Best Sound Card..and the winner is

[jacktesterson]

Sure.

Also my Z340's pop right now when the lights are turned off or on because its on the same power strip..weird..but oh well.....doesnt hurt the speakers any. Using the Onboard AC97 that came on the ECS K7VZA motherboard. Works great for a standard set of speakers (such as my old Altec Lansing AC21's) but now that I have a reletivly descent set of speakers, Id like to see what a sound card could bring me.


So basically the Seismic Edge, Fortismo II, SB Live 5.1, Aopen AW-850 5.1 are my choices....I like what I hear about the first 2-3, but has anybody hear of the Aopen AW-850 5.1? Reason why I ask about it is I can get it locally for a good price, unlike internet ordering and waiting a week to get the others....Not a big deal, just looking for a opinion about it.

 

[Mem]

I like what I hear about the first 2-3

For your price range and a great sound card there can only be one,go with the Philips SE ,it`s sound quality is excellent for music ,and also a pretty good gaming card,at the price available it`s hard to turn down.

More info here on the Philips SE .

 

[nortexoid]

if u're on a very tight budget and will ALWAYS be running some version of windows, go w/ the AOpen AW850 - great card for the money...no digital I/O though...personally that doesn't bother me...the only benefit of digital, if you ask me, is for MD recording and AC3 Pass-thru for external dolby decoding.

if u have a little more money to spend, the cheapest and best card u'll probably find in canada is the Fortissimo II @ infonec for 79 (or 76 @ ncix)...infonec's in mississauga

otherwise, the audigy's available for 89 OEM @ canadacomputers...not a bad price either...i'd personally save 10 and get the Fort II w/ digital I/O and great drivers and NOT creative-supporting.

being on a tight budget's a bitch...the AOpen card is good tho - better than the c-media ones no doubt.

 

[bluemax]

Another vote for the Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo II.
Why? It uses *almost* the same chip as the TB Santa Cruz - the model number is simply 4 less than the TBSC and the only thing it lacks over its big brother is MP3 acceleration. Whoopee.
For less money than the Santa Cruz, you get something with optical in/out and a load of good software (oh yeah, and a card that's as good as TBSC.)

And it's blue!!

 

[nortexoid]

Originally posted by: bluemax
Another vote for the Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo II.
Why? It uses *almost* the same chip as the TB Santa Cruz - the model number is simply 4 less than the TBSC and the only thing it lacks over its big brother is MP3 acceleration. Whoopee.
For less money than the Santa Cruz, you get something with optical in/out and a load of good software (oh yeah, and a card that's as good as TBSC.)

And it's blue!!

that's not entirely true...the chipset's only capable of 4 channels, not 6...but who cares since he's only using a 2.1 setup, AND the fort II comes w/ a dedicated headphone jack.

 

[jacktesterson]

Yeah well this fourm has given me many things to think about now...hmm hehe....well everything in life is based on opinions....and you can see that right here.....probably any of the cards do the trick...but right now i seem to like the phillips. now if only i could find it

 

[jacktesterson]

I use music as a number one priority and gaming is #2....some gaming,..Max Payne, Warcraft III, NHL 2002, Castle Wolfenstein and Half Life being the main games....but definitly music is #1......4500 songs

 

[Brian48]

Originally posted by: bluemax
Another vote for the Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo II.
Why? It uses *almost* the same chip as the TB Santa Cruz - the model number is simply 4 less than the TBSC and the only thing it lacks over its big brother is MP3 acceleration. Whoopee.
For less money than the Santa Cruz, you get something with optical in/out and a load of good software (oh yeah, and a card that's as good as TBSC.)

And it's blue!!

In theory, that makes the Fortissumo II just as good as the Santa Cruz when not using .mp3 acceleration or a 5.1 speaker setup. In reality, the Santa Cruz/Herc GTXP does sound better than the F2 and has better sound reproduction across the board. I had one, and in fact, sold it to someone on this board a few months ago. Although the sound was good, both music and gaming playback was noticably flatter than what I was used to with either Audigy and Santa Cruz. The only clear advantage of this card is the DAT input/output. Now this may be a driver issue, but considering that there aren't too many sound cards using the CS4624 chipset, you're pretty stuck with the Herc/Guillomet.

