[EroThraX]

Currently I have Realtek HD onboard and I think it's broken as I often hear hissing when listening to loud volumes and my right speaker keeps going out (doesn't do it on my other computer)

So yeah, beside that stuff I've been meaning to get a soundcard anyhow.

I'm looking for a cheap soundcard, nothing extreme, that will sound better then my Realtek HD and make my headphones I'm geting (Sennheiser HD485) Sound good.

First off, a few noob questions:

Does speaker affect the quality of sound if you plug your headphones into them? I've always plugged my headphones into my speakers. (Are you suppose to? or do you plug the higher-end ones directly into the computer?) I tried that with my cheap 10$ pair of headphones, and they sounded much better plugged into the speakers. ( I have a 90$ Klipsch pair of speakers, but I can't seem to find the brand name. )

and now, I was searching for cheap 30-60$ soundcards, (I can probably add a few more) here they are:

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy SE Sound Card 30$
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1138084673510

Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Sound Card 70$
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1156203598151

Are any of those cards good? How much better would they sound compared to my current audio (Onboard, Realtek HD) I am looking for a soundcard for: listening to music, gaming, and watching movies with a set of Sennheiser HD485 headphones, if you can recommend any within my price range (Or near it) Please do!

And, last question!

How would one install an internal soundcard into Windows XP? I'm kinda lost when it comes to this, but I know as much as I'm suppose to open the case up and put the card in.
Is there any guides for installing soundcards by yourself into windowxp?


Okay guys, thats it! I hope you can help me, cheers.

 

[TheVinylRipper]

This card will do you just fine, it's $14.95 at newegg.com

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16829120103R

Chaintech AV-710

It will sound at least as good as the Creative cards and probably a little better.

The card will come with a software disk, just follow the instructions that come with the card and all will be fine.

There is a quite simple tweak you can perform to make it sound a little better, come back once you have the card working and ask for an explanation, you'll understand a bit better then.

If you have Klipsch speakers, plugging your phones into the speakers is the way to go. Klipsch are among the very best dedicated computer speakers around and the amp in them is fairly high quality.

Come back and let us know how it works, we keep handing out advice and few give us any feedback..

Good luck.. And enjoy.

 

[Redo]

Are you a big gamer or do you want something just for music?

 

[Woosh]

dont get the xtreme audio under any circumstances

 

[infinitesymphony]

EroThraX, the cards you mentioned won't be much better than your onboard audio, for various reasons.

Ideally, you'll want to plug your headphones into a headphone amplifier, which you discovered by comparing your computer speakers' internal headphone amplifier with the non-amplified output on the computer. Not everyone's computer speakers have a powered headphone jack (ex. Logitech X series), so this isn't recommended for everyone, but in the case of your Klipsch, it's probably a good idea to continue plugging your headphones into the speakers until you get a separate amplifier.

The Chaintech AV-710 that TheVinylRipper recommended is a good budget recommendation, at least until you can get into the $150 range. The AV-710 does have some setup issues and quirks, but we'll help you through installation and setup if you decide to go with that card.

 

[Neon_CieJ]

A friend of mine has a Chaintech AV-710 and he said it's a great soundcard for a low price (and I agree). If you don't want to spend much, go for the Chaintech and put your headphones in your Klipsch speakers.

 

[EroThraX]

Wow, I can't believe that 15$ card is better then those 70$ ones, glad I asked you guys, I would've got ripped off bad.

I currently have a 100$ budget, I could get 50$ in a few days.

Which 100-150$ cards would you recommend? I think 15$ may be a bit cheap, I would feel bad for spending so little since my computer is kind of expensive.

 

[Redo]

If you're into gaming, X-Fi XtremeGamer or XtremeMusic

If not, I'm sure somebody can fill you in on some E-Mu or M-Audio offerings.

 

[EroThraX]

The only game I really play, well a few are: Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142, (maybe some Crysis in the future) ,

But mostly I'm going to be listening to music, movies, etc

I was reading reviews on the XtremeMusic and they said it's bad for the game Battlefield 2 (review said he heard cracks and pops in the audio, I don't think it'd do that in less you had a defective card). But good for music/movies.

 

[MrKazador]

You could always go with a headphone amp and the Chaintech Av-710 since you have some extra money.
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=259814

 

[infinitesymphony]

The XtremeMusic has been discontinued and replaced by the XtremeGamer, which is similar but with less features (ex. no gold plating)--the same CS4382 DAC, though.

