Recomendations on sound card?

[Unclemo]

I have the Klipsch speakers with 4 speakers... I am currently using a $10 sound card and need to get something to really be able to appreciate these speakers. I have not spent much time learning the specifics on the latest sound cards. Any suggestions that allow the rear speakers to work are appreciated.

 

[LXi]

SoundBlaster Live! is the perfect solution for 5 speaker sets.

 

[Unclemo]

Is the live version ok... or is the platnum version a lot better and worth the extra dough?

 

[Jhhnn]

There is a whole family of Live! soundcards based on the same technology, each with a different set of features and "bundle".

Check out the Creative labs website for a better understanding.

The Live! lineup is, arguably, the best available.

 

[LXi]

Exactly my words.

 

[SUOrangeman]

Although Aureal seems to be a dying breed, you may be able to pick up a Vortex 2 card cheap. The issue folks typically bring up is driver support as the company is now bankrupt. Blah, blah, blah (I own a Vortex2 card, BTW).

A new contender may be Turtle Beach's Santa Cruz card. It looks promising, but has to fight a good fight against Creative's regime.

-SUO

 

[Mem]

SBlive Value is a good buy,don`t forget you will also get excellent driver support & it`s the gaming standard.

 

[Unclemo]

Well... I ended up getting the platnum live card.. just been spending too much lately on upgrades and feel poor...

 

[Dan]

Here's another vote for the SoundBlaster Live! Value card.

 

[Zucchini]

NONONONO!!! I guess you people aren't up to date The new Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is far better then the live!. I just traded in my live! X-gamer for the santa cruz. Santa cruz has better sound quality,(18bit dacs) easier to use software, support for a3d/eax/sensaura, 2.1-6.1 output, versa jack that does headphone out,digital out/digital in, better speaker configuration tools.. has front back left right volume slider for each input..the list goes on and on. Also,its not based on 3 year old technology

and ouch, you shelled out how much for that platnium? The turtle beach is $85 shipped from onvia(free shipping no tax).

 

[Zucchini]

Ooops, forgot to add that i also run kipsch promedias Creatives falling a a little behind on tech now, i loved their microworks/soundworks speakers back when they 1st came out. Had both.. but now the promedias wipe the floor with them.

 

[Unclemo]

aaa... doh! I hope I did not make a mistake... but oh well... yhea, those speakers kick butt...

 

[LXi]

Dont worry, he's just BSing because he's got those Santa Cruz cards. The Live! is not a 3 year old technolgy, it came out in late 1998, so it's actually 2 years. But with the Live!ware 2.0 and 3.0, the technology has been updated a couple of times already. Noway a Live! is outdated, and they never will be as long as there are Live!ware updates. EAX3.0 is slated to come out soon as its currently under development, and the Live! card will be flashable to inmplement any newer EAX technologies. Plus Creative has the best possible driver support in the soundcard industry, true Win2K support can I say? I want to see a Turtle Beach card do that. No you did not make the wrong choice, and you should feel good about it.

 

[Erasmus-X]

The Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is a nice card, but I don't think I'll ditch the Live! I've been using since early '99. Man, this card has better feature/driver support than any other card Creative has ever made (and I've been using Creative products since the late 80's). It feels like a whole new card over and over again when they release a new version of Live!Ware. I never thought this card would be one of the best $70 I've ever spent. It's THAT good. I remember my AWE64 Gold setup w/16MB of memory. That set me back almost $300. The ONLY thing I miss about the Gold was that it had a true SPDIF out and its own onboard memory (no dynamic host memory crap). But for 1/5 the cost, who's complaining?

THAT'S the thing Turtle Beach has to compete with. I'm not saying that they make bad cards, but Creative has a gem in their hands and has cleverly marketed it.

 

[NFS4]

Live!

 

[LXi]

Erasmus-X: Very well said.

 

[Zucchini]

Hey hey hey, i've had the live for a year, and my sisters pc still runs fine on her xgamer. I may have been mistaken on the 3 year comment, but its been so long i kinda got mixed up I just don't like eax as much for games and its nice to have a3d as an option on some of the current games. You can't truthfully say that creatives 3d sound is the best That and the versa jack is pretty useful as a headphone output for me. I've had good experiences with turtle beach in the past so i decided to dump my live ... 18 bit dacs on the santa cruz also helped

Anyhow, as for the upgradable dsp on the live.... the santa cruz also uses a programmable dsp, but its 3d sound capabilities are better.

Oh i forgot to add that i ran a mx300 b4 the live!.. got spoiled on 3d sound

 

[LXi]

We're talking about the best all around sound card here, not who performs best in 3D audio. Your Santa Cruz still lacks the capabilities of A3D2, which is pointless because A3D1 wasnt all that great either. All of us Live! owners are well aware of that the 3D isnt as good as Aureal, but by no means Live! should be a crappy soundcard then.

 

[Mem]

Unclemo,you made the right choice you now have the best supported card ,game & driver wise in the Industry,can other cards say the samething.

 

[Zucchini]

Creative does have good support, but innovate they do not

 

[Unclemo]

Wow! I can't believe all the comments from this... I am feeling better now with my decision... thanks for all the info.

 

[Davegod75]

sblive value is the best choice ...platnium and mp3 is just extra software.

 

[Zucchini]

Hm your wrong, .. when i was buying my xgamer i read a ton of reviews.. the value is not as good. It is basically live! version 1.0. All the improvements in soundquality etc on the xgamer are missing for the value. heh.. or else no one would buy the xgamer/mp3

 

[Unclemo]

Does the regular Live! and MP3 Live! come with the front face with inputs too?

 

[Ornery]

Creative,SB Live Value Sound Card w/ Digital Output (oem) $46.00