[Emmett62]

i am looking up sound cards and found two cards that i think seem great but one card came out in 2008 and the other in 2014. the cards being http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OV789U?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER and  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005OQ0XIO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_2&smid=A2EGE8BKH9B79R. my question is could their be a advantage of old hardware vs the new stuff (kinda like how vintage amps are vs new amps) and not like how gpus are ( where the newer stuff is always better than the older stuff) this might be a dumb topic but im interested in the communities thoughts on old hardware vs new 

 

[sonci]

Those are way overpriced, none of them is worth that ammount, and no, sound cards are not graphic cards, a ''vintage'' Lynx or RME will be better than any Asus or Creative modern card..
if you do gaming just get a cheap Creative card, while for music an external DAC would be better.

 

[Roseval]

Before you buy a "vintage" check if there is a driver matching you're current OS

 

[Emmett62]

My os is windows 10 so that limits me a bit

 

[Emmett62]

I know graphics cards arnt sound cards i just used that as a hardware comparision as how gpus always get better and if sound cards are the same way.

 

[obobskivich]

I know graphics cards arnt sound cards i just used that as a hardware comparision as how gpus always get better and if sound cards are the same way.

Historically, like decades years ago, yeah they did get progressively better. Since Windows Vista however, hardware-accelerated audio for gaming was deprecated, and since a while before that multimedia (e.g. music, DVDs, etc) moved to software support too. Modern soundcards are largely just input/output devices, as opposed to actual DSP co-processors, so you're largely just buying (or paying for) their software functionality and hardware quality (e.g. higher quality DACs and ADCs, built-in headphone amps, etc). Nowadays you can do just as well with a USB-based device as you can with an internal PCI or PCIe card (this was not the case 10-20 years ago), but that doesn't mean higher quality internal cards are explicitly a bad thing. I'd agree with checking to ensure drivers exist for your system, and in the case of that HT Omega, that your system even has a PCI slot to plug the card in.

 

[Emmett62]

i have a creative titanium x-fi hd and was debating on these but would something like this be a goodd option http://www.bursonaudio.com/products/supreme-sound-opamp-v5/ over a whole new card 

 

[Sal1950]

Far from an expert on such things but I am surprised in this day you'd even consider a expensive sound card over a quality USB solution?  YMMV

 

[Emmett62]

i wanna do some testing with a decent sound card and a usb solution  but i dont wanna get a **** sound card 

 

[Sal1950]

  i wanna do some testing with a decent sound card and a usb solution  but i dont wanna get a **** sound card 

LOL, Okie Dokie.
Don't know what your budget is or if your in the US but Emotiva has the DC-1 on sale for $399 right now, a steal price,  with a no questions asked 30 return policy.
I love the sound of mine both for driving the main system and as a headphone amp for my power demanding Senn HD 650s.  Just my 2 cents.
https://emotiva.com/products/dacs/electronics/dacs/stealth-dc-1
Good luck.

 

[Emmett62]

for my dac and amp i was looking into the schiit bifrost multibit and  asgard 2. but i will deffo look into the emotiva as a nice well rounded bal/unbal solution

 

[obobskivich]

Far from an expert on such things but I am surprised in this day you'd even consider a expensive sound card over a quality USB solution?  YMMV

There's nothing "wrong" or "bad" with a high-end soundcard, and in many cases it can offer more multimedia functionality than many USB devices. They can also make great digital sources if you've got an outboard DAC (more or less "best of both worlds" as you get all the functionality of the card, and a high performance outboard DAC). There is no point in replacing opamps on a soundcard if you're going to use its digital outs though, since you're bypassing the entire analog section. As far as whether or not the opamps have merit for the analog outputs - I don't have an answer either way, as I've never tried them.

If you're looking for a DAC with balanced outputs, alongside the Emotiva also look at TEAC too.

 

[Emmett62]

There's nothing "wrong" or "bad" with a high-end soundcard, and in many cases it can offer more multimedia functionality than many USB devices. They can also make great digital sources if you've got an outboard DAC (more or less "best of both worlds" as you get all the functionality of the card, and a high performance outboard DAC). There is no point in replacing opamps on a soundcard if you're going to use its digital outs though, since you're bypassing the entire analog section. As far as whether or not the opamps have merit for the analog outputs - I don't have an answer either way, as I've never tried them.

If you're looking for a DAC with balanced outputs, alongside the Emotiva also look at TEAC too.

what would be the benefit  of losing the sound card and gettiing a dac amp

 

[Sal1950]

  what would be the benefit  of losing the sound card and gettiing a dac amp

If your looking for a very high quality analog sound source from the digital music files on your computer, the SOTA path for that today is by using an outboard dac, etc.

 

[GroovyGI]

I am using a set of 2.1 Monsoon Planar Media 9 Speakers from 2005, not sure if this counts as old or ancient but I still love their sound even if they have to be perfectly aligned for each ear. I gave up on sound cards in 2006 and have been listening through headphones for the last 9 years.