Sound card

[Dorkenstein]

Hi, I need a recommendation for a sound card for mostly gaming but I listen to lots of musi too. I was looking at the ESI Juli@ which is a gorgeous card but it sais 'not for gamers' in a review, then I looked at the Razer Barracuda which isn't out yet. Any more ideas? Thanks very much.

 

[Oyeve]

X-fi.

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: Oyeve
X-fi.

:thumbsup:

I just got my new headphones to go with my Xtrememusic and let me just say wow! That thing is fantastic!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Do you have good speakers / headphones to justify buying an expensive card?

 

[Oyeve]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Do you have good speakers / headphones to justify buying an expensive card?

Who? OP?

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Oyeve

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Do you have good speakers / headphones to justify buying an expensive card?

Who? OP?

No, Santa Claus....of course the OP!

 

[Dorkenstein]

I only have 2 old speakers right now but that's next on my list.

 

[NYslipstream]

If you're getting new speakers, then I would get the X-FI Extreme Music. I have it myself, and the sound it puts out is really great. I haven't had any bad experience with this s. card, knock on wood.

 

[Zap Brannigan]

Originally posted by: Dorkenstein
Hi, I need a recommendation for a sound card for mostly gaming but I listen to lots of musi too. I was looking at the ESI Juli@ which is a gorgeous card but it sais 'not for gamers' in a review, then I looked at the Razer Barracuda which isn't out yet. Any more ideas? Thanks very much.

What do you have for speakers?

 

[Dorkenstein]

Hmm, let me see. It's been so long since I have regarded them. They just say 'Sound Force 505', I think they are old Labtec's. I want to get some new ones.

 

[Maximilian]

Audigy 2 ZS does me fine for both uses, its good enough for my Z5500 speakers and does fine in games. Although the newer x-fi's have better EAX support and are probably a reasonable price nowadays, so i would get one of them.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Dorkenstein
Hmm, let me see. It's been so long since I have regarded them. They just say 'Sound Force 505', I think they are old Labtec's. I want to get some new ones.

Getting some high quality speakers is going to make a ton of difference in your final sound.

The basic X-Fi would be a good match for some of the high end 5.1 computer speaker sets or something better.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Soviet
Audigy 2 ZS does me fine for both uses, its good enough for my Z5500 speakers and does fine in games. Although the newer x-fi's have better EAX support and are probably a reasonable price nowadays, so i would get one of them.

They have been as low as ~$60 recently, pretty reasonable compared to what they originally cost.

 

[Brian48]

Originally posted by: Oyeve
X-fi.

 

[Zap Brannigan]

I would upgrade your speakers first, I think you get get a set of Klipsch 2.1's for like 30 bucks more than an X-Fi.

 

[Dorkenstein]

Cool. There's an idea.

 

[Dorkenstein]

Is something like a headphone or speaker amp still useful?

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: Dorkenstein
Is something like a headphone or speaker amp still useful?

I think you'd really only hear a diffrence with high end headphones and speakers.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

High impedence headphones will benefit more from an amp than low impedence ones. Higher end headphones tend to have higher impedence.

As for speakers, "computer speakers" will have an amp built in (usually in the sub, and then the speakers will connect to the amp in the sub).

If you want to get more serious about sound, then you can get some kind of powered monitor that will also have its own amp, or you can get some regular speakers of your choice and then you'll need an amp to power them.

So for a speaker amp, you'll either NEED one (as in it wont work without one) or the amp is built into the system somehow.

For headphones, certain ones will improve significantly with some amplification but they should all work without an amp.

 

[Dorkenstein]

Is Klipsch the only way to go for speakers?

 

[Slammy1]

You want to spend significantly more for speakers than you do for audio processing, the former doesn't change much the later pretty regularly. Start with a good speaker set and amplification (even if you use your PC as a preamp/processor).

Coming from an XFi platinum setup with significant SCP issues, I can't in good conscience recommend an XFi. I think once sound cards can utilize the PCIe architecture we'll see real reasons to upgrade.

 

[Ika]

Originally posted by: Dorkenstein
Is Klipsch the only way to go for speakers?

Definitely not. But I'll let yoyoyo embellish on this subject

If you game at all, even a little bit, really the only option for high-quality sound is the X-Fi. If you want better quality music out of an X-Fi, you're going to be looking into DACs and amps, and that business is messy. So don't worry about that, just get the X-Fi and upgrade your speakers to whatever yo yo yo recommends.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Dorkenstein
Is Klipsch the only way to go for speakers?

No

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Aflac

Originally posted by: Dorkenstein
Is Klipsch the only way to go for speakers?

Definitely not. But I'll let yoyoyo embellish on this subject

If you game at all, even a little bit, really the only option for high-quality sound is the X-Fi. If you want better quality music out of an X-Fi, you're going to be looking into DACs and amps, and that business is messy. So don't worry about that, just get the X-Fi and upgrade your speakers to whatever yo yo yo recommends.

Oh, I'm supposed to mention specifics?

Step 1
What's your budget

Then I'll talk

There's so much out there at different budget levels that it's kind of pointless for me to start rambling (even though that rarely stops me)

If you like rambling,
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=30&threadid=1810562&enterthread=y

 

[Dorkenstein]

Well I am unemployed so I was going to use my existing headphones until I can afford better. I have the Plantronics Counterstrike set of headphones, not great, I know.