Can anyone recommend a good sound card?

[Oifish]

It's been time to replace my old sound card for too long now. It has to be a 5.1 card, and is mainly for gaming and music. And if at all possible one thats under $100. Thanks for any good ideas.

 

[Omizzle]

Hmm, if you're on a budget, go for the X-Fi Xtreme Music card. You can usually find them for <$100

 

[Ichigo]

Rather pointless for you to get a soundcard

 

[dBTelos]

Better for you to upgrade your speakers first.

 

[sniperruff]

as long as it works, most sound cards sound the same. it's not like upgrading to a cd player from a walkman

 

[Ionizer86]

There's supposed to be a SB Live 24 bit on sale for $10 AR. Check FW maybe?

 

[w00t]

Originally posted by: Ionizer86
There's supposed to be a SB Live 24 bit on sale for $10 AR. Check FW maybe?

he already has the SB Live 5.1

btw nice laptop not a big fan of the 14.1 screen size though. did you end up getting the X1400?

 

[Ionizer86]

Someone mentioned that the live 24 was newer and more audigy-like, so it's possibly a (small) upgrade. I really have no idea because I have a Soundstorm in one desktop and a Santa Cruz in another.

The laptop has the GMA950. It was the sub $1k sale T60 that a lot of people were getting. The 15" version was just $50 more, but I prefer 14.1" for the sleeker form factor. No graphics card choice because the three sale T60's were all ThinkExpress models. GMA950 isn't that bad though; integrated is getting performance somewhere between a Radeon 9200 and 9600 mobile now, and if the reduced heat and power draw are for real, then for me, the GMA would be the better choice.

Soon I'll need to get another 512MB DDR-2 sodimm. Too bad that for now, all the sale sodimms are PC2-4200.

 

[Oifish]

The main reason I want to upgrade is that this sound card is really weird when playing games. Like for example, GTA:San Andreas I get random cut outs. And I've never had any complaints with my speakers they have been working great for me.

 

[secretanchitman]

how about the sound blaster audigy 2 ZS? lots of people on the forums have that card. or go for an x-fi xtrememusic.

 

[John]

Originally posted by: sniperruff
as long as it works, most sound cards sound the same. it's not like upgrading to a cd player from a walkman

I disagree. A quality soundcard (X-Fi, EMU404, Juli@, etc) connected to a quality set of headphones (HD595, HD650, K701, RS-2, etc.), or speakers, will allow you to hear the difference. When you add an amp or external DAC it's even more noticable. If you have crappy speakers then it's a moot point. 😛

For gaming and quality music playback/encoding look no further than the X-Fi. Afterwards you really should look into upgrading your speakers/headphones.

 

[fire400]

FS/TR forum, you'll probably find an X-fi for under a hundred bucks.

X-fi is the best card I've ever used. But I still like the Audigy LS interface as far as software goes.

 

[Mesix]

I'm running Klipsch Promedia 2.1s up front and some Harmon/Kardon 2.0s out back for 4.1 total. (Yes it is surround and not just stereo playing out a bunch of speakers. I nearly had a grinning fit playing around with talking to people in Doom3 and turning around)

These are by no means bad speakers (The Klipsch are FANTASTIC) but they're simple stereo 1/8th inch jacks. Would upgrading from the Neo4's onboard to an X-Fi make a very noticable difference?

I always read that they're so much better, but usually in the case of headphones or a digital connection to the speakers. Would I benefit from an X-Fi? Would I notice the same difference if I got an Audigy2, or even an SB Live 24?

 

[mshan]

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=59

🙂

 

[araczynski]

get a used audigy 2 zs, its 7.1, but will work 'downgrade' to 5.1 with no problems. i bought my brother one from a guy here (hellfire88?) for $45 shipped.

personally i'll probably be skipping the x-fi line for their next iteration, as i always skip a generation with sound cards. my previous card was the sb live!.

there was definitely a noticeable difference between the sblive! and the audigy2zs (got it for ~80 about 3 years ago?), but i think the only real difference you'll notice between the audigy2zs and the x-fi will be the one in your wallet. unless perhaps you're running some $500 speakers and an audio studio, in which case even the x-fi will be crap.

 

[imported_goku]

You might wanna try out the audigy series, I believe it was X-fi, I haven't bothered with it because I just bought my audigy 2 zs and the next video card I get will likely require a bigger case (one with front drive).