Sound Card compare advice

[moosey]

What would be the best of these and the worst? Also, how much of a difference in sound quality between each? Also take into account price/value. It would be used for 3-D gaming and MP3. But aside from these uses, look at it in general as well. Thanks

1. C-Media integrate
2. Aureal sq2500 (based on vortex 2)
3. Hercules Fortissimo II
4. CREATIVE LABS SOUND BLASTER LIVE! 5.1
5. The SB Audigy Cards
6. Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
7. PHILIPS ACOUSTIC EDGE 5.1

 

[MWink]

I would pick the Santa Cruz. I have 2 of them and love them. They are expensive but they really are worth it.

 

[WyteWatt]

I would pick the Santa Cruz also! It is a very good sound and has very good driver support. Latest drivers for it are barely a month only for windows 2000/XP and windows me! They are dated 1/10/02!
They update drivers every 3 months at least if not more! They were the first ones to have windows xp drivers too which was like 3 months before windows xp was even out! Driver support is always a very important thing. This sound card also sounds very good. I use my Santa Cruz with the Logitech Z340 2.1 speakers and i love the sound quality! No cracking, no static, nothing. Just crisp, clear sound!!!! I mainly play games when i am using sound and i like the sound for games very much. So far played pretty many games and everyone sounded great!!!! I got the card on sale at compusa. It is orginally $79.99 without the sale but they had a $20 instant rebate going that week and i got it for $59.99 plus tax so i end up paying $65 for the Santa Cruz retail which was not bad at all. I am sure this sound card would even sound even better on 4.1 speakers but i did not really want to spend $140 to $200 on 4.1 speakers right now. But i do know with just my 2.1 speakers i have not taken full advance of this card yet intill i get 4.1 speaker. BTW i tested some music but i do not really listen to music or like music and i thought it sounded excellent!! Remember i am only using 2.1 speakers too so i am sure it would sound if not 10 to 100 times better on 4.1 speakers with this sound card.

 

[tornadobox]

i'd pick the TB Santa Cruz also...

...the Audigy has a known problem which Creative has acknowledged, the SB Live! made terrible crackling sounds for me under XP, and i'm currently running the TB Stanta Cruz with zero problems.

 

[Brian48]

For gaming:

1. Audigy
2. Santa Cruz
3. Herc GTXP
4. tie: Philips + Fortissimo II
5. everything else

For music/.mp3's

1. Santa Cruz
2. Philips AE
3. tie: Audigy / Herc GTXP
4. Fortissimo II
5. everything else

Yes, I've owned all of them.

 

[NeoMadHatter]

<< For gaming:

1. Audigy
2. Santa Cruz
3. Herc GTXP
4. tie: Philips + Fortissimo II
5. everything else

For music/.mp3's

1. Santa Cruz
2. Philips AE
3. tie: Audigy / Herc GTXP
4. Fortissimo II
5. everything else

Yes, I've owned all of them. >>



well, that about sums it up for everyone. that's pretty much the list if you go by price/value. otherwise, it would look a bit different.

 

[Ringer]

For the money, CMedia is the winner hands down....There is a 5.1 surround solution offered by some motherboards now that rock. I have had 2 mobos with the older 4.1 and it was as good if not better then my Sound Blaster...The software is not as pretty as the sound blaster or the other retail cards,but it is quality vs. price I am looking at, right? Pair the CMedia up with a fairly good set of surround 4.1 speakers and voila!..."THUMP-THUMP-THUMP" piss off the neighbors...supports everything games code nowadays and sub out rocks your home.

 

[WyteWatt]

Brian48 how did you own all of them? You brought them all and tried each one and kept the one you liked best? Or you reviewed them all ? Also which one do you have in your system btw? Curious

Thanks

 

[Brian48]

I upgrade my sound card just as often as I do my video card. I got tired of my SBLive about two years ago. Upgraded to the Philips 'cause I heard it was so great. It was, but the CPU overhead was HUGE compared to my old SBLive, especially in UT where I need the fps the most. After a while, I sold that and picked up the Herc GTXP. Games were OK for the most part, and music was great, however the Win98/Win2k drivers were buggy as hell at the time, multi-speaker support was spotty, and the USB was unreliable. After I got rid of the Herc, I picked up a Santa Cruz. Excellent card, but there was (and still is) some game issues. Best music card I've used thus far. Anyway, I was happy with the SC until I bought an Audigy on impulse one night. I was very impressed by it's gaming performance. Although music/.mp3 playback was still not quite as good as the SC, games sounded superb (and I'm primarily a gamer). Anyway, I sold my SC to get a second Audigy so I could take advantage of the firewire connection. Although I liked the Santa Cruz, I certainly don't miss it.

The Fortissimo II is still in one of my other boxes.

my active boxes

As a side note, I also have a Muse XL sitting around as well. Excellent budget card for anyone looking for a cheap option.

 

[Lvis]

I bought a sb audigy last weekend.. so far so good. Works well. The firewire connection is a nice extra, don't know if I'll ever use it though.

Came with two games, giants and dues ex, too

 

[Brian48]

Forgot to mention, I never owned the C-Media nor the Aureal sq2500, but I did own a Diamond MX300 (Vortex 2) prior to my first SBLive back in '99.