Why should I get a soundcard?

[mr. nails]

i've been doing research on soundcards for quite some time and really haven't seen a need for one. i've read that cards suck, terrible customer/technical support, dog shit drivers, or maybe they just never update them. on the other hand ppl have said they are crazy better than that of on-board sound. i for one have never had problems with "Realtek's AC'97 Audio Codec" as i've never had any other on-board codec besides the ill-fated nVidia Sound Storm which was great until they stopped support of it. so, question at hand. on-board sound is GREAT? it's ok? sound card is way to go? wtf is the deal? what manufacturer is best?

[Skiz]

i've been doing research on soundcards for quite some time and really haven't saw a need for one. i've read that cards suck, terrible customer/technical support, dog shit drivers, or maybe they just never update them. on the other hand ppl have said they are crazy better than that of on-board sound. i for one have never had problems with "Realtek's AC'97 Audio Codec" as i've never had any other on-board codec besides the ill-fated nVidia Sound Storm which was great until they stopped support of it. so, question at hand. on-board sound is GREAT? it's ok? sound card is way to go? wtf is the deal? what manufacturer is best?


I used the Realtek's AC'97 Audio Codec in my last computer for years. Now I have a PC that retails for over $3K and still have an onboard SigmaTel. I think it sounds great.

The real test is your own ears. Do you like what you're hearing?

[mr. nails]

yeah, i think my onboard is just fine, but if there is an actual difference then i'd like to check it out. i had the first audigy card when it was released around 2000 or so and it worked, but that's about all it did. no driver updates and/or support for the life of "that" card and i also worked on a system that had a sound blaster live 5.1 card it in as well. both times i tried to update the drivers via dl from creatives web site and the driver package told me it could not find any hardware that matches the driver pack. "um, wtf is in this pc then?" i asked myself. so, that was kind of a turn off there. maybe i've just had bad luck or maybe all sound cards really do blow ass. either way, just trying to get some insight...

[clocker]

My X-fi w/ the 24-bit crystalizer makes headphones sound decidedly better than the onboard ac97 does.
If you're a big gamer, the addon soundcard also has the advantage of relieving sound processing duties from the CPU, which may increase your framerate a bit.

Creative apparently has quite a bad rep concerning driver support but I haven't had any problems, even in Vista the X-fi is working well.

[mr. nails]

Creative Labs X-Fi Products (http://www.soundblaster.com/products)

difference between xtremegamer & xtrememusic? seems most ppl are getting the xtrememusic version over the xtremegamer one.

Xtremegamer (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102006)

Xtrememusic (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102188)

both products seem to be identical in specs. it's just that the music ver is gold plated and is a bigger card. maybe i'll look into the music version. which verision are u running clocker? also, anybody else using these types of cards have any input on this subject? thx.

Auzen X-Meridian 7.1 (http://www.auzentech.com/site/products/x-meridian.php) <-- just saw this. looks to be sweet.

[clocker]

I run the Extreme music...mainly cause it was the least expensive option at the time.
My primary usage is with headphones- if you use a speaker system, other versions/brands might be better.

[mr. nails]

well, from what i've been reading the x-fi sound cards are just GREAT! x-fi xtrememusic to be exact. research has pointed me in the x-fi direction for games and to the auzentech family for music. i think i would enjoy better games sounds over film and music anyway especially since dl'ing movies won't have "perfect" sound anywho.

been looking into new speakers for supporting this new card as well.

Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Speaker System (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16836121120)

perhaps there is something better? are those even digital speakers? lol, idk. they seem nice though.

i'm currently using on-board Realtek AC'97 sound w/these (http://www.ciao.co.uk/Creative_Inspire_5_1_5300_PC_multimedia_home_theatre_speaker_system__5457336) speakers.

[mildthrill]

I just went through this process last year after I decided to upgrade my speakers to these (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16836119101) and all the reviews said I 'must have' a worthy sound card to make it worth my while. Well I ended up getting the card listed below because of it's frequent mail-in-rebates (there's one now!) and great reviews made it a clear cut winner in my eyes.

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102163)

Well I got the speakers first, plugged them into my existing on-board sound and I immediately questioned if I really needed a sound card, it sounded that much better just with new speakers!

Well, I had already ordered the sound card, so that arrived a day or two later, and when I plugged that in, to be honest, I didn't hear that much of a difference.

To go on to answer the why get a sound card question: I probably didn't need to, but my sound card does include a remote that lets me control volume, pause, and even power down the system... all very nice perks! It also has a zillion inputs/outputs which leads me to when I think a sound card really becomes a make-or-break, and that's for people who do recording (music and the such), and require a high quality input for clean sound.

So my suggestion (based on my experience) is to buy the speakers first, and if you're happy with it, skip the sound card. Maybe you'll think a new sound card could push the quality, then I say go for it!

As far as speakers... I was going to recommend the 5.1 equivalent of what I have, but some quick research revealed that while they sound great, I guess there's an issue with the internal amp dieing fast.

[raza]

Well.. depends on "how" you like to listen to your music.. and how much you like music.
Having Z-5500 with an X-Fi soundcard makes you almost a pro..!

[mr. nails]

I just went through this process last year after I decided to upgrade my speakers to these (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16836119101) and all the reviews said I 'must have' a worthy sound card to make it worth my while. Well I ended up getting the card listed below because of it's frequent mail-in-rebates (there's one now!) and great reviews made it a clear cut winner in my eyes.

