The Great Sound Card Debate

H

Hippee921

n00b
Joined
Feb 1, 2012
Messages
60
So right now I am running MSI 880G-E45 Socket AM3 880G with Yucky On-board sound and Plantronic 307's to hold me over till I get something better.

As most of us on here we are Gamer's or if your reading this you care about your sound in one way or another. With so many of us worrying about our Headsets or Speakers we greatly overlook this. The quality of our Sound Card. So that brings me to my question(s).

What Sound Card do you use? Why? Do you think it is still a good value at the Current Price? How would you compare it to not only On-board but any other sound cards you have used.

Ps. Anyone Use the Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D? How is it?
 
I use the Recon3D. It's good for gaming, with the 600ohm headphone amp. For standard desktop 2.1 speaker set ups it works well too. If you are an audiophile, there are much better options. The less I play games the more I want to move to a DAC/amp solution and just connect via onboard or sound card optical port. I've heard a lot of people who have complained about interference and loud ass static from other similar sound cards made by Creative and ASUS, but I can say I've never once had this issue with the Recon3D (been using it since it came out).
 
depends, what speakers do you have and what interface do you use to connect to them?
 
I've always used Sound Blasters and currently have an X-Fi HD feeding Denon 1100's and they sound great in games and music. The recon card looks real sketchy to me, really bare and few components.
 
I use the Xonar DX. I use optical out, so really, it's the same thing whether I use the lowest end or highest end card. Since I do use optical, its also difficult for me to justify the higher cost of the other cards. I think the DX is well worth it, its well priced, you get a decent amount of features, its incredibly reliable and easy to set up too (cant say the same about auzentech).
 
I have an XFI Titanium Fatality in my main box, an Audigy in another. It was a huge improvement over onboard in both cases. Hard to describe in words, more depth I guess?

As EPOQ mentioned, a lot of people have issues with Creative cards and static/crackling. That all seemed to vanish for me with 3rd party drivers.
 
HT Omega Striker. I installed it after having continued trouble with the HDMI audio on my GTX 580. The Striker is an excellent card with lots of features. It's connected to my receiver via digital (coaxial). No more choppy video or audio running 5-10 seconds ahead of the video as when I used HDMI audio. That drove me nuts.
 
THe only thing that I have never liked about Creative cards is the massive bloatware that is their driver/software package.
 
Creative, last I heard, had moved away from doing much via the DAC and was mostly a software solution. Also as many games go Dolby (per console partnerships) the soundcard "game processing" matters much less.

A good soundcard needs to have a good DAC and, for headphones, good AMP(s)

Your onboard audio, Realtek ACL889 is a pretty decent DAC, however the AMPs for onboard are always junk (per space on board) and the electronic crosstalk will diminish things quite a bit. HOWEVER, unless you have good speakers or headphones, this won't be your weakest link and upgrading won't really buy you anything.

Asus Xonar Essense STX is STELLAR for 2.0 speakers or headphones, doesn't do much for surround sound as it only has optical out which basically just bypasses the soundcard...

The Asus Xonar line is very good for 5.1 or 7.1 and/or headphones; much less going on with the AMP, but the DAC is still good and for $35-55 it's generally better than most of the budget onboard audio solutions
 
Arkangyl said:
Also as many games go Dolby (per console partnerships) the soundcard "game processing" matters much less.
Click to expand...
When you see a Dolby badge on a game, it means that game is using Dolby codecs to compress the audio. It has no impact on what you can and can't do through hardware abstraction.
 
I'm currently using an X-FI extreme gamer that came in a system I got. I can't really recommend it because the drivers are awful and it seems like there are better options for less anyway.

I don't know how it compares to other cards, but I did notice that the lows/mids sound much cleaner/clearer than my on board sound.
 
PC-1: Win7. I use external EMU 0404 USB and internal motherboard audio. External is mostly used for just music because external is isolated from any possible EMI inside the case and mb onboard for gaming. I don't have any EMI issues on my mb though so both sound good. The EMU allows me to use it as just a DAC too and can feed more than one sound system with it.

PC-2: XP. X-fi ExtremeMusic. I don't use Creative drivers that they have for download because Microsoft has drivers provided at Microsoft update which are simple but functional drivers and don't provide any extra features the Creative drivers have.

PC-3: Vista. mb onboard audio digital out to receiver and an external USB soundcard made by Infrasonic.

PC-4: Win2K. Turtle Beach Santa Cruz fed by analog to receiver.

Laptop: Win7. Use ATI HDMI audio fed to main stereo because the laptop is used only as a music server.

IMO, if you want a good and simple setup then just use digital out form your motherboard to a receiver with decent speakers hooked up to it. On my main computer I have audiolab 8000A amp with Energy RC1 speaker and Energy 8" sub. Another similar setup I have is Onkyo Receiver with Paradigm Titan speakers and main stereo is Denon receiver with Totem speakers and sub. Yes, I have too much stuff.
 
