Good sound card"

[savagcl]

Ok, I'm looking to replace my current sound card (audigy).
Also looking for a 24 bit capable sound (not digital tho) card. My speakers are
not digital. I have a set of 5.1 speakers tho.
Was looking at the creative cards that comes with the controls on the front
panel (in a spare drive bay) but they are expensive.

Do the speaker wires also come out of the front panel? Don't think i'd like those
speaker wires in the front panel of the case.

If i went with the creative top-of-the-line would a power supply upgrade be
needed also?

Looking for suggestions here.

thanks,
savagcl
(clif)

[ChristinaS]

Re: Good sound card"

Ok, I'm looking to replace my current sound card (audigy).
Also looking for a 24 bit capable sound (not digital tho) card. My speakers are
not digital. I have a set of 5.1 speakers tho.
Was looking at the creative cards that comes with the controls on the front
panel (in a spare drive bay) but they are expensive.

Do the speaker wires also come out of the front panel? Don't think i'd like those
speaker wires in the front panel of the case.

If i went with the creative top-of-the-line would a power supply upgrade be
needed also?

Looking for suggestions here.

thanks,
savagcl
(clif)

Having front panel access is a great bonus. The speakers can usually still be plugged in the back as usual. The front jacks are for extra accessories. headphones can go there, mic, line-in, optical i/o, midi , etc.

Audigy Platinum II has a front panel. It's quite good and comes with a pretty comprehensive set of programs too.

You may need a better powersupply, especially if your current one is bottom of the line. It depends. I was running my pc with a 120GB HD, cd-rom, cd-burner and a Hercules Game Theater X soundcard with external rack on a 230W power supply. I changed it when I got a dvd burner.

If I get a new one (since my Hercules is ailing now) I think it might be a Soundblaster Extigy http://us.creative.com/products/prod...07&product=585 - because of the external module. At least until I find out the price and/or negative reviews :D

[Unregistered]

Re: Good sound card"

I heard some (kinda) bad things about having a USB sound card hookup.
Can't remember what tho. Maybe lag time (even with USB 2.0). Your
right in doing a little research before buying - smart move. Prices vary
quite a bit from store to store or a web purchase.

Power supply - my system is packed but still has original PS (250W).
Its a good thing i can't run everything at once. Was thinking of going
to a 400W. Anything less wouldn't be worth the effort and a 400W will
insure enough power for future upgrades.

thanks, Christina,
clif

[ChristinaS]

Re: Good sound card"

I heard some (kinda) bad things about having a USB sound card hookup.
Can't remember what tho. Maybe lag time (even with USB 2.0). Your
right in doing a little research before buying - smart move. Prices vary
quite a bit from store to store or a web purchase.

Power supply - my system is packed but still has original PS (250W).
Its a good thing i can't run everything at once. Was thinking of going
to a 400W. Anything less wouldn't be worth the effort and a 400W will
insure enough power for future upgrades.

thanks, Christina,
clif

Hmmm, my current soundcard (Hercules GT X) has an external module conencted to the pc by USB. However the main module is like any other sound card, installed in its own slot. I need the features available on that external module (e.g. the optical S/Pdif i/o and the midi port). I had no big problem with the USB connected module, other than the stupid Plug & Play feature in W 2K which goes through the process of reinstalling the darn things every time I happen to reconnect to a different USB port (as happens when I take it all apart and put it back together). I have so many things on usb ports that it's impossible to replug them always to the same port every time. So scanner, printer, webcam, external soundcard module and whatnot all go through the stupid detection every time - all asking for the installation disks too :vmad: . Right now some part of my soundcard is faulty though, as I get an error on boot. It still works, but I lost the automatic switch between headphones and speakers, as the control program is what bombs out. The manufacturer sent me new drivers to no avail. Most likely it's hardware related. The speakers may be also wonky, they seem to crackle at times. I love them dearly though, my little discontinued mini JBL's! They've taken a beating over time unfortunately. So I'm due for an upgrade pretty soon. But I'll wait until I can wait no more :D

[Unregistered]

Re: Good sound card"

Some of that sounds like a Win2K problem. Its not the easyest version
of windows. XP is better at keeping track of things in the USB stuff.
As far as the sound card problems, i only install the drivers, EAX and
AudioHQ. The rest of the stuff is just bells and whistles and does nothing
to enhanse the sounds. Yep, sounds like the speakers are due for an
upgrade - are you looking at the 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 versions?

I just looked at www.pricewatch.com and saw the top-of-the-line SB for
$167.00 as opposed to creatives $249.00 (Not that that's the one
i'll end up with.....).

clif

[Spoon]

Re: Good sound card"

Terratec or M-Audio tend to be better than sound blasters.

[ChristinaS]

Re: Good sound card"

Some of that sounds like a Win2K problem. Its not the easyest version
of windows. XP is better at keeping track of things in the USB stuff.
As far as the sound card problems, i only install the drivers, EAX and
AudioHQ. The rest of the stuff is just bells and whistles and does nothing
to enhanse the sounds. Yep, sounds like the speakers are due for an
upgrade - are you looking at the 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 versions?

I just looked at www.pricewatch.com and saw the top-of-the-line SB for
$167.00 as opposed to creatives $249.00 (Not that that's the one
i'll end up with.....).

clif

Not looking yet - I don't dare :D

You know how it is. Inside every little problem there's a huge one just wating to come out. For a little upgrade you end up having to upgrade lots more than you intended for all sorts of reasons. And money and headache.

I added a DVD burner. I had to remove my cd-rom drive fto accomodate it and opted to keep the cd burner instead. I also added a secodd hard drive, while the case was opened. Needed to replace the powersupply. I knew that and was prepared for it. Didn't expect the video-card to croak in the process. Had to put in a new one. Luckily my son has quite a collection of spare parts, some that even work :D

Spoon, I heard about Terratec, but I can't remember what, LOL! I did look at it on the net. I should go back and dig up that info again.

[savagcl]

Re: Good sound card"

Spare parts - all my spare parts go into my daughters PC. Shes in chicago and we
go up every 3/4 months. so i take the spares with me and plug them into her PC.

Those terratac's look kinda expensive to me.

clif

[ChristinaS]

Re: Good sound card"

Spare parts - all my spare parts go into my daughters PC. Shes in chicago and we
go up every 3/4 months. so i take the spares with me and plug them into her PC.

Those terratac's look kinda expensive to me.

clif

At this point price is pretty irrelevant to me, as I'm in Montreal. Unless they are sold here, locally, I'd be forking over tons of bucks to the government in sales taxes and/or duties, Free Trade Agreement be damned, plus the shipping and brokerage charges from the likes of UPS :vmad: I avoid cross-border shopping like the plague.