Sound card

[Wolfheart]

First I need to apologize if this is not the right place for this one. Just looks like the right one. Unless I should post this in the Audio/Video & Home Theater thread.

I just bought 2 of these lovely babies: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BX5Carbon

I'm about to use them with my PC. I expect to receive them in the next 10 days. I'm looking for a good sound card in the 100-150$ range. You can see my pc configuration here: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Nakor/saved/

So please give me an idea what should I look for. To be honest I've no idea about audio cards, that is why I'm posting here.

Thank you very much in advance

 

[bradly1101]

Do you need a soundcard with that motherboard? Most motherboards' on board audio could not be discerned from soundcards, maybe unless you were using really expensive speakers or headphones.

 

[Wolfheart]

Well honestly I'm not really sure. The sound card of the motherboard looks pretty good. But I don't know, a friend of mine told me that it will be really good to take a receiver something like this:

http://us.focusrite.com/usb-audio-interfaces/scarlett-2i2/specifications

But I don't know. I'm gonna use those 2 at home for music and some movies. But I would really like it for the sound to be good. Of course I'm gonna get some good cables and the quality of the tracks is going to be nice. But this is all..

 

[jdoggg12]

Do you need a soundcard with that motherboard? Most motherboards' on board audio could not be discerned from soundcards, maybe unless you were using really expensive speakers or headphones.

Ok - so would a Denon 1613 and Klipsch RF3 mains + RC 52 center be considered good enough to make it worth a discreet sound card?

 

[bradly1101]

Ok - so would a Denon 1613 and Klipsch RF3 mains + RC 52 center be considered good enough to make it worth a discreet sound card?

Yes I would think so and I guess it depends on a lot of things (including your ears). For my HTPC I run motherboard digital-out to a receiver.

 

[Wolfheart]

So is it better a receiver, like the one I posted a link to?

 

[truckerCLOCK]

Ok first a couple questions. What is the purpose of your PC? Will it be a HTPC for watching movies..or games??? From those links it looks like your gonna be doing some pro audio recording or playback. So not too sure what you want your PC to do.

 

[weez82]

I would use the onboard. Asus typically does a good job with their onboard audio. Stick with the onboard

 

[Wolfheart]

Well the PC is pretty much built to help me with my CISCO. I experiment with different virtual machines and so on. Next to that I rarely play games and I do watch some movies.

 

[Maiyr]

Then use the onboard and be happy.

Maiyr

 

[razel]

Ouch... you may want to return those active speakers. Unless you plan on keeping the volume at max and using the software volume control in Windows, you can get an occasional loud blasts/pops. Otherwise you'll have to get use to adjusting the volume by constantly adjusting it on both speakers on the back.

But the price isn't all that hot either. I'd spend the extra $50 for NHT SuperPower. I've seen the SuperPower on sale in the $150 range. But I wouldn't buy that either. I'd rather buy the SuperZero 2.1 at $100 each then a cheap home theater receiver.