Last edited:
wonderfield said:
When you see a Dolby badge on a game, it means that game is using Dolby codecs to compress the audio. It has no impact on what you can and can't do through hardware abstraction.
Click to expand...

Somewhat. If the game does Dolby, it means you can pass digitally over onboard SPDIF/TOSLINK in surround without the need for extra hardware. Since most if not all games only output PCM, you're limited to stereo digital output over SPDIF/TOSLINK unless you buy a dedicated soundboard to do the on-the-fly encoding.
 
Creative drivers are bloat but I wouldn't recommend not installing the control panel and mode switcher (the functionality core), you'll be missing out on functional switches and features regarding audio quality and setup of the signals, effects and so on.
 
Wow these are some great responses. Thank you. (Even though I forgot I posted this for a bit =P)

I would love to do the whole Computer -> Reciever -> headphone thing but unfortunatly I am married with kids.. So lets just stick to the Sound cards =P.

I have used Creative for a long time before but it seems to me that their quality has gone down quite a bit in both regards to Hardware and Software.

Like I said I am using a set for Plantronic Gamecom 307's to hold me over till I can get prolly a set of Senn 350\360's and I game way more then anything. When I do listen to music its only to figure out what im putting on my Ipod for my drive or having a party (Home and Car is fully outfitted with Polk Audio for free =)

I wanna know the best Card for Gaming. Period. I do like EQs but not at the cost of bloatware.
 
I use a dedicated Digital Analog Converter. That is, I use an external source that is independent of the sound of the computer. It's more expensive but they provide the absolute best sound. I currently use a Schiit Bifrost, which is very good for it's cost. However it's more expensive than almost all the sound cards on the market.

If you really want to get the best sound you can on the cheap, and are tired of the poor reproduction onboard/sound cards give you, look for an old used receiver on Craigslist. I frequently find Denons or better on there for less than $200, and many of these are of greater quality than similar products new. It's a great place to get started for little risk. Just make sure you take your cans and audition them before buying. After that you can pick up an amp (Objective 2 or Fiio E10) for about $150 and pretty much not have to upgrade for many years.

Cheers,
 
Yea I can't do anything external from the PC especially a receiver due to the fact that I would have to use the receiver to setup another 5.1 system in our bonus room instead of using it as a headphone Amp.

Dang Wifes...
 
Hippee921 said:
Yea I can't do anything external from the PC especially a receiver due to the fact that I would have to use the receiver to setup another 5.1 system in our bonus room instead of using it as a headphone Amp.

Dang Wifes...
Click to expand...

You can use an 3.5mm --> RCA and use the receiver directly. No need to set up another 5.1 system.

Cheers,
 
I know how to hook one up its just that I wouldnt be allow to use a receiver just for headphones. If a 2nd receiver came into the house it would have to be for the bonus room or at least the master bedroom before I was able to use it just for PC gaming =P

Im married with 4 kids man. If I was single I would be asking about what is the best value sound card b/c I would just be buying the biggest baddest thing.
 
My apologies, I had no intention of offending what so ever. It was not my intent to derail the thread or push you into making a more costly buying decision. The only point was good receivers come up frequently on Craigslist for very cheap, and that such a purchase may be better than a dedicated sound card for the same money.

Regardless, best of luck with your search.

Cheers,
 
I am curious about this as well. I would believe that 7.1 sound cards would be the best because you want to hear sounds coming from various positions to know where your enemy is. After some research I am unsure most games even use 7.1 sound, since most games are ported from the Xbox and PS3 that only use 5.1 at most which could make 7.1 sound cards pointless. Also the newer creative labs Recon3D only supports up to 5.1 and no headsets of today support true 7.1 with the exception of the razer tiamat which is not even out yet, which makes me boggle the usefulness of 7.1 as well.

I would assume Asus Xonar DX or HT Omega Cards would be best since they have 7.1 sound and also give off good quality. Though I really have no Idea.
 
Devastadus said:
Also the newer creative labs Recon3D only supports up to 5.1 and no headsets of today support true 7.1 with the exception of the razer tiamat which is not even out yet, which makes me boggle the usefulness of 7.1 as well.
Click to expand...
Positional headsets don't seem to reproduce positional audio well anyway. I had a 5.1 set with separate drivers like the Tiamat, it wasn't really any easier to tell front from back.

With real sound that occurs behind you, you hear rearward sounds reflect from surfaces around you, not just from behind. IIRC, the combination of both helps you judge direction. Discrete headsets can't accomplish that since the speakers are all within a few centimeters of your ear.

Most audiophiles suggested I get a pair of headphones with 2 good drivers and rely on virtual surround instead. I can't say it's as good as my real surround sound speakers, but I am much happier with my Sennheiser's than I was with the 5.1 set I had.

Also, based on the output tests, the Recon3D appears to be a downgrade from the XFI line instead of an improvement. I would stay away from it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top