On Board Sound Vs. Soundblaster

[thebestMAX]

I have an Epox 8RDA+ (Nvidia nForce2) with onboard sound that I have been OK with but have recently acquired an older Soundblaster X-Gamer card.

Would it give me any better sound than I have now?

Ive read the other threads on sound but they dont seem to really answer this question.

Opinions?

Thanks,
M

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I had a SBLive and nF2 and compared, the SBLive was definitely better sound quality than the realtek provides. If you connect SPDIF though and have the MCP-T then it surpasses the SBLive hands down. This is of course, my subjective analysis

 

[thebestMAX]

Heh, somehow I knew it was you who would answer this question for me. Figured you wold be first too! I just should have started the thread "Hey, Dapunisher".

Thanks very much, reinforced my thinking. No SPDIF avail at this time so I may experiment with the card.

 

[Mem]

It`s really down to your ears,I`m using the onboard nForce sound on my DFI board instead of my Audigy and that`s in analogue mode.

 

[thebestMAX]

Thanks, Mem

I just hate to let any electronics I have lie idle if I can get any increase in quality. Been an Audiophile a long time so I can appreciate subtle differences. Really was surprised by how good on board sound can be.

 

[Mem]

Been an Audiophile a long time so I can appreciate subtle differences

thebestMAX same here ,another reason I prefer onboard sound is I like a tidy case for my window so having no PCI sound card in there looks neater,besides onboard nForce sound is pretty good and seems a shame not to use it.

I`ve noticed some nForce boards have better onboard sound then others,so that`s why you should listen with your own ears & speakers since that`s another deciding factor,btw nForce drivers are solid for gaming no problems that I`ve found,too bad you can only have Direct sound or EAX2 since Creative won`t open up the EAX4 standard to others.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Good points about no extra add-in cards Mem. I compared between the Live and my Shuttle SN45G in analog and I thought the sound from the Live was "richer and cleaner" but YMMV as stated, due to subjectivity. I am certainly no audiophile, so take that into consideration with my opinion. I just read up on nForce related audio stuff@nForcersHQ and regurgitate that along with my own experiences with it, when people ask about nForce audio.

 

[thebestMAX]

Agreed.

My SFF system is an Antec Aria case with a Shuttle MN-31N and the less boards in there, the better the cooling and accessibility. I was going to put a Radeon 8500le in it but the on board nVidia dual head is fun and the sound more than adequate. Built it so I could upgrade it later but dont see a need at this time.

 

[Mem]

DAPUNISHER,yep it`s all subjective,on my DFI NF2 Infinity board ,the sound quality was not far off from my Audigy.



I got rid of my old SB Live,gave it to a charity company that needed a sound card for their old PC.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Donating to charity is good karma I kind of donated mine, I shipped it to Canada global priority and my asking price was only $15 shipped.

 

[jamesbond007]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Donating to charity is good karma I kind of donated mine, I shipped it to Canada global priority and my asking price was only $15 shipped.

LOL! Quite funny.

I have setup a few nForce boards, but just have worked with the nForce 1 generation of chipsets. I must say, for the quality it produced, I was flabberghasted. (sp?) It kicked a lot of butt.

Right now, I have an Audigy 2 ZS Platinum, which is an alright card. I don't like how slow the software is, even on a 3.2 P4. Reading all of these comments about how 1337 it is to have an Athlon 64, 6800-series graphics card, and the pure genius of the nForce3 chipsets...I might have to make the switch before school starts here. Once school starts, God knows it's the end of all mind-free spending.

Sorry for the off-topic rambling...

EDIT, what I was trying to get to was...since I use SPDIF from my Audigy 2 ZS, would I even hear a difference if I used the SPDIF on say, a K8N-E Deluxe from ASUS? (nForce3) I get no multi-channel signals from my Audigy 2. Well, only when I test a DVD, but as for gaming, that is all done through my Klipsch DD-5.1 decoder in ProLogic.