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Sound Card Upgrade

C

conlan

Diamond Member
Need to upgrade my ancient Creative sound blaster audigy2 ZS gamer and looking for suggestions.....
 
What's your setup going to be like? If you're a headphone user like I am I'd go for an external DAC/AMP such as the FiiO E10K, only thing is that you're restricted to two 3.5mm jacks (one controllable through the volume knob, one not) one Coax jack, but no SPDIF or other outputs/Inputs. There are a many others but they are a bit more pricey and the E10K is what people have recommended to me.
 
mfenn said:
Try out the onboard audio in a recent motherboard, you might be surprised by what you hear.
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I've tried that with the Biostar TA-970 that I have in my desktop. It was crackle-galore in high and low frequency response. On a silent-cd test the onboard was noisy. I had to install a sound card. I recommend an sb0770 or sb0880. 24-bit/192k sounds amazing compared to onboard. If you're using analog 2.1 or better speakers, definitely consider the two cards listed. Creative has been updating their drivers and I don't have a single issue with these cards.
 
Xonar DX, works great with any setup up to 7.1, especially headphones (thanks to Dolby Headphone). Creative's drivers take sth like 10x more space. If you have particularly high impedance headphones, consider Xonar DGX with built in headphone amp.
 
Scholzpdx said:
I've tried that with the Biostar TA-970 that I have in my desktop. It was crackle-galore in high and low frequency response. On a silent-cd test the onboard was noisy. I had to install a sound card. I recommend an sb0770 or sb0880. 24-bit/192k sounds amazing compared to onboard. If you're using analog 2.1 or better speakers, definitely consider the two cards listed. Creative has been updating their drivers and I don't have a single issue with these cards.
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It still doesn't cost the OP anything (other than time) to try the onboard. Not every implementation is bad as a low-end Biostar from several years ago.
 
Isn't the biggest difference between on-board and something like the Audigy ZX is the ability to output (decode?) DTS and DD? (Or at least their HD version like DTS-HD)
 
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jdoggg12 said:
Isn't the biggest difference between on-board and something like the Audigy ZX is the ability to output (decode?) DTS and DD? (Or at least their HD version like DTS-HD)
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Nope, there are plenty of boards that will decode and output DTS & DD. The differences, if there are any, are typically things like amplification for high impedance headphones and better signal to noise ratios. However there are plenty of motherboards nowadays that have very good onboard sound. I'd say the op should give onboard a try before spending more money on a sound card that may not be needed.
 
lehtv said:
Xonar DX, works great with any setup up to 7.1, especially headphones (thanks to Dolby Headphone). Creative's drivers take sth like 10x more space. If you have particularly high impedance headphones, consider Xonar DGX with built in headphone amp.
Click to expand...

Another vote for the Asus Xonar series of cards. Great sound and solid drivers. I have a Xonar DG in both of my computers. The headphone amp boost really makes things much louder than the onboard Realtek. And the sound quality itself is night and day better.
 
The SB0770 (Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer) goes for just $18 shipped on eBay. They released drivers in early 2014 that fixed practically everything. For any bit more money though, upgrading from an Audigy 2 ZS ins't going to be worth it cost/performance, unless you have some serious high end gear.

FLAC, DTV, games, and movies sound fantastic on a mid-range Altec Lansing 2.1 system, and even on a decent Lenovo headset-microphone combo. Playback at 24bit/129Khz without distortion is nice, and voice recordings at 24-bit/96Khz also is great for VOIP/gaming.

I haven't tried recording music straight into it, but if it was anything like my Audigy 2 ZS I'm sure it'll be fine. I don't believe anything better than the SB0770 is worth it at all. Immersion in games and movies from the SB0770 was great, too. If I didn't buy a used SB0880 ($48 on ebay) from a local computer thrift store for $4, I wouldn't have upgraded. I can't notice much of a difference between the two.
 
All onboard audio is weak.

I will repeat that.

All onboard audio is weak.

it's just something lacking in the sound. I can't stand them.
 
Unfortunately the Onboard sounds terrible, definately worth the try though....ordered a Xonar DX, thanks all
 
conlan said:
Unfortunately the Onboard sounds terrible, definately worth the try though....ordered a Xonar DX, thanks all
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It isn't. ALC 1150 with shielding + split channels in any half decent mobo will sound very very close. I had a STX with some fancy speakers and sold it.
 
Let's hope that becomes the standard going forward throughout all ranges, because it's quite the upgrade over what onboard audio used to be up until now.
 
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