Get sound card or upgrade to m-audio AV 40?

[rk4adtch]

hi folks,

I've bought the m-Audio AV30 recently. They sound quite good for most of the music, though some mp3 sound bad. I don't know if they are because of low quality (128 kbps). Movies don't sound very good (I tried with "Matrix")

I researched online, and many people say if you have the money and space, buy AV40 instead of AV30, for more bass. I have the space, though its only just enough. Regarding money, I guess I can spend the extra $50. What option would you suggest:

1. should I just upgrade to AV40 to get the extra 5hz of bass response(85hz compared to 90 hz of AV30)

2. Should I get a sound card instead of upgrading to AV40...will that give me better sound with AV30, especially for movies? I'm currently using On-board sound of the Asus M4A88T-V EVO (ALC892, but 'lime' color line-out port in the back)

3. Buy a Optical S/PDIF to rca converter cable or box(does this exist)

4. I have a old Creative Live! Soundblaster external USB card, should i use that instead of the above options? its probably 5 years old, and I had some driver problems with it in my old PC, but maybe it will work fine this time?

Sorry for the long post, its very late in the night!
thanks!

 

[The Boston Dangler]

3 inch wide woofers aren't going to produce bass, no matter what the manufacturer says. neither will 4 inch woofers. i suggest you look into a subwoofer to go with your existing stuff.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I agree, a sub will likely have the most noticeable impact for you, and its something you're missing. I would agree that would be the best option for you at this point.

Yeah, likely the reason some music sounds bad is that you've got much better equipment so it shows the flaws. So, if you can re-rip them, you might do that, or buy a higher bitrate (since iTunes and Amazon are decent bitrate). You might actually hold off though as there's talk of offering even higher quality music on iTunes.

Being good or bad for movies depends. Some people act like any surround sound is better than any 2 channel, which I don't agree with. A sub is an important part of movie watching though, so it would likely be the best thing there as well.

Placement also makes a big difference, especially for monitors, so make sure you have that setup good as well. Its pretty easy to make stands to get speakers at the right height (stacking phone books is good for instance).

I'm not sure that the Soundblaster will be better. It could, but it might not be worth the hassle. Kinda up to you.

 

[yh125d]

What they said. Even a cheap sub would add more to your audio (specifically movies) than a slight speaker upgrade would.


And for MP3's, get at least 256kbps, 320 would be better. 128 is fine if youve got laptop speakers or ipod earbuds, but with decent equipment you need a better source

 

[rk4adtch]

Hi everyone,

thanks for the quick answers. So I will add a sub( i have a 5.1 system for my movie watching setup, will use that) and see how it sounds. But I guess no harm in using the onboard sound of that mobo?

thanks