Sound Card Purchase

[Sled Dog]

Good Day all!
I am in the market for a new sound card. I'm a little out of touch with what been going on in the audio hardware circuit, and could use some advice on the best make/model to look at. I would like something that is very low in the noise department, and good for importing audio through an analog line in. The Sound Blaster Extigy looks like an interesting piece of equipment, has anyone tried one of these? Some time ago I read that the SB Live were not that hot for SN ratio, has SB changed since then? Suggestion for other brands that anyone has tried would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[mithrandir2001]

A lot of people on the audio boards recommend the Audiophile 2496. It says the MSRP is $230, but people say you can get it for $150. Maybe a little on the expensive side, but it can record 24-bit/96KHz from input to output, which is something the Audigy cannot claim.

 

[JohnnyPC]

Somethig a little bit more down to earth would be any combo in the Audigy line. They all have decent specs per the website and you can find some reasonable deals on them too. If you still don't want to spend even that much then go with a regular Live 5.1 series...sure it won't have quite the specs but do you have high dollar, maxed out speakers anyway?...that will always be the final word on your sound in the long run...

 

[TripsAreF0rKids]

I say you go for something out of the Soundblaster Audigy line also.

Creative Soundblaster Audigy OEM / $61.00 at Newegg.com is a steal

They're very nice cards with superb sound quality and gameing performance. The Audigy also offers a firewire port and the standard gameport to boot. If you dont want to buy a Creative product then may I steer you into the direction of either the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz or Hercules Gametheater GTXP, which are both good cards IMHO. At this current time I can not reccomend the Phillips Acoustic Edge though. They're current drivers leave a lot to be desired. The Audigy and Santa Cruz are around the same price also so keep that in mind. You cant really go wrong with either of them.

 

[mchammer187]

i have an audigy and am planning on getting an extigy

 

[TripsAreF0rKids]

Why would you be replaceing your INTERNAL PCI Audigy for an EXTERNAL USB Audigy? The Extigy is aimed at laptop users who still want kick ass sound. Dont you think with the limited bandwith of the USB ports you may run into some stuttering or sound cut outs? May I steer you towards this review of the Extigy:

Here is the Review

 

[DrZone]

How is the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz soundcard compared to the Audigy ?

 

[AA0]

As for sound quality, most people still claim that the santa cruz sounds better then the audigy, some people say they sound the same, but its obvious that they don't know how to properly tell sound quality.

As for using the line in, the quality of the audigy isn't practically any better then the live, although on paper it is, but in reality, they still record at the same rates. Which wasn't so great when I used the live.

I have heard of potential noise bleeds in certain instances of the santa cruz, but its somewhat minor, and doesn't happen too much. Its a hardware problem.

 

[Sled Dog]

Thanks for the input. I have much reading to do as far as specs are concerned, now that I'm pointed in the general direction. Looks like a toss-up between MidiMan, Turtle Beach, or Hercules, although I haven't read much of the info yet. At present I am using an old SB16, switched to that when I tried to use my onboard audio to import audio, man what a racket, even my dog had to leave the room. It's not bad, but a far cry from what I would like. I was wondering about the Extigy and USB throughput issues, I will read the reveiw on that next. The new card/device will be used in Fred#1. In the near future I am looking to upgrade this well used dinosaur to something in the Athlon line. At that point I will be back looking for your expert hands-on advice as to what MB to use, Athlon or some description of course, as well as info on where to get the goodies. I'm in Canada and online order of some type is about the best way for me to go, as there is no major center close to me that can likely compete with online stores/vendors, at least not that I know of yet. Anyway, any more input on the sound thing is still very much welcome.

Thanks again for the info.