Soundcards - what's good

[Laudas]

I love my new computer! Except my Asus A8V on board sound does not seem to work. (I have only tried one pair of cheap headphones though, so I am not sure it's defunct) However, in the event it does not work, I will need to get a soundcard and I don't know anything about them! I just want a cheap card to plug in a good pair of headphones for gaming.....Thanks!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Did you enable the onboard sound in bios? Installed the driver for them?

Chaintech AV-710 will get the job done as long as your headphones don't have high impedence (which if they're budget ones, shouldn't)

 

[Laudas]

Was thinking about getting decent Medusa 5.1 headphones.....does this make a difference for the chaintech card?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Laudas
Was thinking about getting decent Medusa 5.1 headphones.....does this make a difference for the chaintech card?

You'd probably want to go with an Audigy2 if you're wanting 5.1 headphones.

I know in your other thread you mentioned how they ranked higher than the sennheiser 160s at tom's hardware, but unless you're looking for a headset type headphones, you may be better off getting a standard pair of regular headphones in this pricerange (something like sennheiser, grado, etc).

If you search for 5.1 headphones you'll find a lot of threads on the subject and some other alternatives to look at if you want to consider things other than the Medusa set.

 

[Laudas]

Hey thanks, I appreciate it. I did not know anything about 5.1 headphones. I did however confirm that my motherboard is working fine and that it is 5.1 compatible (ASUS A8V), so I will be buying headphones for sure. I will look around!
Laudas

 

[alcoholbob]

If you like your headphones loud however, I would avoid the Creative line altogether (except the Audigy 4). Quality wise, the amplifier isn't up to snuff with M-Audio or any of the digital-only cards; THD levels will rise significantly past 85% (which is why Creative's default setting is at 79% master volume).

 

[fixmarky]

Me and another poster have had problems with the AV-710 killing all sound ouput, requiring a reformat. If you read all the glowing reviews we're obviously in the minority, but its still something to be wary of.