Sound Cards

[microdude431 0]

Hey what type of sound card do you have? I got a Sound Blaster 2 ZS. It is great and have awesome sound both for DVDs and pc games. It is also THX certified. The coolest part was it came with free games. I got raven shield and a tomb raider game. It also comes with several programs which give you full control of you speakers.

[lxcid 0]

i find sound card a waste of money... unless u have really sensative ears or are a electronic musician... u can't really hear the different... i remember when i was abt 7+ years back when i got crazy over sound card... i bought one soundblaster something (forgot the model) and was pretty proud of it... i compare my friends' sound with mine... though its never sound any different to me... i always say mine sounds better... but its till the later stage that i notice what type of sound card really doesn't matter... so i stop all the sound card craze... but anyway... having a great sound card is better den a lousier one...

[microdude431 0]

i think it definately makes a difference. Prior to getting the Sound Blaster 2 ZS, i used the sound board on my motherboard. It was not a good sound card, i believe it was a nividia one. For example, i could not watch DVDs with my old soundcard because it couldnt support them. Now with the new one, the sound is fine and i like watching DVDs on my computer.

[Hercco 0]

Although in last few years the sound circuits inegrated to motherboard have gotten lot better, a good quality separate sound cards are a better option, if you are using your computer to multimedia much.I personally use the integrated sound circuit on my nForce2 motherboard. It is okay, but if I wasn't limited financially I'd most likely buy a better card. In that case I'd most likely have a 5.1 sound system and larger television too. If you are using your computer to watch DVD's or xVids (or whatever), play games other than slow paced strategies or especially if you use it for making music (and it doesn't have to be electric music, people use use computers regardless of what type of music you are making), separate sound cards are still a way to go.

[almoo7 0]

Unless you like music that much or you're too sensitive about the sound that you hear from your speaker then you'll need a separate soundcard. Most of the current on-board soundcards work fine. It's just a waste of money if you ask me, you can save some dough by not buying it if your mainboard has 1 built in. What's important is you have an average sound quality in your PC.

[unicykel 0]

I got a Turtle Beach - Santa Cruz. I love my sound card. Espesially because it came with a subwolfer. THAT makes a difference!! I can allso make surrond sound by taking the top of the speekers and move them behind me. Nice.

[MajesticTreeFrog 0]

You know, having a good sound card won't help much if your speakers are crap. No matter how pretty the sound coming out of the card is, if the speakers can't produce that quality, its all for nothing. If you are going to invest in a good soundcard like an audigy 2 or better, then you should really go buy nice speakers. If you are thinking of upgrading from a decent midrange soundcard(like 30-50 bucks) to a newer card, it might be a better use of money to go get real speakers. For instance, before I upgraded to an Audigy 2 soundcard, I bought a pair of paradigm atom v3 speakers and a cambridge audio a500 amp. Go luck up reviews on those. Granted the pair of speakers and the amp were both $200 bucks. But DVDs and music are perfect.

[gdude335 0]

i connected my comp to my sterio and the sound quality is great. On the comp only it was also good. I have a turtle beach-santa cruz card. Ive despretly been trying to connect my guitar to it but we got a new imac for really cheap and now i can connect it easily.

[MajesticTreeFrog 0]

yay for mac!

[spaceseel 0]

For christmas, I'm getting an external sound card that supports the new Advanced EAX HD technology. That means that my video games are going to sound more realistic than my old EAX 2.0 card. It also supports 5.1 speaker. But, I'm quite happy with the 2.1 speakers that I have now.

[Ploforia 0]

There really isn't much audible difference between higher end sound cards. Once you get into 20 & 24 bit digital sound sampled at 48 khz or higher 90% of people probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. There might be an occassional issue with slight sound coloration which, unless you are mixing down audio for a professional application, wouldn't matter and you wouldn't notice. As far as ones built right into the motherboard, the major issues are really dealing with MIDI and the occasional IRQ issues usually only when you add extra sound cards. Most cards come with a satisfactory A/D D/A chipset - to convert digital sound to analog and vice versa with little discernable sound fidelity difference, again, unless you are a sound engineer or pro-musician and even then you may not notice much difference. So the only real problem is when you are using your computer for professional audio. In my opinion, if you aren't using it for pro-audio don't bother wasting your money.

[teraslasch 0]

well, i got an audigy 2 platinum pro, ha.. im a digital musician, and the soundcard gives me lots of bundled software for music creation .. and it gives me a hub too, with lots of ports, like line in mic in , line 2, midi in out , headphones, optical in,out and lotsa other ports to connect to things such as sequencers, synthesizers etc.. i would suggest u at least get a basic soundcard for gaming or music, but if you are into digital music like me, you should get a good one ..my 2 cents

[silverkirfsco 0]

i have a turtle beach santa cruzit runs great and have had almost no problems with itoccasionally there have been some issues with games, but a lot of times the games where older and of lower quality.sound blaster makes good sound cards and having a sound card is better than onboard audio.

[kenjvalip 0]

Yes I agree with what all of you said. You don't need a decent sound card if you are just a plain gamer. Good sound card must go hand in hand with good purpose. I bought a sound card sb live 24-bit. Not that expensive it's affordable, but it gives a 7.1 audio system. Quite a buy... Anyway I use my card not for gaming but for digital music. I was searching for a good soundcard that can support soundfonts and good .10 ms latency in direct sound. It was great. And I made some great realistic drum soundfont. It is a layered soundfont and very customized. I never followed the standard gm setup so I go up to 2 octaves higher and on the lower octave is again another different set. Wow it sounds neat... The pressure of your hit on the elec drums gives a different sound. So realistic I never thought it was possible. With all the toms and the cymbals wow... But if you are a serious gamer you should buy a good sound card with 7.1 surround. I was fooled one time when I played using surround it seemed so realistic that when a sound came from my rear speakers I looked back, hehehe it was just a game. They said E-MU produces great sound also but also hehehe expensive, maybe someday if I will be bigtime hehehe.

[Vagodeoz 0]

I have a very crappy built in sound card, but since I'm making a home studio, I'll get a Terratec. It's quite good: 150$, 10 ins, 10 outs, MIDI I/O.
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