Sycraft
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2004
- Posts
- 440
- Likes
- 12
So I'm looking for a recommendation for a pro soundcard with good Vista drivers. Basically what I want is something with really good sound quality, that has working, stable, problem free Vista drivers.
Previously, I was an X-Fi fan and that's what I've got now. In XP, it is just a stellar card as it provides hardware mixing that sounds way better than the kmixer, acceleration for games, and a pro mode for that kind of thing. A great all around card.
However Creative does not seem to feel it necessary to write good Vista drivers. Their whole selling point for Vista is OpenAL, which means that they can do hardware acceleration of games. Everything else is limited to software since Vista removed the acceleration APIs, in favour of high quality software mixing.
Fair enough, except their drivers cause BSODs if used with OpenAL (specifically when a program crashes).
At this point, I'm more than a little tired of it. If I can't use the hardware acceleration, well then it is just kinda an overpriced soundcard. I'd rather get something with better sound quality if I'm going to just use software.
So here's what I'm after:
--Good sound quality output. Input isn't necessary.
--Surround support, 5.1 at least.
--Good Vista drivers (WHQL preferably).
The good Vista drivers is a must. I am not interested in something that you haven't tested on Vista. Working well in XP and working well in Vista are two different things. I am also not interested in moving back to XP.
Any suggestions?
Previously, I was an X-Fi fan and that's what I've got now. In XP, it is just a stellar card as it provides hardware mixing that sounds way better than the kmixer, acceleration for games, and a pro mode for that kind of thing. A great all around card.
However Creative does not seem to feel it necessary to write good Vista drivers. Their whole selling point for Vista is OpenAL, which means that they can do hardware acceleration of games. Everything else is limited to software since Vista removed the acceleration APIs, in favour of high quality software mixing.
Fair enough, except their drivers cause BSODs if used with OpenAL (specifically when a program crashes).
At this point, I'm more than a little tired of it. If I can't use the hardware acceleration, well then it is just kinda an overpriced soundcard. I'd rather get something with better sound quality if I'm going to just use software.
So here's what I'm after:
--Good sound quality output. Input isn't necessary.
--Surround support, 5.1 at least.
--Good Vista drivers (WHQL preferably).
The good Vista drivers is a must. I am not interested in something that you haven't tested on Vista. Working well in XP and working well in Vista are two different things. I am also not interested in moving back to XP.
Any suggestions?
