• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

need help in selecting a audio card....

D

doug_7506

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 17, 2004
Messages
3,247
well im building a ayatem and auido card is one of the places where i lack mostly in knowledge... i dont really need an extreme card. what i did was hooked up my sisters old stero system that had surrond sound and a subwoofer to my comp because she brok the cd part but the auxillary still works fine. so well im building a new system and i will need a card that will be a solid card but doesnt need to be anything specal/amaziing....
 
Stereo input only?

Chaintech AV-710. Use the high-sample rate option and Foobar2k with Kernel Streaming.
 
The Audigy 2. It has a lot of features that any other card in it's class can't hope to come close to. You can read about them on the Creative website, so there is no sense in me reproducing them here. Far superior to anything else in it's class. It's also comforting to know that Creative is the defacto standard and thus has the most software support. The Turtle Beach is a good card but I have heard of software support issues from some of their models. I am not sure about that particular one though.
 
doug_7506 said:
thanks for the info but im very intrigued by the Chaintech AV-710
Click to expand...
Ummm. It's a cheap piece of junk. No offence... If you're looking for something that is cheap, sounds crappy without equalization (needs an external power amp with built in eq) and needs better than average speakers to sound half decent, then look no further than the chaintech. Here, read between the lines of this review:

http://www.tweakzone.nl/extreviews/1158

Audiophiles will want to look to other products but for most the Chaintech AV-710
Click to expand...
The AV-710 hooked up to an external amplifier with built in equalization sounded much better than through Windows Media Player's own built-in equalizer. There was more bass with an external amplifier with built-in equalization.
Click to expand...
It's probably better to buy a soundblaster 16. lol. j/k
 
Here, read between the lines of this review:
Click to expand...
He is asking for an opinion and you summarize/post a link to a bad review?
Let me ask you a question.
Have you ever had, used or heard an AV-710?


Wait, that was a silly question, because if you had you never would have posted this---->

It's probably better to buy a soundblaster 16. lol. j/k
Click to expand...

I would be inclined to agree that the AV-710 is not a match for the Audigy2 ZS card for gaming but for Two channel high res audio it's performance can't be matched at that price.
 
I saw spend the extra $$$ on the A2 ZS now and not worry about it for another 3 years... lol
 
Mister X said:
I would be inclined to agree that the AV-710 is not a match for the Audigy2 ZS card for gaming but for Two channel high res audio it's performance can't be matched at that price.
Click to expand...
Sure it can. There's quite a few low-end cards like this one out on the market. Even the review says the sound quality is crap. I posted that so he could see someone else's opinion of it.

You get what you pay for. Better to spend the extra few bucks and get something half way decent. I hate low-end junk. I'm sick of it. Plus, don't count on the software support that you get with the Creative. It is better to buy a SB Live! than it is to buy that dumb thing. Trust me.
 
Sure it can. There's quite a few low-end cards like this one out on the market.
Click to expand...
Show me one card that can match the two channel performance of the AV-710 in high sample rate mode that cost less then $100


It is better to buy a SB Live! than it is to buy that dumb thing. Trust me.
Click to expand...

Again... if you have never used the card and are basing your opinion soley on some half baked review then I would suggest that you trust me when I tell you that the "low end piece of junk" we are talking about here has better sound quality then the Audigy2 ZS does. :p
Care to venture a guess as to how I would know that?
It aint by reading some review. ;)
 
I dont know... i have a AV-710 in my webserver/MP3 box for the living room. I used it for a week on my primary machine then put my Auguty1 back in it. I didnt like the drivers at all, and it was lacking the digital DIN plug for my digtial speackers on my computer so i used the standards plugs and got nothing but pops and cricks in most of my games unless i turned hardware accelartion off and set it to 32 sounds in game.

just my experence, I think for the low end price, the turttle beach card is a better deal...even though it is VIA powered..
 
