DO SOUND CARDS MATTER?

[niwi7]

All they do is produce sound

i have creative inspire 5.1 speakers w/ sound blaster live! 5.1 sound card

upgrading sound card would make speakers sound better? doesnt make sense to me

 

[brunswickite]

you prolly wont notice a difference... imo sound card technology has maxed out. they all sound the same to me after sound blaster live

 

[MournSanity]

I really don't care for sound on my computer. I don't think I ever will either. Integrated sound sounds good enough to me

 

[Howard]

SQ (to a point) can't get any higher for the average user. However, the higher-end sound cards do have more functions and options, like more channels, I/O, etc.

That reminds me, I need to replace this crappy sound system.

 

[TerryMathews]

Audigy has a (slightly) signal-to-noise to ratio which theoretically will make your speakers sound better. But it probably won't be noticable.

I'm going to have to agree with Howard, only reason to upgrade now is features.

nForce + Dolby Digital 5.1 receiver 0wnz j00

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

SOUND CARDS DEFINITELY DON'T MATTER IF YOUR HEARING IS SO BAD THAT YOU SHOUT WHEN TYPING.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
SOUND CARDS DEFINITELY DON'T MATTER IF YOUR HEARING IS SO BAD THAT YOU SHOUT WHEN TYPING.

WHAT? DID YOU SAY SOMETHING?



Hopefully high-end sound cards will get cheaper. Our production sound cards here at the radio station are $399 each. It's pretty cool actually, you can hook 4 of them up together for 8 channels in and 8 channels out analog (L/R) or 4 in / 4 out digital.

 

[holdencommodore]

It really depends what you mainly use your soundcard for. If it's only for general purposes, then almost any soundcard will do.... even AC97. However, if you want more FEATURES, such as EAX Advanced HD, QSounds QMSS (QSound Multi-Speaker System), extra I/O's, etc... then it may be worthwhile to consider a upgrade. A high end soundcard won't magically make multimedia speakers sound like a HI-FI, just like Premium petrol won't turn a Daewoo Matiz into a Ferrari. lol

Cheers

 

[Goi]

All they do is produce sound

Hey, all video cards do is produce images too, they shouldn't matter too, right?

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: brunswickite
you prolly wont notice a difference... imo sound card technology has maxed out. they all sound the same to me after sound blaster live

Depends on what you're doing. I'm doing high-end audio and music work and without a GOOD sound card in the consumer/pro arena you're not going to do good work. The gaming sound cards just don't cut it when it comes to LATENCY. Video games and playing MP3's don't need ~1ms accuracy to sound right - not by a long shot. Some cheap sound cards have over 500ms (half a second) latency times!

When I play on my (piano) keyboard, I need to hear the sample sounds play immediately... half a second is an ETERNITY when playing live.

 

[thirdlegstump]

Bluemax is right.

I use two M-Audio Delta cards (44 and 1010) and they provide me with 1.5ms latency in all of my sound applications. Previously when I started doing the recording thing, I was using a Sh!tblaster Live and the best I could do was 40ms...and there was a bit of noise and distortion in my recorded signals.

I have the outputs hooked up to a cheap Mackie 1604VLZ pro board and out into my Tannoy Reveals.
Even with my budget minded setup, I could clearly hear the difference between the consumer sound cards and the more pro-sumer cards such as the M-Audio stuff.

However, if you're into gaming, sound may not matter so much unless you like blasting your 5.1 home stereo rig..but even then, it should be pretty tough to hear the difference between a SB Live 5.1 and an Audigy 2.

 

[Intelman07]

Onboard sound uses some of your cpu power sometimes.......

 

[FearoftheNight]

CPU usage.

 

[dew042]

yes - you are right - with the junky speakers you have no sound card will improve your sound.

however with good speakers my new M-Audio Delta 2496 is unreal. Clean sound. Optical IN/OUT and Digital IN/OUT and pure bliss for a $100 sound card...

for the run of the mill sc you can't go wrong with the TBSC - a vary solid analog SC...

dew.

 

[niwi7]

r u saying inspire 5.1 is junky? id consider it middle of the line not junky

 

[bigman234]

in a nutshell, NO. i just dumped my sb live for SiS onboard sound. don't notice a difference at all

 

[dew042]

Originally posted by: niwi7
r u saying inspire 5.1 is junky? id consider it middle of the line not junky

okay middle fo the line as far as computer speakers go - but that's not saying much at all....

try a set of klipsch promedias sometime. you won't be able to go back.

or even better get some real speakers and a good amp....

dew.

 

[niwi7]

im only talking about computer speakers...plus i dont feel like blowing 400 on speakers


whats the cheapest klipsch speakers that will be noticably different than mine

 

[dew042]

klipsch 2.1 will run you $170 new, 4.1 $200+ and cheaper here used. You can get 4.1 sets used in the FS/t for around $120 shipped now or less - really nice deal sometimes...

dew.

 

[bmxer58745]

to tell you the truth i think sound depends more on the speakers anywayz

 

[benklop]

I got my Klipsch 4.1s for 110 at Circuit City on a deal. They're alright I guess... but as soon as I spent 90 bucks on some Etymotic earbuds, I couldn't even listen to the Klipsch for anything except movies and games. I would suggest that you either pick up a used reciever and a pair of budget home audio speakers if you want nice sound. Or you could just go with headphones, if you're short on cash and don't mind wearing them. If you want something for games and movies, Sony V6s are fairly decent and can be found for around 80 dollars used. Go to www.head-fi.org if you want more info on headphones. I would suggest picking up a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz on a deal for ~30 bucks. It will sound loads better with nice equipment. That said, if you don't want to upgrade your speakers, I would just stick with your Soundblaster. If it sounds good to you, don't worry about what anybody else thinks. I'll warn you though - once you experience a pair of decent speakers or headphones you won't be able to go back.