What soundcard do you Use...

[USMC2Hard4U]

Regaurdless of what you do, what kind of computer you have.... in your Main Rig... What sound card do you use. I am trying to take a poll thats all. I would make it a poll but their are far too many options. Thanks guys

 

[xonik]

E-Mu 1212M

 

[3WAYsplit]

Turtle Beach Riviera

 

[GotNoRice]

My system has an Audigy2 ZS with the digital output looped back into an EMU 0404. The Audigy2 ZS is set as primary but music, etc goes right to the 0404. Gives me something of the "best of both worlds". I also use the onboard SoundMAX card for microphone input since the Audigy2 ZS mic input was acting kinda funny.

 

[jaffy]

Audigy 2
Modded EMU 0404

 

[Mister X]

Modded Terratec DMX 6fire 24/96.
Modded EMU 1212M.

 

[corrosive23]

Revo 7.1

 

[NickN]

ONBOARD CRAP!

 

[GodsMadClown]

Revo 7.1

 

[harmlesskils]

another Revo 7.1

 

[iceman3083]

Revo 5.1

 

[SayNoToPistons]

audigy 2 zs and loving it

 

[Pinipig523]

Audigy 2zs!

 

[fibroptikl]

Lexicon Omega

 

[SJetski71]

Main rig: audigy2 6.1 (the original audigy2)

Secondary rig: audigy2 Value 7.1

In games they blow away my santa cruz, cmedia 5.1, Live! 5.1 and hercules 7.1

 

[Zoio]

Audigy 2ZS

 

[brom42]

Original Audigy. I am waiting for a PCI-E sound card to upgrade to.

 

[Lethal]

Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. May not be fancy, but it does the job.

 

[gerbiaNem]

soundblaster live!!!!! 24-bit waiting for pci-e too. It's live!!!!

 

[strid3r]

MisterX modded Audigy 2ZS
MisterX modded E-mu 0404

...starting to see a trend?

 

[USMC2Hard4U]

How and why would you mod a sound card

 

[JL_Audio_User]

Audigy 2 Zs

 

[jaffy]

How and why would you mod a sound card

How? Replace the opamps with higher quality ones, remove output caps/replace them, etc.
Why? Better sound quality of course! And there is a very big difference between modded and unmodded IMO.


Who? PM MisterX.

 

[USMC2Hard4U]

How? Replace the opamps with higher quality ones, remove output caps/replace them, etc.
Why? Better sound quality of course! And there is a very big difference between modded and unmodded IMO.


Who? PM MisterX.

How much? and what sound cards can take advantage

 

[GodsMadClown]

The Emu 0404 is a popular candidate.

 

[jaffy]

How much? and what sound cards can take advantage

The price will vary depending on the opamps used. Opamps can be quite expensive (high end ones are ~$18 each), and the solder work is very difficult and intricate. Pretty much any internal soundcard can be modded.

I would definately recommend a good existing sound system before rolling opamps. Better speakers/headphones might make a larger improvement than sound card mods, depending on your system.

Oh, and my personal rundown on the high end opamps:

AD8610: Nice! Boosted treble, but very detailed! If you have a bright system already, these can make it a bit too bright.

OPA627: More neutral than the AD8610. With a brighter system (Grado headphones!) these are the best IMO. They are not as detailed in the highs as the 8610s, but they are still very nice.

OPA637: Slightly more "fun" sounding than the OPA627. A tad bit brighter also. A good compromise between the AD8610 and OPA627 IMO.

 

[pstang]

Audigy 2 Platinum ex 6.1 that replaced my dead Hercules Game Theater XP 5.1

 

[USMC2Hard4U]

Audigy 2 Platinum ex 6.1 that replaced my dead Hercules Game Theater XP 5.1

GTXP was sweet. The sound was crystal clear compared to anything I ever heard before.

 

[homIcIde]

audigy 2zs and loving until reformatting. now its pissing me off

 

[pstang]

GTXP was sweet. The sound was crystal clear compared to anything I ever heard before.

i agree, i loved it, plus it was awsome to plug up headphones w/o having to fiddle around with the back of the comp., and the sheer number of connectors it had too.

the only complaint was the huge cable that conneced the card to the box wasnt very flexible

i would still probablly still be using it if it hadnt decided to up and die one day.

 

[DeFex]

EMU 0404 is main card. also use onboard soundmax chip for games because the EMU doesnt have EAX and all that kind of gaming stuff.

but for music theres no contest the EMU has much better sound, and i can get low latency with ASIO so i can actually play VSTi instruments with no crackle or lag.

 

[oVerCaffeinated]

A crappy Hercules Gamesurround Muse XL that happens to have the same chipset as my onboard sound

 

[IdiotInCharge]

In sig
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\/

 

[Dark Assassin]

I think I might be the only one here that uses something else that no one else appears to be using: a Hercules Fortissimo III 7.1 sound card. If only I had a better set of speakers to actually employ...

Dark Assassin

 

[ivandal2]

delta 1010 and a emu 0404

 

[Naldo]

Onboard, Realtek something, does just about everything and sounds good so I figure I'll stick with it.

 

[SJetski71]

I think I might be the only one here that uses something else that no one else appears to be using: a Hercules Fortissimo III 7.1 sound card. If only I had a better set of speakers to actually employ...

Dark Assassin

i listed it a few posts back as a "former" soundcard i used. It sounded great with music and hooked up to my receiver but was fairly average sounding in games. It was prone to interference on occasion for some odd reason.

 

[_Korruption_]

Chaintech AV-710. Hi-def output to my Altec Lansing MX5021s.

 

[Vertigo Acid]

Yet another Revo 7.1

 

[Empyrean]

Under construction, but will be EMU 0404