Sound cards...........

[imported_KuJaX]

Heya,

I have a creative labs sound blaster live 5.1. I am running klipsch 5.1 speakers. I was curious if the CA Audigy would make that much of a differece with just mainly MP3's. I don't do any music recording or editing, just music. Thanks

 

[nycxandy]

There will be a difference if you're an audiophile.

 

[bigal40]

i have onboard 5.1 sound out put. is there anything that a sound card will do for me. I don't edit sound or anything just listen to music and play games.

 

[Algere]

It can improve sound effects in games and help offload sound processing work from the CPU, therefore allowing the CPU to be freed from that specific task to instead perform/use more of it's processing power on the game itself and in turn improving overall gaming performance and/or experience.

Sound quality also improves

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: nycxandy
There will be a difference if you're an audiophile.

If you're an audiophile, you wouldn't be using an Audigy card for critical listening.

 

[CQuinn]

If you're an audiophile, you wouldn't be using an Audigy card for critical listening.

And he wouldn't be saving his music as MP3s for that matter...

 

[Kinesis]

OK, then what sound card would an Audiophile use? And what format other than MP3? WMA?

 

[DrMindbender]

I don't know computer format, but he'd have a real album collection he'd be listening to.

 

[DrMindbender]

I think games would see a difference since using sound modes dictates you have a card that supports it. I'm a bigger proponent of starting with the speakers and working your way up to the electonic/computers to get the best sound for your money. You've got already quality speakers. And what would be the point of having a great sound card filtered through crap speakers especially on one of those old compaq monitor integrated ones.

 

[Auric]

Nor would one be using PC speakers. But back to the query at hand... the most significant difference would be in analog signal to noise ratio. If using a digital connection to the Klipsch kit that would be irrelevent and quality only dependent upon its DAC and amp. If the Klipsch DAC isn't very good then using analog with an Audigy (particularly ZS) has the potential to improve the quality but may still be limited by a noisy amp. What is the SNR spec of the Klipsch? When not connected to the PC do the speakers hiss? Does the noise remain the same when connected via digital? Increase via analog?

 

[CraigRT]

if you only listen to music, onboard is fine, I have used onboard on my last 4 PC's without ever a complaint... it sounds fine even when connected to a home stereo system (not $20 computer speakers)

 

[yhelothar]

Get the chaintech AV-710 if you want some nice MP3 quality. It will sound much better than the Audigy, and it only costs $21.
Onboard may or may not sound fine depending on the DAC it uses. Most times it will use a bad DAC. Occaisionally you'll get a good one such as crystal or soundmax(analog devices)

 

[CSMR]

Originally posted by: Kinesis
OK, then what sound card would an Audiophile use? And what format other than MP3? WMA?

There are lots of good consumer sound cards, produced by E-MU (a division of Creative), M-Audio, R-ME, etc, etc.. Often external DACs are used. mp3 and WMA are quite good at good bitrates, but lossless compression is the no-compromise solution.

 

[Skelshy]

Yes it does

relevant? Hard to say. Have you ever heard new details in music you know well? Auditioned different speakers? Spent a substantial amount of money on audio gear? If you have said Yes once, it probably is. Otherwise, save the money.

I have heard good things about the $25 Chaintech AV-710. If you play games, get an Audigy 2

Martin

 

[Algere]

Originally posted by: Kinesis
And what format other than MP3? WMA?

OGG, Wave, FLAC, APE, etc.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
Get the chaintech AV-710 if you want some nice MP3 quality. It will sound much better than the Audigy, and it only costs $21.
Onboard may or may not sound fine depending on the DAC it uses. Most times it will use a bad DAC. Occaisionally you'll get a good one such as crystal or soundmax(analog devices)

:roll:

 

[Gannon]

Your soundblaster is good enough, onboard sound is no good, espcially the cheap chips. The only onboard sound I'd go with is nvidia... I can definitely tell a difference between my audigy and onboard sound. There is way more static / sample errors in onboard audio.

 

[Bar81]

Originally posted by: KuJaX
Heya,

I have a creative labs sound blaster live 5.1. I am running klipsch 5.1 speakers. I was curious if the CA Audigy would make that much of a differece with just mainly MP3's. I don't do any music recording or editing, just music. Thanks

Yes, the difference is substantial. It'll sound as if several layers of haze have been lifted off of the music.

