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Best 'audiophile' sound card for $100 or less?

T

thatsright

Diamond Member
I just setup my new Skylake rig and was hoping that the built in Realtek 1150 chip would be a bit better than 'good enough.' I can't believe I fell for this. The sound is HORRIBLE. Not even worthy for retired old ladies in Nebraska watching YouTube videos. My last box had Audigy 2 ZS PCI card. Got to jerry-rig it to work with Win 7 on a PCI slot. It was fantastic for the price. Night and day compared to my new rig with built-in sound.

Anyway....I do not game, no f.1 or 7.1 setup for me. Only 2.1 music playback with 2.1 Klipsch speakers/subwoofer. What is the best sound card I can get for $110 or less?
 
Creative's cards don't provide more accurate or cleaner sound, but rather, do processing to make it sound different in a way that's generally liked by most people, for what it's worth. I expect the highest-end cards probably won't sound very good if you're expecting to hear the extra boomy lows and crisp highs that you get from Creative's software, so the X-Fi linked above is probably a great choice.

Really high-end PC audio equipment won't be internal, due to EMI. Most will probably be external USB boxes with their own power source.
 
The soundcard market is not what it once was. I used to recommend M-AUDIO stuff as they had good soundcards with great DACs.

Now the key is to buy a good motherboard with a great sound chip and digital out to connect to a receiver. If you're listening to music you should look into external USB DACs.
 
What the others have said, if you truly want to get better quality, external USB DAC will be a better choice.

I assume your 2.1 setup is a powered setup and only needs a DAC, if that's the case you may wish to look at something like the Schiit Modi, $99 USB DAC. Has RCA out to either your speakers, or a headphone amp, or whatever you want.
 
mnewsham said:
What the others have said, if you truly want to get better quality, external USB DAC will be a better choice.

I assume your 2.1 setup is a powered setup and only needs a DAC, if that's the case you may wish to look at something like the Schiit Modi, $99 USB DAC. Has RCA out to either your speakers, or a headphone amp, or whatever you want.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the Klipsh's are powered. Does anyone have one of these? Did you switch from a 'high end' internal sound card. What/how was the difference?
 
thatsright said:
Yeah, the Klipsh's are powered. Does anyone have one of these? Did you switch from a 'high end' internal sound card. What/how was the difference?
Click to expand...

I use a Schiit Modi for my 5" powered speakers. I however can't compare it to anything else particularly as this is what I have been using for about 4 years now and I have brought it along over the last 3 computers i have owned. Never using the internal sound cards or other sound cards.


However, i will say if you want something with a bunch of software features for EQ, sound effects, simulated surround sound, etc. The Modi has none of these things. It is a pure simple DAC, plug and play, no drivers.
 
mnewsham said:
However, i will say if you want something with a bunch of software features for EQ, sound effects, simulated surround sound, etc. The Modi has none of these things. It is a pure simple DAC, plug and play, no drivers.
Click to expand...

Nope, don't want any of that. Do you have the Modi 2? That's the one I'd get ONLY if it has a stereo jack for my external speakers? But it seems like all the reviews only mention it being used with headphones? Hmmmm....
 
thatsright said:
Nope, don't want any of that. Do you have the Modi 2? That's the one I'd get ONLY if it has a stereo jack for my external speakers? But it seems like all the reviews only mention it being used with headphones? Hmmmm....
Click to expand...

I have the Modi 1. The Modi 2 is slightly upgraded, the base model has USB input and RCA output (L and R channel). The upgraded model the Modi 2 uber has USB input, Toslink SPDIF input and, Coaxial SPDIF input. As well as the same RCA output of the normal Modi 2.



The reason you mainly see it being talked about for headphones is most people are buying it to match it with the Schiit Magni, which is Schiits low end Headphone amplifier. Since you have powered speakers though, you will just be using the DAC, you have no need for amplification.


It would help to know what speakers specifically you have and what inputs they require.
 
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mnewsham said:
I have the Modi 1. The Modi 2 is slightly upgraded, the base model has USB input and RCA output (L and R channel). The upgraded model the Modi 2 uber has USB input, Toslink SPDIF input and, Coaxial SPDIF input. As well as the same RCA output of the normal Modi 2.



The reason you mainly see it being talked about for headphones is most people are buying it to match it with the Schiit Magni, which is Schiits low end Headphone amplifier. Since you have powered speakers though, you will just be using the DAC, you have no need for amplification.


