Cheap but very good 5.1 soundcard, $16

[novon]

I have this card built into my mobo (soyo dragon plus) it's great

 

[zxczxc]

anyone else have problem with its microphone line? the volume is simply too low even with mic boost on and max input volume compared to my SBlive value.

 

[chriskjel]

Thought I'd add my .02 on this card, it's ok if you just want something pretty cheap, but imho the sound quality is pretty cheap as well. I don't listen to mp3's but music cd's sound better on any other soundcard I've tried (philips, creative, hercules fortissimo, etc) . Gaming sounds are tinny and lack depth. Do your ears a favor and spend another $10-$40 and get a decent card.
You can get a Philips Rhythmic Edge (PSC703), with the same chip as their Acoustic Edge, for $39.99-$10
MIR at Best Buy.

 

[JIZ76]

Agree, w/out depth on my partners system. No depth whatsoever.
Guess it depends on who's listening.
my 2

 

[Flaredair]

My favorite sound card is the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. It's on sale @ Compusa this week for $59.99 and no rebates involved. Furthermore, they just released new drivers this week
so do yourself a favor and buy a great soundcard at a resonable price.

 

[djlevyii]

Great posts everyone. What a great deal.

AnandTech comes through again.

If I don't get it for $11 plus the $8 shipping on slezbay, then I'll get it for the $22-$24 from one of the vendors listed in the post.

Wonderful, wonderful.

 

[randomlinh]

ah, $12.. worth a try. i don't have $60 to shell on a new card and my vortex2 has been popping for quite a while...

 

[blade]

From DVD movies to games and audio this still sounds richer and has far better seperation to me than the sb live value cards I had. Ones like the audigy are probably better but they are 2-3 times the cost. For the price this is hard to beat but yes you pay more you usually get a better sound card. Usually anyway. And no pci irq conflicts or driver issues.

 

[Toro 45]

From looking at this pic I'm a bit confused.I'm using a SBlive now with Altec speakers.My Altecs just plug into the line out on my SBL,but with this card it seems you have to have Left right front spkr,left right rear skr,subwoofer etc.cables coming from your spkrs.

Toro

 

[yugpatel]

Toro 45:
From looking at this pic I'm a bit confused.I'm using a SBlive now with Altec speakers.My Altecs just plug into the lineout on my SBL,but with this card it seems you have to have Left right front spkr,left right rear skr,subwoofer etc.cables coming from your spkrs.

Looks like you have 3 piece speake setup. What goes in your SBLive lineout should now go in to Left right front speaker jack. If you had 5.1 setup then you would use left right rear speaker jack as well as center spkr jack. Hope this clear up your confusion.

 

[tajdtj]

Any good deals at staples.com with a coupon for a sound card?

 

[Jeff7]

Just FYI, this is the same sound chip that's used in Shuttle's AK35GT and I think in Soyo's K7V Dragon+ too.

 

[Toro 45]

Thanks for the info

I have the Altec Lansing ACS54 speakers, the 4 speakers plug into the Sub,then the sub plugs into the line out on my SBL.

So it sounds like this card would work just like my SBL,it's more that my speakers don't have the extra(5.1)plugs?

Toro

 

[Jen]

excellent deal


Jen

 

[grifterspawn]

So are all the vendors selling the exact same card?

 

[toshiba3020]

I have seen at least 5 cards that have the same cmedia chip. If the cards are exactally the same I dont know, but they sure look it.

 

[spdfreak]

Lots of companies use the cmedia chip, but if you want a card built by them, it will be an "excel" card. ie audioexcel, theaterexcel... ubid usually has a bunch of them for auction pretty cheap. I've got them in all of my computers, and they have good clean sound on par with a SB live, but with none of the compatibility problems.

 

[Lanyap]

The CMI/C-Media sound chips have been around for awhile. They are generally considered to be on the low/value end of the scale. Several of my older PC Chips all-in-one motherboards use the CMI sound chips (along with PCTel modem, Davidson NIC and SIS video and CPU chipset). The drivers were pretty bad back then. Looks like they are moving up to being more mainstream but most would still consider them low end when you compare them to other well known sound chips. Some of the motherboard manufacturers are beginning to use them on their motherboards instead of the sound built into the CPU chipset and the more expensive well known, higher end sound chips. Sounds like a pretty good cost/quality compromise.

Disclaimer: Since PC sound cards are usually judged by the ears of the beholder I do not make any judgements on the quality of sound from this chip compared to other mainstream chips.

According to this reseller site Chaintech makes the AudioExcel brand of sound card that uses the CMI chip. It's hard to tell who really manufactures PC cards these days due to outsourcing of the manufacturing process. So far the main players using the higher end CMI chips are ECS, AudiExcel/Chaintech and several generic brands.

I may have to pick up one these sound cards myself.

 

[Tanner]

so if "this" is a good value card (not sure what "this" is...b/c there are a LOT of linkX in here) What is a Gr8 sound card? Not concerned about price...just wonderin' what's out there. How much better is it than "this" one?



HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Tanner

 

[toshiba3020]

<< What is a Gr8 sound card? >>



I just what to know what a Gr8 is.

 

[Braves]

I really need a new soundcard (currenlty using my epox 8k7a onboard) but i'm confused.

Is the Audioexcel AV512 sound card here

the same as

the cmedia in the first post here

and if they aren't the same, which is better iyo?

 

[ZimZum]

<<

<< so if "this" is a good value card (not sure what "this" is...b/c there are a LOT of linkX in here) What is a Gr8 sound card? Not concerned about price...just wonderin' what's out there. How much better is it than "this" one?
>>



I just what to know what a Gr8 is. >>



Gr8= Great

The soundBlaster Audigy Platimum is an excellent all around sound card. It will set you back about $170.

 

[blade]

Braves,

The picture of the soundcard at directron doesn't look at all like what I received. It looks more like a sb live card. But they may have just the wrong picture. Checking the cmedia site they show 2 8738 soundcards with no built-in modem. One is 6 channel and the other 4. However the directron says it's C-Media 8738-6ch LX; 6 and according to that cmdia link that model number has an onboard modem too. Directron doesn't mention that.

I'd guess they either have the wrong pic and maybe model number too or that's just an older model. Might be best to call directron to be sure. Oh yeah, and mine came with windvd with the drivers cd.

Toro 85,

I also use the acs 54 speakers with this card. They just don't have the extra conection as you said. Sounds fine to me though.

 

[dogmir]

i bought the asound 4 channel card from that site and has the same chipset as the soyo dragons onboard sound it is 2 less channels then the above mentioned but is half the price......i bought some other stuff from them so i figured why not pick one up to try it....

 

[Braves]

o well, i have 20$ to spare Hope it's worth it