Acoustic Edge vs. KV8 onboard audio.

[Demon-Xanth]

I'm thinking about pulling out my Philips Acoustic Edge soundcard and just using the onboard audio just to simplify things. The speakers I use are from a Yorx mini stereo going into it's aux in. How much of a difference will there be in quality? Good, bad, or so stupid I should be smacked?

 

[killedradiostar]

i would advise against the acoustic edge, especially if you're interested in gaming. it sounds great, but introduces a lot of problems.

the forum over at 3dsoundsurge has a legion of dissatisfied AE customers (myself included to an extent). if you're going to replace the card, i would suggest you look elsewhere for a replacement.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I think you misunderstood. The Acoustic Edge is already in. And it works great.

<-- very satisfied AE owner.

Edit: when I say "simplify things" I mean just have one less card installed, one less thing disabled in BIOS/windows, one less set of drivers,... that sort of thing.

 

[killedradiostar]

yes, i guess i didn't read that very closely. i doubt your onboard can put out anything near the sound quality of the AE.

my problem with AE is counterstrike in-game voicecom. i fought it for a year or so, then just went ahead and threw a second sound card in there for that explicit purpose. frustrating as hell.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

The quality won't be as good, but consider that my speakers aren't exactly audiophile equipment. That's why I'm thinking about doing it. If I had good speakers, I'd be voting on the third option.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Given the split decision I tried it out. The onboard's drivers didn't have a way to put out stereo sound through all four speakers so it sounded like crap. Bruce Lee+Coke wins over onboard audio.

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

Don't forget the onboard sound contrller can eat up CPU cycles versus the hardware driven solution on the PCI BUS. It all depends on the codec used by the motherboard maker.