Best Soundcard for music and gaming..
Aug 21, 2004 at 5:23 AM Post #2 of 25
There isn't one, run two cards instead. You can run an Audigy 2 along side an E-MU (0404, 1212m, 1820m) or RME (HDSP Hammerfall) to get the best of both worlds.
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Aug 21, 2004 at 7:33 AM Post #3 of 25
Well, there are cards that are good for gaming and sound better than the Sound Blaster cards for music...the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz / Hercules Game Theater XP are supposed to be a step up from the Sound Blaster cards in music fidelity, and come fairly close to the SB line of cards in games. The only problem is that these are older cards and the drivers are outdated and won't support the newer features in games...plus they eat more CPU cycles than the SB cards but with a modern PC, that shouldn't be a real issue.
 
Aug 21, 2004 at 7:35 AM Post #4 of 25
Yeah, but compared to the suggested cards they won't do anything very well. He'd be better off with a Chaintech and an Audigy 2.

If you were going to get into a knife fight and also needed to saw through a 2x4 you wouldn't want a swiss army knife...
 
Aug 21, 2004 at 8:13 AM Post #5 of 25
Quote:

Originally Posted by Jasper994
Yeah, but compared to the suggested cards they won't do anything very well. He'd be better off with a Chaintech and an Audigy 2.


Agreed...that's what I'd do for best results. The Chaintech should sound better than the Santa Cruz/GTXP for music, and the Audigy 2 will perform better than those cards in games. I was just saying that for someone that was willing to give up a little in both areas, the SC/GTXP would be a lot cheaper than having 2 seperate cards, would only take up 1 PCI slot, and there would be no worries about resource conflicts (though admittedly the 2 cards seem to work together for most people).
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Aug 22, 2004 at 3:59 AM Post #9 of 25
If at some point I decide to get a pair of HD-650's and an Amp would still be able to run my theoretical setup off of my computer + Chaintech? Would it be a good “system” or would the soundcard be my bottle neck? Or would be running a pair of extremely good headphones and an amp off a computer be the bottleneck?

I am trying to think ahead a few moves in my soon-to-be audiophile existence (Yes I am referring to chess =))
 
Aug 22, 2004 at 4:57 AM Post #10 of 25
Well, if you really want to set yourself up for the future, its probably a good idea to get and E-MU audio card, seeing as how they are renowned as being basically the pinnacle of audiophile sound cards.

E-MU Homepage

The E-MU 0404 Retails for around $100 usd, and is probably the best value for a true audiophile grade sound card.

If your willing to spend a little bit more, the E-MU 1212M retails for around $200 usd, and is apparently quite an upgrade from the 0404.

Both of these cards are recognized as being very good at what they do, albeit slightly difficult to connect to headphones, as some adapters are necessary. But buying either one of these cards, especially the 1212M, will garuntee you an audiophile quality computer source. As long as your playing good quality files that is.
cool.gif
 
Aug 22, 2004 at 6:28 AM Post #11 of 25
Quote:

Originally Posted by Ic3Floe
Well, if you really want to set yourself up for the future, its probably a good idea to get and E-MU audio card, seeing as how they are renowned as being basically the pinnacle of audiophile sound cards.

E-MU Homepage

The E-MU 0404 Retails for around $100 usd, and is probably the best value for a true audiophile grade sound card.

If your willing to spend a little bit more, the E-MU 1212M retails for around $200 usd, and is apparently quite an upgrade from the 0404.

Both of these cards are recognized as being very good at what they do, albeit slightly difficult to connect to headphones, as some adapters are necessary. But buying either one of these cards, especially the 1212M, will garuntee you an audiophile quality computer source. As long as your playing good quality files that is.
cool.gif



His requirements were for music AND gaming. Those are great for music but not as good for gaming.

I would say it depends on how much gaming is going to be done. If your a casual gamer then go with the cards Ic3Floe recommended or get the Chaintech card another person listed above. If your a hardcore gamer then I would just go with one of the Audigy 2's. It won't give you audiophile level quality for music, but it will do alright if your not one who has to hear every last detail.

Personally I am still using my Hercules GameTheater XP that I purchased 2-3 years ago. I got the model with an external box that plugs into the card that has all the connections on it including a headphone jack - very convenient. It is not as good at gaming as the Creative cards nor as good at music as the Chaintech, but is has worked well enough for me at both to keep it in use. It is however several years old and I probably would not buy one new.
 
Aug 22, 2004 at 6:49 AM Post #12 of 25
TheRaven, I know that he wanted to game and to listen to music, but i thought that all had agreed that the best option is a dual soundcard system. I still have my Game Theater Xp, but the headphone jack is broken and only outputs audio into one channel of the headphones. I thought the card/breakout box was ok, but i felt that the drivers were just not updated frequently enough and that hercules customer support was lacking.

But yes, if your not too demanding on the gaming side of things, then any audigy 2 card will be sufficient for gaming, and any of the E-MU cards will be excellent for your audiophile needs.
 
Aug 22, 2004 at 7:19 AM Post #13 of 25
Quote:

Originally Posted by Ic3Floe
Well, if you really want to set yourself up for the future, its probably a good idea to get and E-MU audio card, seeing as how they are renowned as being basically the pinnacle of audiophile sound cards.

E-MU Homepage

The E-MU 0404 Retails for around $100 usd, and is probably the best value for a true audiophile grade sound card.

If your willing to spend a little bit more, the E-MU 1212M retails for around $200 usd, and is apparently quite an upgrade from the 0404.

Both of these cards are recognized as being very good at what they do, albeit slightly difficult to connect to headphones, as some adapters are necessary. But buying either one of these cards, especially the 1212M, will garuntee you an audiophile quality computer source. As long as your playing good quality files that is.
cool.gif



Yea, I'm still getting the basics of FLAC down before I make any purchase =)
 
Aug 22, 2004 at 7:25 AM Post #14 of 25
Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRaven
His requirements were for music AND gaming. Those are great for music but not as good for gaming.

I would say it depends on how much gaming is going to be done. If your a casual gamer then go with the cards Ic3Floe recommended or get the Chaintech card another person listed above. If your a hardcore gamer then I would just go with one of the Audigy 2's. It won't give you audiophile level quality for music, but it will do alright if your not one who has to hear every last detail.

Personally I am still using my Hercules GameTheater XP that I purchased 2-3 years ago. I got the model with an external box that plugs into the card that has all the connections on it including a headphone jack - very convenient. It is not as good at gaming as the Creative cards nor as good at music as the Chaintech, but is has worked well enough for me at both to keep it in use. It is however several years old and I probably would not buy one new.


One thing that is unclear to me is what people say by "gaming" audio.. I play quite a bit of Counter-Strike but the audio qualities are usually regulated by the league that I play in (I play competitive CS). Other than CS I really don't do much gaming and I love to listen to quality music.
 
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