 

[jacktesterson]

Originally posted by: Brian48

Originally posted by: bluemax
Another vote for the Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo II.
Why? It uses *almost* the same chip as the TB Santa Cruz - the model number is simply 4 less than the TBSC and the only thing it lacks over its big brother is MP3 acceleration. Whoopee.
For less money than the Santa Cruz, you get something with optical in/out and a load of good software (oh yeah, and a card that's as good as TBSC.)

And it's blue!!

In theory, that makes the Fortissumo II just as good as the Santa Cruz when not using .mp3 acceleration or a 5.1 speaker setup. In reality, the Santa Cruz/Herc GTXP does sound better than the F2 and has better sound reproduction across the board. I had one, and in fact, sold it to someone on this board a few months ago. Although the sound was good, both music and gaming playback was noticably flatter than what I was used to with either Audigy and Santa Cruz. The only clear advantage of this card is the DAT input/output. Now this may be a driver issue, but considering that there aren't too many sound cards using the CS4624 chipset, you're pretty stuck with the Herc/Guillomet.

what good is DAT input to me? Im just using a 2.1 configuration...a 20 watt sub and 2 6.5 watt speakers i beleive. are speakers going to DAT?

 

[Xenon14]

go with the Philips $27 is a steal... unless you're really pressed for cash. In that case, go with an Aopen card - I'm still running an Aopen yamaha card from 1997 - it's the most dated piece of hardware in my computer and it still beats AC97 codec...so a new Aopen card would be more than enough in comparison. Come to think of it, I want to upgrade too!

 

[bluemax]

Have to admit, the Fortissimo II is a pretty good alternative to the TBSC if you can't GET a TBSC where you live. (For example, they're NOWHERE in Canada!)
And they're a good price - sometimes almost HALF what the TBSC retail goes for.

I'd put it as a better alternative than a SB Live/Audigy.

 

[nortexoid]

huh? why do people keep mentioning mp3 acceleration and the santa cruz?...the latest (the last few too) release of their drivers have mp3 acceleration disabled by default...and you CANNOT enable it...why? because it's utterly useless in a system using a processor faster than 300mhz...i believe 3DSS tested it way back as well...

i bought my santa cruz OEM from canada for 56 bucks last year i think...haha - they don't sell it there anymore (canada computers)...a shame really, cuz i can't find it anywhere around here...most people only carry creative or some crappy cheapo cards...i bet the AE is even harder to find...

when it comes down to it, u might as well save yourself the headaches and money and pick up the AW850 utilizing AOpen's audio chipset (NOT the yamaha one, which one of their older cards used - not the AW840 either tho)...the 840 is slightly cheaper and slightly stripped down...i would dish out the couple extra bucks for the 850 if u do go that route.

 

[robbyT]

enough with these cheap ass video game sound cards

This is what i use

 

[Brian48]

what good is DAT input to me? Im just using a 2.1 configuration...a 20 watt sub and 2 6.5 watt speakers i beleive. are speakers going to DAT?

It's completely useless to you. I wasn't making a recommendation. Just pointing out that unless you happen to need DAT, there are no advantages in going with this card over the Santa Cruz. To me, the amount of money you're saving is is not worth it.

 

[sandorski]

Here's an *unvote*/*(-1) vote* for the Audigy. I'm gonna toss this Gamer some day, need new vidcard first. Also being a Canadian, I know how hard it is to find a non-CL sound card. The best selection I've seen has been at Electronics Boutique where they had Aureal(long ago now) and Hercules based cards, as well as the usual CL crap(though it wasn't crap at one time). If you can find a Turtle Beach card in Canada, don't tell anyone until you get one for yourself.

 

[jacktesterson]

I notice a whille back Dell Canada was putting turtle beach cards in there systems but your right, I find nothing but CL and Aopen cards locally

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: robbyT
enough with these cheap ass video game sound cards

This is what i use

Oh never fear, if money were no object I'd go pro-audio too. I could really use it for Halion and GigaStudio.

But as it is, money IS a concern, so it'll have to be a Roland/Edirol SD-20 and a Hercule Fortissimo II.

In Canada, the TBSC is **impossible** to find. The rare occurrance is expensive - the OEM cost almost TWICE what the FortissimoII RETAIL goes for. The Fortissimo II is a darn good card, and cheap, for those who cannot get a TBSC where they live.

The fact I should have managed to get mine for a song is a good thing.