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS Platinum (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102163)

Well I got the speakers first, plugged them into my existing on-board sound and I immediately questioned if I really needed a sound card, it sounded that much better just with new speakers!

Well, I had already ordered the sound card, so that arrived a day or two later, and when I plugged that in, to be honest, I didn't hear that much of a difference.

To go on to answer the why get a sound card question: I probably didn't need to, but my sound card does include a remote that lets me control volume, pause, and even power down the system... all very nice perks! It also has a zillion inputs/outputs which leads me to when I think a sound card really becomes a make-or-break, and that's for people who do recording (music and the such), and require a high quality input for clean sound.

So my suggestion (based on my experience) is to buy the speakers first, and if you're happy with it, skip the sound card. Maybe you'll think a new sound card could push the quality, then I say go for it!

As far as speakers... I was going to recommend the 5.1 equivalent of what I have, but some quick research revealed that while they sound great, I guess there's an issue with the internal amp dieing fast.
thank u for the input, but imma be going with 5.1 and not 2.1 and i see that ur card has a $100 rebate, but it is old technology. granted i'm sure it's a great card, but i'll prob be going with the x-fi music. still looking for decesnt speakers. not sure if i wanna go logitech or not. logitechs speakers "look" nicer than that of creative, but i just don't care to much for logitech hardware.. problems in the past. on that same note i can't really find any decent creative speakers either. hum.

[mr. nails]

Well.. depends on "how" you like to listen to your music.. and how much you like music.
Having Z-5500 with an X-Fi soundcard makes you almost a pro..!

i love music! "how" i listen to it? i have no idea what that means.

[killuminati96]

Getting a soundcard is like turning the treble up on your stereo. The sound is more clear, open and accurate. It just sounds better. If you video game or listen to a lot of music then this is a must have. If you only net surf then you don't need one. It's especially needed if you video game. Games now-a-days come EAX 4.0 and higher ready and stuff. If you don't have this support then you'll have sound problems in the game. GTA San Andreas is the best example! If you don't have a good soundcard then you get the "sound bug" where most sounds dissappear on you and you only hear the rain or radio. I suggest getting a Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 or X-FI.

[mr. nails]

Getting a soundcard is like turning the treble up on your stereo. The sound is more clear, open and accurate. It just sounds better. If you video game or listen to a lot of music then this is a must have. If you only net surf then you don't need one. It's especially needed if you video game. Games now-a-days come EAX 4.0 and higher ready and stuff. If you don't have this support then you'll have sound problems in the game. GTA San Andreas is the best example! If you don't have a good soundcard then you get the "sound bug" where most sounds dissappear on you and you only hear the rain or radio. I suggest getting a Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 or X-FI.

EAX is up to 5.0 and i've never had this support and have never had problems stating otherwise in games especially sound bug or just sound crashes... not that i'm aware of. so yeah, so far i'm looking into the x-fi xtrememusic version.

[mildthrill]

Yo nails, it sounds like you've done a fair bit of homework on the subject, so I don't have much more to add that you probably don't already know. I'm curious though, if you do a full sound swap (speakers and a sound card); I'd love to know what you hear, difference wise, by swapping out the sound card first and rolling with the speakers you have now, then swap speakers later.

And for anyone else, if you've added a sound card after using the onboard sound extensively (keeping the speakers as a constant) what difference did you notice?

[mr. nails]

so, for black friday i picked up a creative x-fi xtreme music sound card for $60. so far i'm thinking it's meh, but i've only just used it for like 8 hours so not really an opinion as of yet. i was having some problems making my system recognize my usb headphones, but right now it's working. i DO like the fact that i have a fader now. oh, how i miss my sound storm chipset, but i DO hate the fact that i still don't get windows sounds (like at boot up) on all speakers. i kinda figured i would. no? the 24bit crystalizer brings some needed treble to my sounds. i've pretty much just used this card in game mode. i do wish there was an "on the fly" tab or something to switch between modes. that would make it less tedious and probably done more often. anyone have comments on the listening modes? do i need to install the software pack? all i've did was install the latest drivers and that's it. don't really like installing shit on my hdd that i really don't need (damn hp printers and their bloated software). as of now, i'm only happy for the fact that the drivers worked and so does the card. i'll go into more depth once i've used this card more.

[tesco]

GTA San Andreas is the best example! If you don't have a good soundcard then you get the "sound bug" where most sounds dissappear on you and you only hear the rain or radio. That's not true all you need to do is turn off surround/5.1/7.1 in the windows sound options and then gta turns to stereo...

[killuminati96]

GTA San Andreas is the best example! If you don't have a good soundcard then you get the "sound bug" where most sounds dissappear on you and you only hear the rain or radio. That's not true all you need to do is turn off surround/5.1/7.1 in the windows sound options and then gta turns to stereo...

The sound bug has been well discussed on multiple sites and Rockstar even made a "fix" on the patch. I had the sound bug and when I got an EAX 4 soundcard the problem went away. Don't argue with me man. I had the problem myself and know what I'm talking about. :dry: Regardless of EAX video gaming support the big advantage I mentioned was how much better music sounds. You gotta have nice speakers tho. You can't expect good sounding music on cheap speakers. I'll tell ya what I did. I got a "Belkin Y Cable Splitter" cable. I hooked one end to my card and the other into my Hi-Fi stereo system. My pc audio is going into my stereo which makes my games & music real loud and have good bass.

[mr. nails]

I got a "Belkin Y Cable Splitter" cable...

i'll have to look into that.