home hardware prices news articles forums photos user reviews
Go Back   Tech Support Forums - TechIMO.com > PC Hardware and Tech > Multimedia and Audio
Ask a Tech Support Question (free)!

Good Sound Card

Reply
Get bargains at  »  Dealighted.com
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Currently Active Users: 2457
Discussions: 200,970, Posts: 2,379,737, Members: 246,335
Old October 2nd, 2009, 04:06 PM   Digg it!   #1 (permalink)
Member
 
lancethepants's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: West Valley City, Ut
Posts: 159
Good Sound Card

I've been unhappy with onboard sound of my motherboard for some time. I'm not an audiophile or anything, but I can appreciate good sound, and I think the onboard lacks. My biggest complaint is that it doesn't get as loud as I would want it to. I turn everything to max, and it's semi-accaptable, but I think I'm ready to move on.

I have an evga 750i ftw mobo, and currently all my expansion slots are filled or covered except for one vanilla pci slot. I think I'd like a card that offloads the sound processing off the cpu. It'd be nice too if it had spdif connectors. Any suggestion please.

thanks

edit: oh, I know that good cards may cost a bit, I be willing to throw $100 at it or somewhere in that range. I will go higher though.

Last edited by lancethepants : October 2nd, 2009 at 04:14 PM.
lancethepants is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 2nd, 2009, 05:12 PM     #2 (permalink)
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 640
The first thing that comes to mind is what are you using for speakers? The volume issue is an amplification issue, which is generally a matter for your speakers to deal with, unless you are using headphones; but even then the purpose of a sound card is generally not to serve as an amplifier.
__________________
Intel i7 920 @ 4.0 ghz, ASUS P6T
6gb Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1600, EVGA 275 GTX 896mb,
CM RC-690, WD Raptor 150gb, WD 2x1tb cav green.
thephilosophizer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 2nd, 2009, 05:46 PM     #3 (permalink)
Member
 
lancethepants's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: West Valley City, Ut
Posts: 159
I primarily use headphones. Don't really have a speaker system, though in the future I have planned to buy a 5.1 system setup when I can afford to shell some money at it. I want this card to be a good performer for a surround sound situation. I know there are some decent high end stereo sound card out there, but I guess I'll clarify I'd like a surround sound card. I've had better luck with other boards on headphone volume, but this one seems stop short.
lancethepants is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 2nd, 2009, 05:58 PM     #4 (permalink)
PC Upgrade Procrastinator
 
ShyguyXPC's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 5,682
Asus's Xonar AV100/200 Chip/Series cards, they have PCI and PCIe versions in their line up.

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Input Devices,Sound Cards,ASUS

Auzentech's X-fi cards (better than Creatives own cards), X-fi Prelude is PCI, Forte is a low profile PCIe card. also their C-Media chip based cards are good as well.

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Input Devices,Sound Cards,Auzentech



HT Omega's Striker 7.1 (this is the one I currently use, runs fine in Windows 7 with no problems, using Coaxial SPDIF out and hooked to a 500W 5.1 Home Theater for my speakers) and Claro Cards are good too. most are PCI.

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Input Devices,Sound Cards,HT Omega

bit cheaper cards that aren't bad too:

Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Input Devices,Sound Cards,Turtle Beach/Voyetra,Montego

(basically the same card as the TB cards above) Newegg.com - DIAMOND XtremeSound XS71DDL 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card - Sound Cards
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by taxi View Post
Why cant I recieve animal each time I am advised that I have no storage space??

ShyguyXPC is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 2nd, 2009, 10:27 PM     #5 (permalink)
Ultimate Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,066
Shy ftw!

"Sound" advice!
__________________
Challenge My Brute:

http://doublek.mybrute.com
DoubleK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 4th, 2009, 03:47 AM     #6 (permalink)
Senior Member
 
bigBonehead's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Nashville TN.
Posts: 757
Hello LTP.... You don't mention what OS yer running, but a great Audiophile card is the M-Audio Delta 2496

I use it with my home studio recording computer, and can highly recommend it for it's dynamic headroom, AD/DA converters, and rock solid performance.
__________________
...
Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone...

bigBonehead is offline   Reply With Quote
Old October 4th, 2009, 08:08 PM     #7 (permalink)
Member
 
lancethepants's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: West Valley City, Ut
Posts: 159
Wow, first of all, thanks Shy for opening me up to all those different options available. I've looked on newegg before for sound cards, but hadn't been really exposed to all those you listed. I've heard of creative being a good company, and didn't know they had allowed others like Auzentech to use their x-fi chipset. I've read a lot of Creative's shotty drivers for Vista, and so that kind of pushed me away from them. I am now running Windows 7 RM (got it early from the MSDN) and so the card would need that compatibility. That M-Audio does look intriguing too for me because of the midi i/o also. Thanks for all the help guys, I'm gonna do a bit more research with what you've given me, and expect an update when I think I've made a decicion
lancethepants is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Good Sound Card him61 Multimedia and Audio 14 June 8th, 2006 12:20 AM
Can someone recommend a good sound card? Namie Multimedia and Audio 13 June 29th, 2004 10:39 PM
What's a good sound card and a good speaker? Dj-Icer Multimedia and Audio 22 November 6th, 2003 11:19 PM
What's a good sound card to get? ToddS Multimedia and Audio 4 June 5th, 2003 05:59 PM


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Most Active Discussions
Is It Just Me? (3043)
Delete an OS (15)
Breaking: San Diego ACORN Document .. (10)
Nvidia GTX 260 problem (7)
Laptop with wireless problem. (12)
Wireless Televisions. (12)
CPU fan stops spinning randomly (11)
Regular Build (11)
windows vista security holes (17)
Internet Lost (5)
windows 7 problem (7)
Is the PSU I received dead? (13)
Point and Shoot Camera Suggestions. (6)
Print spooler problem (16)
Recent Discussions
Nvidia GTX 260 problem (7)
[F@H SPAM 11/16/09] ! 1/2 months to r.. (37)
Delete an OS (15)
Steam ID's, Gamertags etc... (4)
Games, Cables, PCI cards, and more fo.. (6)
Dept. of HS: NSA 'Helped' Develop Vis.. (17)
Linksys WMP54GS wireless card problem.. (5)
windows vista security holes (17)
Help getting around port 80 for camer.. (5)
Skillsoft Network+ Study Software Que.. (10)
Browsers wont load websites (3)
help me pls laptop just stopped worki.. (0)
Open With ..... Win7 (3)
Laptop with wireless problem. (12)
Internet Lost (5)
virus blocking exe. files (1)
Point and Shoot Camera Suggestions. (6)
CPU fan stops spinning randomly (11)
Modern Warfare 2: Who Bought It? (65)
Is the PSU I received dead? (13)
Print spooler problem (16)
Kingston Bluetooth Dongle Driver (1)
Multiple Restarts Required at Boot (3)
webcam (0)
upgrade for hp a6101 (0)


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 07:41 PM.
TechIMO Copyright 2009 All Enthusiast, Inc.



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28