RME Fireface 800 to soundblaster, turtle beach, m-audio, terratec cards because they target a different market. Those are hardcore and professional audiohiles.

 

[senseless]

The revolution series has a lower line noise, and higher quality converters, and it's made by a pro-audio gear company. The revolution cards are m-audio's low end pro cards which were actually designed for gaming (aswell as light mastering work). I was looking over the Audigy 4, it has improved, but who really wants or needs a big ass break out box for their video games?

Turns out we don't have any revolution cards in, so i won't be able to test anything at the moment..


I wasn't trying to compare the firefaces with soundblasters, There isnt anything to compare. I'm unfamiliar with terratec, but turtle beach sucks. I have a friend that uses his fireface 800 for SWG (aswell as pro-audio mastering).. Its AMAZING to say the least.

 

[hu_xu]

I agree I don't like Turtle Beach products. M-Audio is a better Creative alternative. I also think Creative is getting sloppy lately because they operate like a monopoly. That is the same reason why Firefox is 100000000 times better than IE6. Anyways I don't think anybody here is a major audiophile but more of a computer enthusiasts. I bet you only maybe 5% of people here even heard of RME. M-Audio and Turtle Beach are much more popular alternatives. Anyways, Creative cards are better for gaming due the fact they have dev support as well as the fact they basically eliminated competing techs by acquiring them like Sensura. But you're right M-Audio is MUCH better for music listening but you need high-end speakers to hear it and even then people who are not educated in that stuff will probably not hear major difference. But there is a difference in recording as well. But I read somewhere that the resampling problem is due to software not hardware not sure if that is true. Do you know? Anyhow Creative better improve their drivers to take full advantage of their ZS line. The Live! line is good for low spenders but in terms of sound quality they are garbage but in terms of quality for $$$ they are good. But Turtle Beach is better and has better quality for $$$. Same goes for M-audio over Audigy 1 and 2 ZS and non ZS unless you compare OEM prices. I still prefer the Audigy 2 ZS over its M-audio competitor Revolution 7.1 but I'm a gamer. But I do think the Audiophile series is better than the 2 ZS platinum series due to the fact that the platinum series is targeted to higher end audiophiles but still has the resampling problem I believe. I didn't hear the higher end M-Audio cards (there is one more model series I can't remember but you will probably know) and that competes with the Audigy 4. I hope Creative fixes the problems for Audigy 4 though.

EDIT: Also you DID compare Fireface 800 to a Live! card..."But, once you get a chance to compare the output from a live card to the output of a fireface 800" lol. You should have at least compared it to Audigy 4. Live! is ULTRA rubbish compared to Fireface 800 therefore even mentioning it in the same sentence is a joke.