Better possibilities if gaming is not super important (as you've indicated):

E-MU 0404 USB ($150 or less)

Pros
-portable
-high-quality sound using top-end AKM DAC (AK4396)
-can be used as a standalone DAC
-built-in headphone amplifier
-a lot of extra features for balanced audio and recording

Cons
-some reports of less-than-ideal gaming experiences
-no hardware acceleration

E-MU 1212M ($150 or less)

Pros
-high-quality sound using top-end Cirrus DAC (CS4398), the same DAC that's used for playback in a large number of higher-end recording studios
-supports balanced audio
-very few / no gaming issues

Cons
-takes up two slots in the case (sound card + analog output board)
-control panel is difficult for beginners
-no headphone amplifier
-no 1/8" output jack, so adapter required to connect with computer speakers
-no hardware acceleration

---------

I went with the 1212M simply from a sound quality standpoint. For the most part, it works very well in games, including Battlefield 2. Still, for the price, you're probably better off going with the 0404 USB, or for less money, the X-Fi XtremeGamer.

 

[Buckster]

in the UK I keep seeing (and I bought) - Audigy 4 Pros (card only) going cheap ... for like 20 pounds (40 dollars) - they use the same DAC as the X-Fi Elite Pro

.... I think the Audigy4 Pro sounds great - and its working fine for me under Vista 64 too.

just don't confuse the "Pro" with the other Audigy 4s which are not in the same league

 

[TheVinylRipper]

How about the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 ?

http://www.floridamusicco.com/prodde...artner=froogle

Read reviews here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829121120

This is for XP only, so if you upgrade to Vista you will have to change cards.

But they hold their value pretty well..

 

[EroThraX]

Well, actually I do play games about every day (I know I said it wasn't important but yeah... , same with movies/music on my computer.. So I narrowed it down to these 3! -final choices- lol

M-Audio Audiophile 2496
_
This one seems really good, but not many people have reviewed it. Someone states in opinion that sound is really crisp clear, I think it may be too good for me xD but there really weren't any reviews on gaming for it. They said its 2CH only, does that mean I won't hear the 3D-like sounds in game?, in BF2 it sounds sort Surround soundish.

X-Fi XtremeGamer
---
I heard installing these cards suck since creative gives you a bunch of other stuff with it (well I can take care of that so it doesn't really matter)
I heard their good for gaming, but are they okay for music and movies? (Atleast better then my Onboard Realtek HD),
- btw these are at my local bestbuy, so I could possibly go buy it, install it and if I don't like it try to return it xD, do you think they'd take a return on a soundcard?


Chaintech AV-710
I haven't read much about this card but most people said it's pretty good, but I still don't know.. it just seems too cheap to sound good (dodgy)


So all of these cards sound better then Realtek HD (Onboard)?

Anyway thanks for the help guys!

Edit// Few other noob questions:

Do I really have to uninstall the Onboard to install the soundcard? I might want to try and compare the two...

Soundcards dont have a ''burn in'' do they? lol..

Whats a DAC? (can't look it up atm, going to work)

And.. There's an option in battlefield 2 in audio and it says "X-Fi" Does that card support that.. (yea probably, my aswell as anyway xD)

 

[infinitesymphony]

All of those cards will sound better than onboard audio. Of those choices, the Audiophile 2496 will have the best sound quality. The XtremeGamer will be the best for newer games because it has hardware support for EAX (DSP that often helps to determine the directionality of sounds--helpful in first-person shooter situations). The AV-710 does sound good, but it has finicky drivers, especially in Vista.

Assuming you have a set of 2.1 computer speakers, two channels (left/right) are all you'll need. The "surround" effects come from the game's sound engine (but are made clearer with an EAX-capable card, which performs more complicated operations on the actual sound card).

IIRC, Best Buy has a 15% restocking fee for most items, so you could take the XtremeGamer back and consider the cost as an audition fee if it doesn't work out.

You don't always have to uninstall onboard sound, but there can be driver and device conflicts if you don't. The choice is yours.

Burn-in is debatable, but at least give yourself time to get used to the sound signature of a new card.

The DAC (digital-to-analog converter) is the part of the card that is responsible for converting the digital signals, like the ones sent to the sound card when you play back an MP3 file, into analog, which is what you can hear. It's an important stage, because there are many different methods and implementations to perform the conversion, some better than others.

Battlefield 2 has a lot of EAX features, and any X-Fi card should be able to use them (except the X-RAM feature, which IMO is not important).