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Original CD or new sound card

post #1 of 5
4/28/07 at 11:15am
Thread Starter 
My current sound card is SB Live! 5.1 DE and the music that I listen is mp3 format at 192kB/s (downloaded). Should I buy a new sound card (X-Fi since I'm a gamer) or buy original CD? Which one produce better quality?
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post #2 of 5
4/28/07 at 12:07pm
X-Fi. It's very hard to tell the difference between CDA and 192kb/s mp3, at least to my ears.
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post #3 of 5
4/28/07 at 1:41pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for reply, but I do hear differences between CDA and 192kB/s mp3's, even on my crappy sound card and speaker

I also wanted to ask, if I should buy a better sound card if I listen to music only? There are lots of other than Creative (and I never heard of it) sound card brand, like:

ESI Maya 44
ESI Juli@
E-MU 1212M

And I wonder if these card is compatible with my Klipsch? Is it sound better than X-Fi in terms of audio quality?
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post #4 of 5
4/28/07 at 6:57pm
Well, I've ripped a song to 256kb/s mp3 and lossless .wav file and I can't tell a difference between the two. Most can't, some claim they can. Yes, those cards would sound better but I haven't heard them myself and I thought you said you are a gamer too. I use EMU 0404 USB for headphone use and X-Fi XtremeMusic for games and that may be the best way for you to go too. I think that EMU 1212M may give you the best sound quality but don't take my word for it.
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post #5 of 5
4/29/07 at 1:27am
value high SQ sound card = AV710 & use the Alt HQ out jacks, or flash it with Prodigy firmware to native ASIO digital out.
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