Best Budget Sound Card?
Mar 2, 2009 at 12:11 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 45
quane

quane

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I got a wee setup that works nicely for me - HD215's and SB Audigy 7.1 SE. But the card is pretty much super low-end although it perfoms quite well. I'm looking for a new Sound Card that's under £70 (£80 if it's something super-duper) for my system. I'm quite pleased with my Sound Card as it is but it's time to move on. I'm sitting on 32bit XP and the sound card is going to be used mainly for Movies/Music, a year ago I would've said Gaming but I've quit and moved on and now I'm sort of a newbie-audiophile.

So, you crazy Audio freaks, help me out
smily_headphones1.gif
 
Mar 2, 2009 at 6:14 AM Post #2 of 45
I've heard good things about the HT Omega Striker and the Asus Xonar D1.
 
Mar 2, 2009 at 10:22 AM Post #5 of 45
Quote:

Originally Posted by Benno1988 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Fixed.


trolling is fun, wouldn't you agree?

@ quan:
the Xonar boards are a good buy for SQ, as well as the Creative's in the same price range (Titanium and Fatal1ty for PCI and PCIe, the PCI board I'm thinking of is around $130 in the US, thats fairly close to your budget top-end)

looking at Overclockers, the best value seems to be that Xonar D2, although its a bit over your budget (honestly, all of those #'s look like funbucks to me, so you'll have to tell me if 17 funbucks more is actually a problem or not)

another good buy thats within your budget is the Auzen X-Plosion Cinema
 
Mar 2, 2009 at 4:28 PM Post #6 of 45
Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich /img/forum/go_quote.gif
trolling is fun, wouldn't you agree?

@ quan:
the Xonar boards are a good buy for SQ, as well as the Creative's in the same price range (Titanium and Fatal1ty for PCI and PCIe, the PCI board I'm thinking of is around $130 in the US, thats fairly close to your budget top-end)

looking at Overclockers, the best value seems to be that Xonar D2, although its a bit over your budget (honestly, all of those #'s look like funbucks to me, so you'll have to tell me if 17 funbucks more is actually a problem or not)

another good buy thats within your budget is the Auzen X-Plosion Cinema


Would rather go for Creative SB Titanium as I got a local shop that sells them for £69 and I just need to know if it's worth it. Take a look around if you must
Sound Cards - Online Store
 
Mar 2, 2009 at 4:43 PM Post #8 of 45
Not getting a Ti Fatal1ty, gaming soundcards are **** imo.
 
Mar 2, 2009 at 4:54 PM Post #10 of 45
Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich /img/forum/go_quote.gif
then you've no clue what you're talking about, and we're done here, have a good day


You talking about the X-ram? ^^
 
Mar 2, 2009 at 4:59 PM Post #11 of 45
Quote:

Originally Posted by quaN' /img/forum/go_quote.gif
You talking about the X-ram? ^^


all X-Fi cards feature X-RAM, and it has no impact on sound quality, is objectively proven to improve performance, and the primary selling point on the Ti is the RFI shield and potentially higher quality opamps/DAC hardware (I dont know this for a fact, you may wish to research it, as it is their premium PCIe card, its likely to have some tweaks over the stock Ti)

while we're at it, lets look at other "**** gaming cards", like the Razer HP-1, based around the "god awful" CMI8788 (same chip used on the HT Omega Claro line), or lets look at the "evil" Asus Xonar D2/D2X (which are surely crap on a stick), lets not forget the Auzen X-Fi Prelude, X-Fi Fatal1ty Champion, and somewhat cheaper Auzen X-Plosion and HT Omega Striker

but no, your reasoning is entirely sound, and based entirely on fact (by fact, I of course mean a big ol'tub of myth and assumption topped with a light smattering of horse****)
 
Mar 2, 2009 at 5:06 PM Post #12 of 45
Quote:

Originally Posted by obobskivich /img/forum/go_quote.gif
all X-Fi cards feature X-RAM, and it has no impact on sound quality, is objectively proven to improve performance, and the primary selling point on the Ti is the RFI shield and potentially higher quality opamps/DAC hardware (I dont know this for a fact, you may wish to research it, as it is their premium PCIe card, its likely to have some tweaks over the stock Ti)

while we're at it, lets look at other "**** gaming cards", like the Razer HP-1, based around the "god awful" CMI8788 (same chip used on the HT Omega Claro line), or lets look at the "evil" Asus Xonar D2/D2X (which are surely crap on a stick), lets not forget the Auzen X-Fi Prelude, X-Fi Fatal1ty Champion, and somewhat cheaper Auzen X-Plosion and HT Omega Striker

but no, your reasoning is entirely sound, and based entirely on fact (by fact, I of course mean a big ol'tub of myth and assumption topped with a light smattering of horse****)


This is the way I look at it - I've had couple "gaming" peripherals, most of them were bollocks and nothing like you would expect them to be. So I thought that it's probably the same case with gaming sound cards. As they're designed for gaming, they should be great at gaming, not so good at music/movies and that's what I thought.

BTW Can't afford Fatal1ty Ti.
 
Mar 2, 2009 at 5:12 PM Post #13 of 45
Quote:

Originally Posted by quaN' /img/forum/go_quote.gif
This is the way I look at it - I've had couple "gaming" peripherals, most of them were bollocks and nothing like you would expect them to be. So I thought that it's probably the same case with gaming sound cards. As they're designed for gaming, they should be great at gaming, not so good at music/movies and that's what I thought.

BTW Can't afford Fatal1ty Ti.


well, you thought wrong to be quite honest, as theres really only two types of soundcards anymore, gaming, and prosumer, but I will agree that a number of "gaming" peripherals are bollocks ($150 keyboards, $50 mousepads, and $200 mice....riiiight, professional CAD users don't even spend that much)

the days of multimedia sound died with Audigy and X-Meridian

the Claro Halo and Essence STX are somewhat bringing that back (and HTPC marketed products)

I'd try the Ti in any iteration, it should be a quality improvement from your Audigy SE (I know next to nothing about the Audigy SE other than its the cheapest of the line, and probably doesn't offer much in terms of premium SQ)
 
Mar 2, 2009 at 5:16 PM Post #15 of 45
Quote:

Originally Posted by iriverdude /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Older ones don't -Extreme Music. Since you're not gaming I wouldn't buy Creative.


To Mr.Sarcasm - Had "Gaming" headphones for £50 which were top of the range back then and they were absolutely **** except for the comfort. Still got a gaming pad and mouse because the pad is huge and it's real nice to have a big pad and gaming mouse for precision although it's proven to be a good mouse all-around (MX518). Enough about gaming anyway
biggrin.gif


Riverdude - If not Creative, then what? Asus? Wouldn't Asus be more "gaming" soundcards?
 
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