new soundcard for new system inquiry :)

[Sickness]

AV-710 or turtle beach

i dont feel like spending a load of money on the audigy2 and ive read that these are almost up to par with it anyways for a lot cheaper

i have good headphones and mediocre 2.1 speakers...i normally just use the headphones though (doing work at school)

i will be playing games (doom3 :D) while also listening to mp3's

a64 2800+. chaintech sk8t800 512mb mushkin pc3200 blah blah

just want some input before i buy one of these two.... and if there are anymore options then i would love to know

[figgie]

We need a budget so we can start recommending sound cards to you ;)

[IdiotInCharge]

IF YOU PLAY GAMES then I would recommend spending the extra few $$$ on an Audigy 2 OEM. Otherwise, a Turtle Beach Envy based solution will be perfect. Just FYI, NOTHING touches Creative cards in games. Other cards will work, but they aren't near as capable. EAX 2 in software is NOT EAX 4 in hardware.

[GodsMadClown]

The chaintech AV-710 is an excellent bang/buck soundcard for 2-channel listening.

[Sickness]

im just wondering if the extra 50 bucks is worth it...

i heard that the chaintech is really good for the price as is turtle beach and i really just want to know the differences between them both...

[Sickness]

The chaintech AV-710 is an excellent bang/buck soundcard for 2-channel listening.

yeah im not gonna move to surroundsound anytime soon and my headphones are my main source of sound

[ncantador]

I agree with the Chaintech AV710, its basically the same card as the turtle beach catalina, for alot less money

[james__bean]

The Catalina uses the Envy chipset?

Anyways, I just thought I should point out that the Audigy 2 won't do crap for Doom 3. All of the sound will be processed with the CPU for that game so EAX capable hardware won't help you. So for headphone listening a Chaintech AV-710 would actually be better than an Audigy 2.

[jester1176]

ahem, creative and id announced today that although Doom 3 wont be using EAX, the engine does have EAX 4 support in it. See here (http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040726/sfm055_1.html) for details. How do i know it's going to support EAX 4? Hock Leow, CTO of creative said this:

We look forward to the challenge of implementing EAX ADVANCED HD Multi-Environment technology within the Doom 3 engine, and subsequently working with id to make these enhancements available to their licensees.

Multi-environments are only available in EAX 4, which...you guessed it...requires an audigy based sound card.

So, if you're going to not only be playing Doom 3 but anticipate playing Doom 3 engine-powered games in the future, pick up an Audigy.

[james__bean]

I hadn't heard that, good to know.

[ncantador]

[QUOTE=james__bean]The Catalina uses the Envy chipset?

But the DAC are not as good as in the less expensive Envy based cards.

See review here http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=512