It would help to know what speakers specifically you have and what inputs they require.
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Do any of their DACs have a 1/8th" stereo jack? I have the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 desktop speaker set.
 
mnewsham said:
No, however Dual RCA male to Stereo 1/8" female exists
http://www.amazon.com/3-5mm-Stereo-Female-Y-Cable-6-Inch/dp/B000I23TTE
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Hmm. Well here is how the connections on the ProMedia speakers are connected:

Speakers have bare wire straight from each speaker into the subwoofer. Then the Stereo cable from the sound card goes into the control pod. Then there is a DIN cable from the control pod into the sub woofer. If I get the Schiit Uber, plus an RCA>Stereo cable to the rest of the ProMedia system, I'm worried that somehow the control pod won't receive Bass signal from the Schiit. Maybe. Anyone here have this type of setup with external speakers and the RCA adapter?
 
thatsright said:
Hmm. Well here is how the connections on the ProMedia speakers are connected:

Speakers have bare wire straight from each speaker into the subwoofer. Then the Stereo cable from the sound card goes into the control pod. Then there is a DIN cable from the control pod into the sub woofer. If I get the Schiit Uber, plus an RCA>Stereo cable to the rest of the ProMedia system, I'm worried that somehow the control pod won't receive Bass signal from the Schiit. Maybe. Anyone here have this type of setup with external speakers and the RCA adapter?
Click to expand...

It's not like your computer is sending any extra information to the control pod using 1/8" stereo.

It's a basic stereo connection, that's all there is. RCA is simply splitting the stereo connection into it's own cable per channel.
 
mnewsham said:
It's not like your computer is sending any extra information to the control pod using 1/8" stereo.

It's a basic stereo connection, that's all there is. RCA is simply splitting the stereo connection into it's own cable per channel.
Click to expand...

Thanks man! I'll definitely get one and see how it goes. I suppose the next task is to find a 'high end' RCA>Stereo Jack adapter. I found one on Amazon. But if any of you can suggest, please let me know.
 
thatsright said:
Thanks man! I'll definitely get one and see how it goes. I suppose the next task is to find a 'high end' RCA>Stereo Jack adapter. I found one on Amazon. But if any of you can suggest, please let me know.
Click to expand...

It's copper wire, there really isn't anything high end about it. I wouldn't advise spending money on such a thing unless it's in a mission critical system that NEEDS reliability 24/7.

Otherwise just get a $2 cable and if it ever fails, get another one.
 
mnewsham said:
It's copper wire, there really isn't anything high end about it. I wouldn't advise spending money on such a thing unless it's in a mission critical system that NEEDS reliability 24/7.

Otherwise just get a $2 cable and if it ever fails, get another one.
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So your staying stop obsessing about this? Let me consider this further. Is there a book you can recommend on Amazon that alleviates persistent obsessing over cables? Let me think about that...
 
thatsright said:
So your staying stop obsessing about this? Let me consider this further. Is there a book you can recommend on Amazon that alleviates persistent obsessing over cables? Let me think about that...
Click to expand...

Well if you're serious I can start recommending some AC power conditioners, you wouldn't want improper AC voltage from your local power company to muddy your audio would you?
 
mnewsham said:
Well if you're serious I can start recommending some AC power conditioners, you wouldn't want improper AC voltage from your local power company to muddy your audio would you?
Click to expand...

I have a coat hanger on my roof for infrequent electrical storms. That should power it all.
 
You should at least try and buy good 100% copper cables and not copper clad. Just had a mediabridge subwoofer cable fail on me yesterday. Cheap copper clad cable... Junk basicly. Working one day, not working the next.
 
rchunter said:
You should at least try and buy good 100% copper cables and not copper clad. Just had a mediabridge subwoofer cable fail on me yesterday. Cheap copper clad cable... Junk basicly. Working one day, not working the next.
Click to expand...

You're not making your own cables? Pssh 😎
 
nerp said:
The soundcard market is not what it once was. I used to recommend M-AUDIO stuff as they had good soundcards with great DACs.

Now the key is to buy a good motherboard with a great sound chip and digital out to connect to a receiver. If you're listening to music you should look into external USB DACs.
Click to expand...

For playback, that's true. M-AUDIO still sells some high end PCI-E sound cards for audio workstation type people. But the external boxes are all the rage anymore.

I use a FocusRite 2i2 for day to day listening (as well as recording - it's preamps are niiiice) and it gives me decent (as in, my speakers are bottlenecking me) sound, but only 2.0.
 
I only ever use Bluebird for hooking up a sub. Yeah, the bend radius is a bit of an issue, but I don't ever have to worry about breaking a cable or overcurrent conditions.
 
rchunter said:
You should at least try and buy good 100% copper cables and not copper clad. Just had a mediabridge subwoofer cable fail on me yesterday. Cheap copper clad cable... Junk basicly. Working one day, not working the next.
Click to expand...


That's probably a break in the solder.
 
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