You're faulting it because it lacks a proprietary digital connector that Creative invented? Did you try downloading the generic VIA drivers? Did you try using the high-sample rate option? I've had no trouble with mine. However, I like the sound and features of my Revo better.
 
what do you have against VIA powered SOUND cards? Does Envy ring a bell? Maybe you're just being sarcastic... which I sincere hope you are. Envy cards are nothing to laugh at analog music quality.

Kenin, obviously you never even had a AV710. It seems to me that you're actually out purposefully looking for a bad review. The primary difference between the AV710 and a Revo is the DACs, where the AV710 has high quality DACs for stereo, while the Revo has it all round, correct me if I'm wrong.

needs better than average speakers to sound half decent
Click to expand...

you're a funny guy.

Bad card + bad speakers = bad
bad card + good speakers = bad
good card + bad speakers = bad
good card + good speakers = yay.

You get what you pay for. Better to spend the extra few bucks and get something half way decent. I hate low-end junk. I'm sick of it.
Click to expand...
ahhhhhhahahahahaah....
:rolleyes:
 
My AV-710 sounds great(and yes, I actually have one) -- drivers are crap though, but tolerable enough.
 
not that creatives drivers havent ever giving me problems...

Anyone one remember when there site only had upgrades for the drivers that come on the CD.. so if you lost the CD you were screwed...

Or when you had to install the win2k drivers off the CD on XP when it first came out, then install the XP update..Augity 1 i belive.
 
Another resounding vote for Revolution 7.1 although I hear the 5.1 is just as good if not better?
 
doug_7506 said:
im intrested in this card like the zs but with a 30 dollar cheaper price tag...

how much of a performance difference will i recieve....?
Click to expand...

The only thing I see missing in the value is, Hardware Decoded Dolby Digital EX 6.1, and a Firewire port. (witch is worthless if you ask me) But it is only 20bucks to get a card you know is not the "value edition"

My guss is the value is just as good...

Hmmm it looks like the value is missing SPDIF Out.... that kinda sucks if your all setup to be useing it.
 
Honestly, if you are only going to be listening to a stereo source, the Chaintech AV-710 will give better sound. I have compared to an Audigy 2. The Chaintech is a superior 2-channel source. You can say what you like about the price difference, or label me a cheapskate, but I feel no shame in finding a bargain in listening to my music at work.

If you want to eek out a few more FPS on advanced FPS games, then perhaps you can go for the value Audigy. However, if you're just going to be listening to music, doing casual gaming, and maybe watching a few movies then the Chaintech is fine, non-fancy source. Save your fanciness for better speakers, better receiver or more music.
 
ill be doing mostly gamming video editing and listing to music with the card......

so i think a good middle of the road choice will be the value which will be superior to the chaintech but inferior a little to the regular audigy....
 
See, that's the thing. It's not better. The AV-710 is an outstanding two-channel card. For this purpose, it sounds better than the Audigy 2. The fact that it costs less is simply bonus.
 
so for using the chaintech as an output for an radio running on auxillary for gamming and musi you this it would be superior to an audigy.. i dont have much background in sound cards....
 
doug_7506 said:
so for using the chaintech as an output for an radio running on auxillary for gamming and musi you this it would be superior to an audigy.. i dont have much background in sound cards....
Click to expand...
The chaintech doesn't match the audigy in signal to noise ratio, sampling (even though it might claim to in the specs...there's a price difference for a reason) or the DVD digital audio capabilities of the Audigy. Not even close. For anyone to tell you any different is simply fooling themselves and fooling you. The card lacks bass response, whereas the audigy gives a full rich sound without the need of equalization, especially the external equalization that the chaintech needs to be at it's best. Chaintech is only for people who can't afford any better and it certainly doesn't live up to the Audigy in gaming.

