if you dont have an sb live.. buy one NOW!!! its the most awesome sound card ever

[hans007]

well for $50 the live was quite a value, i really couldn't jusity $165 for a pro quality dac card

 

[Remedy]

If CL was smart then they would use A3D but too bad they can't cause Nvidia got all the aureal engineers first before CL could get them. Secondly CL's engineers are overpaid and underworked, they haven't done anything innovative in the sound industry as far as jaw dropping in the last 48months so here goes my question; If the soundblaster live value can offer the same sound performance as the platuinum versions then whats the point to paying over 150 bucks for the same sound card that only cost about 35 to 50 bucks without a live drive? Does this mean that the Live drive cost over 75 bucks to in the bundle? Not according toFrontx multimedia.

 

[Leo V]

ReMeDy{WcS} and Muadib,

I don't recommend using this card for games. I'd advise using another card (or in my case, onboard AC97 sound) for games. The same goes for streaming sound.

The AP2496 wasn't meant for games, so it doesn't properly accelerate DirectSound or any other sound API. I haven't been able to eliminate the stuttering in Quake3 and streaming sound. It's annoying and you'd probably get better framerates if you configure games to use another soundcard.

 

[oldfart]

Leo V, since you seem to be an expert in sound cards, what do you think of the Yamaha AW744 XG based cards? You can get them for $20 here. I put one in a PC I'm working on for a friend. Seems like a pretty decent budget card.

 

[Remedy]

Oldfart that is a no frills card and for 20 bucks i would buy a couple more while the deal is hot. Leo i now read the audio thread and know the reason thnx.

 

[mindiris]

I bite.

Live!: Win2K. Games. Cheap ($50). Now, it produces fairly decent sound for the money as well. I'm not confident of any other gaming board in this price range that can say all this.

So, it isn't the latest and greatest, but it covers the bases. If one has specific needs, and doesn't use Win2K, then, Live isn't the best board anymore.

 

[confounded]

I bought the SB Live Platinum 5.1. Now I realize I paid a bundle for this card. But the convenience of the Live Drive is nice. Controlling my box with the remote from the kitchen while whipping up some good grub is well worth it to me. sound quality is very good as well. I have no complaints. My old card was a SB16. What a difference.

 

[Imaginer]

Not really but I do not care much for sound. Just good sound...



(for now. )

 

[WetSprocket]

I have not heard the AE. So I cant judge the Live compared to it. All I know is that the Live is the best card I have ever used or put in any of the hundreds of systems I've built. Never had a problem. From these pages I know that a lot of people complain of noise, but I have not experienced this and I run my systen through my home stereo.

 

[Leo V]

oldfart, I'm no expert in sound cards. I just had the fortune of trying out some of the latest consumer cards (Vortex2, Live!) and some others unworthy of mention on good speakers

When it comes to sound quality, in my experience the Vortex2 (MX300) had noticeably better sound than the Live! In fact, the Vortex2 had the best sound of any consumer soundcard I've tried. If you're looking for a budget, quality card, I'd highly recommend the MX300 for ~$27 shipped from Anandforums. The gold-plated outputs (compared with Creative's el-cheapo rainbow plastic jacks) are quite representative of the sound.

 

[johneetrash]

/me has sound blaster 64 awe gold. gold connectors rule. wee

 

[Taz4158]

This is a good site for soundcard technical benchmarks:
Click

 

[440sixpack]

I'll join in...

I currently have an SBLive! (The original) connected to a CSW MicroWorks setup. While it's definitely an improvement over the previous sound cards I've dealt with (onboard audio, old Aztech SB16 clone, etc.), it has had its share of problems. I have noticed a low hiss coming from the speakers, and Liveware has caused lots of problems. Case in point, I was assembling my new system the other day (KT7A-RAID, TBird 800) and everything was going fine... until sound card time came. The actual drivers installed OK, but as soon as I installed Liveware 3.0, bang! BSOD's, hard locks during boot, good bye Liveware, wipe and reformat drive, and this time, NO LIVEWARE! I will definitely be considering one of these other brands when the time comes for an upgrade.

 

[oldfart]

Leo V, I have been running an MX 300 since it first came out. Look up a few posts or so. I had a Live for a short time and returned it. I was just wondering if you had any exp with the low price Yamaha XG based cards.

 

[hans007]

i've had a yamah xg before. Well it was some DCS card or something with a ym724 or something. Pretty decent card for the $10 or so i paid for it. I've still yet to install live ware, but i haven't had any problems. The only problem i've been having is every time i have to install software for my live or my radeon things lock up, unless i physically take out my 2nd video card install the software and then put it back

 

[Leo V]

oldfart, we're both pioneer MX300 users But no, I don't have any experience with any Yamaha-based cards. The only other cards I've used recently were the Creative AudioPCI and Diamond Sonic Impact S70 (ESS-based). Neither was exceptional as you could guess!

 

[Leo V]

I should probably mention a few tweaks that can make a huge difference for any sound card:

* For reducing noise and crosstalk, place the soundcard as far away from other PCI cards as possible. Mine is the bottom card, with 2 vacant PCI slots above it. This made a profound difference for me.

* Under Windoze, mute ALL unused channels, especially the CDROM channel. The analog cable from the CDROM is an antenna that magnifies internal noise! Always use digital CD playback instead. All other channels besides WAV (and MIDI if you need that) should be muted and at Vol.0%. The WAV channel should usually be set to 100% (but possibly 50 or 75%, for some soundcards that try to amplify sound at 100). This should give you the highest resolution sound. The master volume and speaker volume should be simultaneously adjusted until you get the least noise. For instance, you may get better results with 100% master volume and rather low speaker volume, or vice versa.

 

[oldfart]

I had an S70 before the MX300. Was an an OK card. Nothing special really.

 

[Anon19]

i'm using an old Aureal Vortex Advantage. i'm not really a sound guru or whatever so don't really care for upgrading my sound card.

 

[StrangeRanger]

didn't your mother ever tell you not to smoke crack? c'mon now...sb live best card ever...stop, yer gonna make me pee myself laughing.
j

 

[bluemax]

Leo V You have a pro-end sound card... you do some sort of music recording, etc? If you don't, there's no reason to have it. It's not a gaming card - period.
I wish I had one though, because I'd a MIDI musician, and would like to make the switch to GigaSampler/Studio and that card would be AWESOME!

I couldn't care less about 3D sound, and EAX is kinda' neat but I don't use it. I have an SBlive Value2 in my system because it was inexpensive and gives me plenty of Soundfont RAM for if/when I get my hands on some more *good* samples. [sigh]

No other card has decent MIDI sound, until you jump to the pro-end setups like the Yamaha SW1000XG and others. Your card is the cheapest *good* card you can get for pro-audio, and an excellent choice for Gigasampler! (Oh I sooooooo want to play with that prog!! Samples cost a fortune though... I have the program and NO SAMPLES!) :|

It's a tough call these days... get a better MIDI sound module (trade up my Roland SC-88 to a JV-1010, XP-30, whatever...) or sell it off and go with some Gigasampler Orchestral Sample CD's...

 

[Super6]

Until I have to migrate to something newer (and supported) I'll stick with my Aureal Vortex 2500's...decent sound and much better than SB Live for gaming for about the same price as the SB OEM. I'm hoping CL incorporates some of Aureal's technology in future cards though I'm not holding my breath.

Super6

 

[Madcowz]

before you all run and buy an Audiophile 2496 I'd advise you consider other cheaper options. Sure it's a high-end card that is superior to many consumer-end products like the live, but the difference is not profound, especially if you are still using computer speakers. Unless you will be using quality hi-fi speakers on your computer, the audiophile probably wouldn't be worth it to you. Crappy speakers aren't going to sound good all of a sudden just b/c you are using a good soundcard. Sure you may notice the difference, but it will be very sutble even on the high-end computer speakers such as the Promedia's and the S2-4100 (which I happen to be using).

Trust me, I have a Live! 5.1 and an audiophile 2496 in my system and the difference is not near glaring. Additionally, as Leo mentioned, there is NO support for 3d game formats such as EAX and A3d... gaming performance is pretty poor. There is no mic in for you music/midi musicians. So what IS it good for?... Music, and movies, that's about it. But hey that was all I needed, I'm not much the gamer anyways. So unless you've already invested a lot of money in a hi-fi stereo/surround speaker system, I say save your money

 

[Leo V]

Madcowz, indeed you probably won't notice a huge difference on $50 "multimedia speakers". Chains, weak links, etc. However, I hear a profound difference on Klipsch ProMedia 2.1's. It's like videocards and 2D quality, a hi-fi screen magnifies the difference. Since I'm very sensitive to things like signal-to-noise ratio, the AP2496 made a *huge* difference for me on PM2.1 speakers.

"There is no mic in for you music/midi musicians."

Huh? There is an analog-in and a SPDIF digital-in; both are stereo. What more could you expect? You don't see onboard mike amps because a PC case is the worst place to amplify sound. Read below on how I turned my PM2.1's into a "freebie" mike amp! And it has two regular MIDI ports! Are you sure you've got the right soundcard?

And yes folks, you'd definitely need a 2nd soundcard for games (luckily my mobo features onboard AC97 sound with a gameport!)

One more downer for AP2496, the Linux support is currently broken. The family of cards *is* supported, but the AP2496 is a new member and the Linux driver doesn't yet work for it. I've sent Midiman a furious email, since I'm trying to switch to Linux permanently!

bluemax, indeed I'm uhh... experimenting... with music production. That's part of the reason for my expensive configuration (plus the fact that my computer is my stereo system). I'm still quite inexperienced; I'm messing around with creating my own samples and learning the ropes behind WAV editing and sequencing. From things you've said before, no doubt you deserve this card much more than I do! Of course my goal is to try my hand at composing.

As for my other components...a 1-year-old Alesis QS6.1 synth I got for 60% off, perfect condition. An all-purpose Samson R11 cardioid mike for recording. I actually discovered an ingenious way to use the ProMedias2.1 as a mike preamp! The mike cord goes into Input#2 (6dB gain for portable devices), and the Headphone output (knob-adjusted gain) is redirected into the soundcard! The PMs' onboard headphone amp is very clean, and it works perfectly for this! With cheap memory prices I afforded myself 512MB SDRAM. Since I'm switching to Linux, I may have to program much of the editing functionality I need! (Once they get those !#!@! drivers working...) Luckily I'm no newbie to programming

 

[gtd2000]

Oldfart,
I bought a cheapo Yamaha XG based card for listening to MP3's at work on my PC while doing paperwork etc - there was so much noise (hiss) that I took it back a day later and changed it for a SB Vibra 128 - the difference in price was only a few bucks but the actual performance and clarity of sound was like black and white.

I too use the SB Live DE (OEM) and for me it's a good card paired up with the FPS2000 speakers, no it's not the best but it certainly does a good job at a very reasonable cost.
I personally think that Altec Lansing speakers were probably better sounding - in the same price bracket - but I wanted to use the "Digital" connection method offered by the FPS2000.

How much does the Philips card cost? Is it comparible to the SB Live?