Which sound card?

DodgerDodger
edited August 2005 in Hardware
Ugh... I feel like a dork for having to make so many threads but here it goes...

My 2.1, cheap, 50 dollar pieces of crap have served their purpose. Now than, i'm going all out with a 7.1 700 watt system (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=127424&_LOC=US) and now I need a sound card to make such this audio beast. I was thinking one of these four... http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCompare.asp?CompareItemList=N82E16829102162,N82E16829102171,N82E16829102163,N82E16829102164&SubCategory=57 ...they're all relatively lower in price. With rebates and such. I was leaning towards the Platinum non-pro edition. But wanted some opinions first. Thanks in advance!

Comments

  • ArmoArmo Mr. Nice Guy Is Dead,Only Aqua Remains Member
    edited July 2005
    the best sound card ive had is this Turtle Beach Santa Cuz, its a 5.1 card, but they have a 7.1 thats well worth looking into

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829118109

    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829118106

    essentually all of the sound cards use the same sound chips from the same company ( at least they used to ) i forget then name of the compnay but EVERY sound card used their chips, whare they make the sames is all the stoopid crap like 46 firewire ports on them and stuff like that.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2005
    The Turtle Beach is horridly out of date now.

    Investigate the sound cards made by Terratec; they have a wide range of consumer, prosumer and professional products that are really quite good.
  • DodgerDodger
    edited August 2005
    Yeah, the only differences between all those cards I posted is some external/internal volume control boxes. I think i'll go with the Audigy2 ZS GAMER limited edition. It's $69.50 after a mail-in-rebate. It has all the features of its higher-end brethen (save for the aforementioned volume control box). I really don't think i'll find a better card for the price. Unless anyone can reccomend something?
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited August 2005
    Oh, for the record, that speaker system is the most awsome non-fullsize theatre system that ever existed :thumbsup:
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited August 2005
    Look into cards with pro audio chips on them. For example, the M-Audio Delta 410 7.1 sounds like it would be right up your alley.

    M-Audio makes professional audio cards, and the DSP that's on this card is a result of their experience and research in pro audio, where sound cards sometimes cost over $1000.
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited August 2005
    I agree with the m-audio suggestion. If you want real home stereo sound for any kind of reasonable money they are the cats meow.

    tex
  • DodgerDodger
    edited August 2005
    Ok, so what makes that card better than say... the Audigy2 Gamer edition? Will it offer better sound quality? Forgive my rudeness, but I don't want to simply be told "This is a better sound card" with nothing to back it up.
  • TexTex Dallas/Ft. Worth
    edited August 2005
    Its made for superb home stereo sound. Its designed for musicians and studio type environments. If your mostly gaming I would get the audigy.

    I run my m-audio into a pair of 100 watt Carver amps and carver preamp into a 4 foot tall pair of Klipsch Cornwalls. I don't game at all.

    Tex
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited August 2005
    lower SNR, lower latency, yes - higher quality sound.
  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited August 2005
    M-Audio thirded. I have the Revolution 5.1, but there's a Revolution 7.1 for only a few extra dollars.

    You need to take into account what you're going to be doing on those [awesome] speakers. I personally listen to a lot of music and watch a lot of movies; gaming is sorta the backburner of my life. I like to, I just can't get into it all that often.

    The reason I say this is because if you mostly game, do not get the M-Audio. Get the Creative. They are much more finely-tuned for game audio. If you listen to music, get the M-Audio. The catch is, either can do both, obviously. BUT, with my Revo 5.1, every now and then sound will get distorted in games. It starts sounding like I'm firing a gun in a soup can.

    It's actually a known limitation of M-Audio cards.
    M-Audio wrote:
    Q: When I am playing a computer game while using EAX or EAX2 with 3D Hardware Acceleration on my Revolution 5.1 or 7.1, I get crackling in the audio. What can I do about this?

    A: Please use Software Acceleration for audio with the Revolution 5.1 and/or Revolution 7.1.

    Unfortunately, that makes the sound almost as bad as having the card malf it. So... take this into consideration.

    (I've noticed this only in Half-Life 2 so far. Sometimes, if I pop open the control center thing and type "snd_digital_surround 0" or whatever it is, it'll go away. Then if it comes back, I can usually flip it back to "snd_digital_surround 1". I don't know why. It's a pain in the ass, though. Oh, and I'm running this on a $250 set of Z-5500s, so it isn't a speaker problem, I assure you.

    Sorry for the long post, I just thought I'd throw up my experiences with this great card (other than in games ;D).
  • DodgerDodger
    edited August 2005
    Yeah, i'm a pretty big gamer. I hope to eventualy use them (the speakers) with Xbox 360/PS3/Revolution. Of course I like to watch movies and play music, but those are both a distant number 2. So, taking my current situation into consideration, should I deffinently go with Audigy 2?

    EDIT: Just as a side question... when can I expect all of this gear to go out of date? They have been on the market for a couple years now, afterall. I really don't feel like buying the latest tech only to have Creative announce something, with my tech going out of date and come down in price. hate it when that happens...
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited August 2005
    weird. I have a delta 410 and I play HL2 a lot and have never had a single problem :-/
  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited August 2005
    It might be a Revo problem, I don't know.

    Dodger: Never. Well, yes. Creative is launching a new line... XFX or something? I don't know. Anyway, it's supposed to do with the GPU did for graphics and what the PPU will do for physics. I guess it's incredibly fine-tuned and supposed to be "amazing." But honestly, audio does not take much to process. So don't worry about it (and who wants to spend another $300 on a sound card?)
  • JimboraeJimborae Newbury, Berks, UK New
    edited August 2005
    Creative are a load of sh!t.
    Sh!t drivers
    Sh!t hardware
    Sh!t customer support
    EEPROM bug anyone?? I've had 2 Creative cards both were killed by Creative's EEPROM bug. Would Creative accept that it was a design fault & rma them??? Like hell they would.

    Get a Terratec or M-Audio, you won't be sorry.
  • DodgerDodger
    edited August 2005
    entropy wrote:
    It might be a Revo problem, I don't know.

    Dodger: Never. Well, yes. Creative is launching a new line... XFX or something? I don't know. Anyway, it's supposed to do with the GPU did for graphics and what the PPU will do for physics. I guess it's incredibly fine-tuned and supposed to be "amazing." But honestly, audio does not take much to process. So don't worry about it (and who wants to spend another $300 on a sound card?)

    Yeah, and I can always just upgrade the sound card if I want to. But I think it'd be a good idea to wait to buy all of this, with the new XFX cards launching and all. Again, i'd REALLY hate to buy this only to have it come down in price a few short months later.
Sign In or Register to comment.