Recommend a soundcard...

[RufusW]

Hey,

I've been listening to the music coming out of my computer.....it's not good. Firstly, my music is in wma format at 172 kbps, I've upped that to wma 'lossless' which I presume is going to be as close to CD quality as possible. Also, my ASUS P5ND2 has only ever had output in one channel, that means I have to split it into R/L before it goes into my amp. I hope a soundcard will sort that.

So, can anyone recommend a soundcard that'll give me excellent sound quality for about £60-90?

Output goes into a 65W Cambridge amp, then some v.large speakers.

I don't think there's anything else I particularly need it to do, except maybe have a remote control, that'd be cool.....

Any help much appreciated

Rufus

 

[Anon_F]

Try Here

 

[muckshifter]

Sorry fekit, I ain't picking on you ... really I'm not ... I just seem to be right behind you.


Creative are third rate ... go get a Philips card.

 

[Anon_F]

OK try Philips
Now must look over my shoulder........arghhhhhhh

 

[muckshifter]

Just remember mucks' favourite game ... 'the numbers game' ... Philips do not 'cheat' on you ... it's all in the chips.

 

[Galaxybr8]

Hi, Im new here so Here I go Jumping right in there feet first Hahahaha

Im using a Soundblaster Audigy SE thru a set of three separate amplifiers in my "Studio" I have a 300 watt stereo Amp that I built from the ground up going to a large set of Snell Acoustics Model Ones (70's era) for Sub-Bass, an Onkyo Integra TS-DS939 Handles most of the raw power to the two Optimus towers which handle bass , high bass and mids,lastly I have an older Marantz 2270 receiver ( Im an oldschool receiver freak)
(Modded with new outputs) to handle upper mids and high frequencies stacked on the Optimus Cabs..I like the Audigy because instead of having the simple Bass and Treble controls it has a full fledged graphic eq built in ..Ill tell you when I slap some old Savoy Brown or Metallica on this rig , the neighbors feel it.....
I have pics of the rig if'n anyone wants to see them
Hope this helps......Galaxybr8

 

[RufusW]

Haven't bought the soundcard yet, will be going for an audigy though.

That set up sounds ridiculous (ly good).

I wouldn't mind seeing a photo of your rig....

 

[floppybootstomp]

If you can afford it (£51.11) this is much better than the Audigy: X-Fi Extreme Music.

I may get one of those myself shortly although I'll probably go for the Gamer's edition.

Although, tbh, I'm wondering what exactly is the difference between the music and gamer's editions?

And this card looks ok to me, OEM version, £28.19 X-Fi Extreme Audio

 

[V_R]

Xtreme Music owner here, and the sound on its top quality, just be prepared for an over sized driver install....

Cant remember the specifics, but i think i remember reading (on the creative forums i think) that the Xtreme Audio and Xtreme Gamer arnt real X-FI's? But i really cant be sure, and i cant find it now.....

 

[floppybootstomp]

Xtreme Music owner here, and the sound on its top quality, just be prepared for an over sized driver install....

Cant remember the specifics, but i think i remember reading (on the creative forums i think) that the Xtreme Audio and Xtreme Gamer arnt real X-FI's? But i really cant be sure, and i cant find it now.....

Well at under £30.00 I'm wondering about the Xtreme Audio myself, tbh.

But at that price I may just give it a go.

I mean, it's what you hear that counts, is it not? And this Asus onboard sound is a bit naff, truth be told, the DFI onboard sound on my other setup even knocks spots off of this.

Lemme see, this onboard sound is called soundmax, doesn't even have any eq, and the DFI board uses Nvidia for sound, actually sounds spretty good and has some good software, inc. eq.

And as a side note, V_R, as CoD2 sometimes crashes on my dual core setup, I'm going to just play it on the machine in my bedroom. Annoying, cos I can't take advantage of me fancy new setup, but I do like CoD 2.

So, as I'm used to my G7 mouse on main machine, I want something better than the Logi MX1000 on the other machine.

I reckon I'm going to try a Razer Mouse, This one here.

I may order the mouse and the soundcard tomorrow, not sure yet, will have to check bank balance

 

[V_R]

Yes for the price its all good. as you say if it sounds good then, great.

That COD Crashing sucks! It happened to me again last night when i was in E-Frag, then tried to reconnect and the damn server was full!!

Do you think it is Intel's more than AMD, i ask because thats only the second time it done it to me....Or am i just lucky??

Top mouse Flops! I like, a lot!

I finally got round to setting up the extra buttons on my G7 in COD last night, now i got bash on the back button and reload on the side scroll. (That way i just have to randomly hit the wheel and it will reload!) That leave my fingers free to do the running and strafing!

Good luck with your prospective new toys!

Sorry for hijacking your thread PH.

Hang on, this is an old thread! In that case, carry on!

 

[zorrofox]

I'm using an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 in my PC and it's really nice. Before that I had an Audigy ZS but it's like night & day. At least for music anyway. Stereo's good enough for me as I don't really play many games other than RTS's and surround isn't really required for those. My sound then goes from my card output (proper RCA phono outputs) to my Rotel RA-01 amp. Sweet.

 

[xican]

I have a Yahama one...great one

 

[PotGuy]

I want to buy an x-fi music, got really good reviews and stuff, but at the same time ill need some new speakers. I have a pathetic £30 5.1 trust job which is awful and onboard sound which is worse!

bah. I need money.