best sound card for Vista?

[Sniper82]

I am using Vista 64bit and my onboard sound is a little flaky. Whats the best card for Vista as far as support/compatibility?

 

[Mem]

Depends what you want it for, gaming wise I don't have any problems with my Audigy 4 sound card and it does seem to have less problems then the X-FI series(however latest X-FI drivers seemed to have fixed most problems).

There's really not a best sound card for Vista,just one that works and you are happy with.

 

[nerp]

I'd steer clear of creative labs, but I'm an audiophile snob. M-Audio makes nice stuff and they seem to have Vista 32 drivers out for their Revolution 5.1 and Audiophile 2496. 64 bit drivers are supposedly forthcoming.

 

[NeoV]

Asus Xonar Vista drivers are solid

 

[Arkaign]

Vista actually makes high-end audio hardware less important than it used to be. AFAIK, the way it processes audio basically bypasses a lot of the hardware-based acceleration (a la EAX) on many 'premium' sound cards.

Of course, that's just what I've come to understand from cursory research, and I could be way off the mark.

I 2nd the M-Audio suggestion, I've used many of their products with outstanding results.

 

[oynaz]

M-Audio make good sound cards, but you pay for their good recording capabilities. If you do not do a lot of recording, they are a bit of a waste.

 

[Mucker]

X-Fi Extrememusic/Klipsch 2.1 Promedia working great for me in Vista x64. Very easy installation.

1. Un-install onboard sound software, disable onboard sound in bios, install X-Fi card
2. Install newest driver from website
3. Install newest Console launcher from website
4. Install newest media source from website
5. Get or have a good set of speakers
6. Enjoy the sound.