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Soundcard advice (mainly dealing w/SB Lives and all the accessories) needed badly!!!

B

Bling Bling

Banned
Ok, i plan to get a better soundcard soon. My primary purposes are for watching movies (i have a 4 speaker setup), playing music, and recording music. Now the SB Live! Platinum looks tempting, but the price is jacked up because of all that software. Is there anyway to get just the card, the line drive II, and the drivers and pay less?

By the way what's the deal with the SPDIF in's and out's. I mean what the heck uses those connectors? I know it stands for Sony Philips Digital something something, but is it any useful?

Also, what's up with the daughter card stuff? I hear of people buying a daughter card with digital out and what not. What exactly does this do? Do you need "digital" speakers to make use of the digital out ports, and how much of a difference does it make?

Are the alternatives to the SB Live! (eg. Santa Cruz) as good as the Lives?

Please feel free to reply. I need to make a decision as soon as possible on which card i should buy.

Thanks,

Bling Bling
 
Well, I bought a SBLive a few weeks ago. It sounds great. I looked at the specs for the Santa Cruz. I thought they looked impressive, but really don't know the finer points of sound systems. I would go for the SBLive.
 
Which one though: Live Value or Platinum?

i don't even consider the mp3+/x-gamer cuz they're just the live value w/software....as far as i know...please correct me if i'm wrong!
 
First of all you have to decide which is more important...games, music or movies? For games i really do think you can do better than a SB card. For movies and music it will do fine. I would not waste the money on the platinum for sure tho, are you really that lazy that you HAVE to have the live drive so you can hook stuff up in front of your PC instead of the back? Waste of money. Do the value if you have to have a SB card.
The spdif ports are for use with digital equipment for output only. Things like digital speakers, dat, md etc. And no, you probably will not hear a difference with digital speakers. Save the $$$.
The daughter cards are to add the ability to do digital INPUTS via your SB card. Very handy for dat and md users to upload and burn to disc.
If you are an "audiophile" i would strongly suggest you consider other options if you will be recording music etc. The SB cards resample data as it passes throug the card which can "color" the music you are recording.
To sum up IMHO if you want a decent all around card you can not go wrong with either of the SB or the Santa Cruz cards. Just don't waste the money on the platinum and digital speakers. But hey, if you've got the cash and really wanna blow some get a REAL sound card for music lovers, a nice amp and some real hi-fi speakers.
j

 
So basically the Live Drive is worthless (besides being convenient)? I heard that the Live Drive II was actually a good thing. But, if it doesn't really add anything besides convenience, then no way in hell am i paying extra for that junk.


StrangeRanger: what other options do you "strongly suggest" for recording music? Also, can i get a live value and then get a daughter card that supports SPDIF (if i even need that)?

Anyone else have thoughts/info?
 
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