[loader]

As you all can see, I'm new to the Audiophile's edge. I'm looking for a reliable soundcard to replace that crappy Soundblaster 512. I know you all have opinions and more experience, therefore let the beatings commence. My system is an AMD 1.4 GHz on an Iwill 266+ board, ATI radeon 32MB Video with a Yamaha burner and an ACER 52X CDROM. OS is XP, WINAMP, Nero, and the onboard sound (yechh) are what's left since I smoked the 512. Ladies and gentlemen, I await your advice.

Thanks,

 

[Nezer]

First things first...

Got to http://mad.sourceforge.net and get the latest MAD MP3 plugin for Winamp. It's free and it's a *LOT* better than the stock MP3 decoder that ships with Winamp.

Now, lets talk soundcards... You have a few options here.

First you can go with the MAudio Audiophile 24/96, it gets good reviews.

The USB Stereolink is a 20-bit job that is supposed to be an excellent value.

I have a Tascam US-428 USB recordign console/workstation that has a pretty decent DAC in it that does 24/48khz. It couples *very* well with the Winamp MAD plugin though it's overkill for what you likely need. Unless your a musician looking for a cost-effective home studio option.

 

[Calanctus]

Visit the 3dsoundsurge forums for lots of soundcard discussions and recommendations.

 

[loader]

Thanks for the info. I can see I've got a lot of reading to do. Is there any other source info I should look at as well?

 

[Mystyler]

Have you had a look at the Terratec range of music cards, like the Terratec DMX (more of a consumer card, Terratec's answer to the SB Live!, 2 years old) or the Terratec AudioSystem EWX 24/96?

 

[loader]

Thanks for the info. I'll read up on this as well. Cheers!