Get a sound card?

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mooman689

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I couldn't find a thread about sound cards so here this goes.

I've been thinking about getting a new sound card...But the problem is my SLI setup covers up my PCIe slot so I would either have to move my GPUs or just go with a normal PCI sound card, which would also then have to fit under the SLI bridge. Searching around I've seen the Creative cards to be the most used cards, and the Asus and HT Omega cards to have good reviews as well, with the Omega cards having the upper hand on newegg. So with probably only being able to use a regular PCI slot, what are my choices?

Theres onboard... which right now is ok, but I don't know if I'm missing something.

So any recommendations? tales of success/frustration? Would I even notice a big difference?

For reference I would be using it for both music and gaming probably equally, with music edging out gaming just a bit
 
Depends largely on what you're speaker situation is like, and if you are looking for either sound quality or those (IMO) gimmicky EAX/CMSS3D things.

There is only a few cards that will give you both.
 
Yeah...I have my PC hooked up to a Bose surround sound system but with only one line in currently...

While I do have headphones, I don't care about those as much, and don't have them plugged in as much as I use my speakers. Also, I'm possibly looking into getting a Logitech Z-5500 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121120) set incase I ever have my PC in a room without my current surround sound set up.


*EDIT* Wow...I'm kinda dumb, I've never actually seen the PC Audio forum until now. Sorry about this thread, and thank you criccio for your help, but I'm gonna look around in there for a bit.
 
I'm going to put it bluntly, but Bose/Logitech is about as far from what we would consider "quality" audio, so just keep that in mind. I know the Z5500 is seemingly very popular, but that is mainly due to marketing and just plain ignorance.

It would be possible to seriously increase the quality and punch of you're sound system by picking up a nice (but still cheap) receiver and a set of bookshelf speakers. This combination will absolutely obliterate anything Bose/Logitech can come up with and then some. A plus side is you won't need to waste money on a soundcard as you can use you're motherboards optical S/PDIF out (i'm assuming you have one).

Mull it over, and I'm sure there will be a bunch of other opinions thrown in. Then let us know what you want to do.
 
I will gladly contribute to the "would I even notice a big difference / tales of success" portion of your questions.

I had been using on-board motherboard audio for the last four years or so. Before that, I had sound cards, but those were of a generation different from today's.

Recently, I decided that I could use some better audio quality on my PC because I recently finished ripping all my CDs to lossless audio on my computer and found myself listening to more and more music on the PC. So I bought an Asus Xonar D2X. I tried to do a "before/after" comparison of the impact of the audio card. I wasn't expecting much, because human audio memory is very unreliable in all but the most immediate timeframes. So, the 20 minutes or so that would pass between listening to the "before" sample of a given musical piece, installing the new card and its software, and listening to the "after" sample might be too much to make any reliable comparison, I thought. So I tried to pay attention to the most minute characteristics of the sound while listening to the "before" case.

When it was time to try the "after" sample once the card was installed, I was blown away. First of all, the sound was much richer and had deeper bass. One might assume that the audio card might be performing a simple dirty trick of overboosting the bass to give this impression. But, no. I've seen the measured frequency response plots of this card in online reviews and how flat it is. The sound also had considerably more detail and depth as well.

Now, I'm a guy who is very familiar with audiophile conceits and illusions. I subscribe to the Stereophile magazine while I still consider myself a person who doesn't "buy into" the audiophile craziness. (I simply filter out the wheat from the chaff when picking what to pay attention to in the magazine's coverage.) I'm a believer that a wire hanger is no worse than a $300 cable when it comes to a digital audio connection, and I'm very conscious of how subjective the quality of heard audio is and how susceptible it is to prior expectations. So, I don't hype audible differences that easily. Keep that in mind when reading my impressions of this card.

But, what struck me the most, was this: You know the little clicking sound that Internet Explorer (and other Windows UIs based on its rendering engine) makes when you click on a link? I thought that the audio file used for that sound had changed or got corrupted when I installed the driver for the new card. Because, originally, that sounded like "chip, chip" on my machine. With the new card, it was a different sound, more like "kerp, kerp". Then I realized that the sound was the same, but the new card had brought out so much more detail in that brief little sound effect that I almost thought it was a new one!

Now, the particular card I'm talking about is a PCI-E sound card and you're looking for a PCI card. And, admittedly, this particular one is a fairly high end sound card (though it can still be had for a little over $100). But even if you get a different card and a more basic one, my point is that, if this card has given me a subjective improvement of 200% in sound quality, it probably would be reasonable to expect just about any good sound card to provide an improvement of close to 100% easily. So, yes, you would notice the difference...
 
I figured I would add that even with the top end Creative X-Fi soundcard, if you are using "computer" speakers (Logicrap and to an extent Bose), you will still not even be able to touch a decent receiver + bookshelf speaker sound system hooked up with onboard S/PDIF in terms of quality and clarity. 2.5" drivers just can't reproduce the full range of frequencies required for accurate sound.
 
Hmm...After looking around in the Computer Audio forum, it seems that a lot of people really like the Swan M200MkII, and since I wouldn't have a ton of money to spend on speakers would that be the way to go, with maybe a sub in there too? Or would getting one of the cheaper receivers and other bookshelf speakers be a better way to go?
 
Reciver+bookshelf combo vs. active monitor's... THAT is the question. Its simple really, if you want the flexibility with inputs, outputs and much better subwoofer support go with the first option. If you find a pair of active monitors that you really love (and I love my M200MKII's) and are purely focused on 2ch music, go with the second option.
 
After reading through a bunch of threads, I think I'm going to go with either the Swan M200MkII or Audioengine A5s, and add a sub later on down the road. Just have to decide which ones to go with. Are these the best options for the price range that they are in?
 
IMO yes, I love my M200MKII's. I honestly believe they are worth much more then $180. If you really want to take advantage of them you will need a nice USB/S/PDIF DAC or 2 channel music oriented soundcard.

The FubarII USB DAC is a nice choice, so is the M-Audio 2496 soundcard if you want something internal.

Running speakers like those off of the onboard analog out is a big no no.
 
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