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External Sound Card Recommendation that is as good as internal?

post #1 of 6
2/4/13 at 8:17am
Thread Starter 

I need to get some kind of USB external Sound Card for use with my laptop, but i hear such products are not as Good as internal Cards. I was looking at Creative Soundblaster X-Fi HD, but i was told at half the price you can get an PCI Asus Sonar, that sounds so much better. But i desperately need it to be external, so do you have any good product to recommend for such use?

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post #2 of 6
2/4/13 at 9:17am

The main downside of external USB audio devices is that they generally don't have the hardware DSPs for hardware sound acceleration in older games that internal sound cards do.

 

Now, we need to know a few things:

 

-Are you planning on gaming at all?

-Do you need a mic input or line-in?

-Is this strictly for headphone use?

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post #3 of 6
2/4/13 at 10:01am
Thread Starter 

Yes i will play games occasionally, but i definitely  dont need mic. Just 3.5 out, and if possible an optical output (not completely nesecary).

 

Correct, it is intended for headphones, not speakers.

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post #4 of 6
2/5/13 at 12:37pm
Thread Starter 

I'm still interested in recommendation and will gladly receive any feedback offered on that matter, as i want something to drive my Superlux heads and onboard cards dont seem to cut it.

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post #5 of 6
2/5/13 at 1:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by therock003 View Post

Yes i will play games occasionally, but i definitely  dont need mic. Just 3.5 out, and if possible an optical output (not completely nesecary).

 

Correct, it is intended for headphones, not speakers.

 

On the cheap end, there's the Xonar U3.

 

On the likely more expensive end, there's the X-Fi Surround 5.1, but the one I'd consider is the older SB1090 variant with CMSS-3D Headphone instead of THX TruStudio Surround.

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post #6 of 6
2/6/13 at 1:02am
Thread Starter 

Are these products really good though? Cause i already mentioned the X-FI HD on my first post, which is even more expensive but from the reviews it seems it is not up to standards.

 

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/09/20/creative_xfi_hd_usb_sound_card_review/10#.URIboXdI670

 

 

Quote:

The product provided us with excellent sound quality during movie, music, and game playback with 2.1 speakers, but even at its maximum headphone volume, the product always left us wanting just a little bit more.

 

The card's software is meant to enhance our PC sound activities, but the features and documentation feel incomplete compared to dedicated and more expensive internal sound card solutions. If you cannot overlook these flaws, then this product is definitely not for you.

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