It's easy to pick up any number of cheap crappy cards that sound half-arsed decent, but to a true audiophile the difference is noticeable immediately. (I can pick off blindfolded the difference between the Audigy and any of the SB Live! series, for instance). This is, of course, assuming that you have good quality speakers. If you have $19.99 speakers, you might as well buy the $19.99 card to go along with it as you won't realize the benefits of anything better through a couple of plastic cans :p That's like playing telephone with two soup cans and a string. lol
 
SirKenin said:
Ummm. It's a cheap piece of junk. No offence... If you're looking for something that is cheap, sounds crappy without equalization (needs an external power amp with built in eq) and needs better than average speakers to sound half decent, then look no further than the chaintech. Here, read between the lines of this review:


It's probably better to buy a soundblaster 16. lol. j/k
Click to expand...

Wow first you trash on amps now you trash on the Chaintech, the Chaintech is actually better for music than the Audigy 2 ZS paired with a decent amp, a lot of people buy them to replace or run along side Audigy 2s.

I am no expert on the subject but I get the feeling you know little to nothing about PC audio, yet feel the need to make recommendations to people, hmmmmmmmmm.

What sample rate do you run your Audigy 2 at when listening to music? What output do you use in Winamp/Foobar? What are your results with udial.wav?
 
Svperstar said:
Wow first you trash on amps now you trash on the Chaintech, the Chaintech is actually better for music than the Audigy 2 ZS paired with a decent amp, a lot of people buy them to replace or run along side Audigy 2s.

I am no expert on the subject but I get the feeling you know little to nothing about PC audio, yet feel the need to make recommendations to people, hmmmmmmmmm.

What sample rate do you run your Audigy 2 at when listening to music? What output do you use in Winamp/Foobar? What are your results with udial.wav?
Click to expand...
I like 192 kHz myself. I don't use Winamp, I use Media Player. I don't have udial.wav. I listen to everything from Abba to ZZ Top including classical and everything else. I am not sure about not knowing about PC Audio, as I've been using it and experimenting with it since the 80's.
 
Let's see. Using Foobar Kernel Streaming, I would rank my soundcards thusly, for music listening.

Onboard audio, Chaintech AV-710 (channels 1-6), Audigy 2, Chaintech AV-710 (channels 7-8), M-Audio Revo.

These are with amplified listening on my pair of Onix ELTs, or on my PiMeta/Ultrasone HFI650 headphone rig.

Gaming performance difference is negligible, mainly becuae I just don't use EAX, being a two-channel kinda guy, and not liking my audio to sound like a cheap Casio reverb effect. If you want surround sound for gaming, go with the Audigy 2, but if you want a two-channel source for gaming/music.

Have you listened to the Chaintech-710 in high-sample mode critically? Or did you just leave it at default?
 
i personally have never herd either... i have a sb live on my comp now but thats gonna go witht his one when i sell it....

are these cards close in comparison?? i mean willl it get a good medium b/w the two if i get the value audigy?
 
SirKenin said:
I like 192 kHz myself. I don't use Winamp, I use Media Player. I don't have udial.wav. I listen to everything from Abba to ZZ Top including classical and everything else. I am not sure about not knowing about PC Audio, as I've been using it and experimenting with it since the 80's.
Click to expand...
C'mon man... Dont talk shit about something unless you have used it. Links to sites that are worse than Tom's is a waste of time. Stop runnin yer mouth in a topic that you know little about. Go back to iTunes and live the life of the blissfully ignorant. I mean c'mon, you use WMP as yer player? Ya keep showing just how much ya learned about puter audio since the "late 80s"

Plus, don't count on the software support that you get with the Creative.
Click to expand...
If ya knew crap about creative labs, ya would know they have one of the worst records when it comes to drivers...

Trust me.
Click to expand...
heh I never do when a person actually has to say that... Just like when a person says "Can we speak frankly?" I mean, you been blowin smoke up my arse the rest of the time?

Oh, and btw, the AV-710 is in one of my boxxen and gets my stamp of approval also.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top