 

[Imyourzero]

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
Get the chaintech AV-710 if you want some nice MP3 quality. It will sound much better than the Audigy, and it only costs $21.
Onboard may or may not sound fine depending on the DAC it uses. Most times it will use a bad DAC. Occaisionally you'll get a good one such as crystal or soundmax(analog devices)

:roll:

Why are you rolling your eyes? The Chaintech blows away the Audigy cards in terms of music quality. The Audigy/Audigy 2 are no doubt better gaming cards but the AV-710 is a few steps up for music. Don't let its price fool you. It is capable of bit perfect audio playback (unlike the Audigy cards) and its Wolfson DAC is better than what Creative uses on their gaming cards. The Creative E-MU 0404 and 1212m are even better than the AV-710 for music but they're nowhere near the price/performance ratio of the Chaintech, plus they are professional/studio music cards and not made for gaming. At least you can game with the AV-710; it's just that you'll lose EAX and it'll sap a few more CPU cycles than an Audigy.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: Imyourzero

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
Get the chaintech AV-710 if you want some nice MP3 quality. It will sound much better than the Audigy, and it only costs $21.
Onboard may or may not sound fine depending on the DAC it uses. Most times it will use a bad DAC. Occaisionally you'll get a good one such as crystal or soundmax(analog devices)

:roll:

Why are you rolling your eyes? The Chaintech blows away the Audigy cards in terms of music quality. The Audigy/Audigy 2 are no doubt better gaming cards but the AV-710 is a few steps up for music. Don't let its price fool you. It is capable of bit perfect audio playback (unlike the Audigy cards) and its Wolfson DAC is better than what Creative uses on their gaming cards. The Creative E-MU 0404 and 1212m are even better than the AV-710 for music but they're nowhere near the price/performance ratio of the Chaintech, plus they are professional/studio music cards and not made for gaming. At least you can game with the AV-710; it's just that you'll lose EAX and it'll sap a few more CPU cycles than an Audigy.

Easy there turbo. I was rolling my eyes because he was saying that you'll notice a big difference in your MP3s. No one in pursuit of top notch music is going to be using MP3s. That's already been covered in this thread.

 

[Algere]

Originally posted by: Imyourzero
Why are you rolling your eyes? The Chaintech blows away the Audigy cards in terms of music quality. The Audigy/Audigy 2 are no doubt better gaming cards but the AV-710 is a few steps up for music. Don't let its price fool you. It is capable of bit perfect audio playback (unlike the Audigy cards) and its Wolfson DAC is better than what Creative uses on their gaming cards. The Creative E-MU 0404 and 1212m are even better than the AV-710 for music but they're nowhere near the price/performance ratio of the Chaintech, plus they are professional/studio music cards and not made for gaming. At least you can game with the AV-710; it's just that you'll lose EAX and it'll sap a few more CPU cycles than an Audigy.

Actually the DAC on the Audigy 2 ZS is better than that of the Wolfson on the AV-710.

EDIT: P.S. You can use the E-MU 0404 or 1212M for gaming too.

 

[CSMR]

Originally posted by: NeborEasy there turbo. I was rolling my eyes because he was saying that you'll notice a big difference in your MP3s. No one in pursuit of top notch music is going to be using MP3s. That's already been covered in this thread.

mp3s are not bad. Highly unlikely that you can distinguish an mp3 from the original at a bit rate of 320 or 256 on the Chaintech, even on better cards.

 

[chilled]

FYI, even with cheap Labtec 2.1 speakers I could tell the difference between the Realtek ALC650 codec and an Audigy2 when listening to mp3's.

 

[Brian48]

I didn't think the difference between a SBLive and Audigy was all the much. The difference between a SBLive and an Audigy2 is VERY noticable. The A2 series uses superior DACs (Cirrus Logic CS4382) and sound superb. The A2 was the first Creative card that decisively pulled me away from my old TBSC.

 

[Brian48]

Originally posted by: Imyourzero

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
Get the chaintech AV-710 if you want some nice MP3 quality. It will sound much better than the Audigy, and it only costs $21.
Onboard may or may not sound fine depending on the DAC it uses. Most times it will use a bad DAC. Occaisionally you'll get a good one such as crystal or soundmax(analog devices)

:roll:

Why are you rolling your eyes? The Chaintech blows away the Audigy cards in terms of music quality. The Audigy/Audigy 2 are no doubt better gaming cards but the AV-710 is a few steps up for music. Don't let its price fool you. It is capable of bit perfect audio playback (unlike the Audigy cards) and its Wolfson DAC is better than what Creative uses on their gaming cards. The Creative E-MU 0404 and 1212m are even better than the AV-710 for music but they're nowhere near the price/performance ratio of the Chaintech, plus they are professional/studio music cards and not made for gaming. At least you can game with the AV-710; it's just that you'll lose EAX and it'll sap a few more CPU cycles than an Audigy.

He's rolling his eyes because the BS metering starting to tilt again. The Audigy and Audigy2 are DISTINCTLY different when it comes to the quality of music playback. As many of us pointed out, the A2 began incorporating very high quality DACs and well as other improvements. The AV-710 may be better than the original Audigy when it comes to overall music playback, but it is NOT superior to the A2. :roll: