Sound card advice

[Compnewbie01]

I am currently looking for a soundcard to be used for listening to music exclusively. The computer in question is hooked up to a stereo and has our entire music library on it. However the on board sound just doesn't cut it. My price range is hopefully under $100 but please tell me if the $200+ cards have a noticable improvement in sound quality.

 

[Sdiver2489]

What is this "stereo" you speak of and what input options does it have

 

[Fast Fingers]

Originally posted by: Sdiver2489
What is this "stereo" you speak of and what input options does it have

It may not be necessary to know...if he already connects to the onboard, then he's working with 3.5mm connections. Then again, ideally all connections shouldn't have adapters for minimal signal loss.

Quick recommendations:
1. Chaintech's AV-710 (the price from Newegg's more expensive after shipping)
2. Creative X-fi Xtremeaudio
3. M-audio Revolution 5.1

 

[Sdiver2489]

Originally posted by: Fast Fingers

Originally posted by: Sdiver2489
What is this "stereo" you speak of and what input options does it have

It may not be necessary to know...if he already connects to the onboard, then he's working with 3.5mm connections. Then again, ideally all connections shouldn't have adapters for minimal signal loss.

Quick recommendations:
1. Chaintech's AV-710 (the price from Newegg's more expensive after shipping)
2. Creative X-fi Xtremeaudio
3. M-audio Revolution 5.1

Tons of motherboards have onboard optical and coax and it makes a huge difference in how much he should pay

 

[Compnewbie01]

The way it is set up now is the stereo is connected through the normal headphone output. I just want something that won't degrade the sound quality due to onboard sound. Whenever I play music something just doesn't sound "right" and I think it is due to iTunes (I know...) and the onboard sound device.

 

[Unkno]

I have the m-audio revolution 5.1, really good soundcard. Depending on what kind of music you have, I will try foobar or winamp and get ASIO for it (granted your current soundcard supports ASIO, m-audio does).

 

[Slugbait]

iTunes is already heavily degraded music. On a good sound system, it's expected not to sound "right".

Remove compressed music from the equation and then see how the onboard audio sounds.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Don't buy a creative x-fi until after they get their vista issues sorted out in hardware and software. Right now there's a huge outcry from creative customers who've been left in the lurch by creative and their lack of support for vista and the x-fi cards. It took a 3rd party to develop vista software for the x-fi and I'm running it now otherwise I'd be stuck with sorry creative half baked drivers and software. I personally am not inclined to buy anything else from creative.