TERRATEC Aureon 5.1 USB vs. HERCULES Fortissimo IV 7.1 PCI

[erdinc]

How would you compare these two sound cards?

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/9367...n-5-1-usb.html

http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/6036...tissimo-i.html

I don't know much about the former but the latter is an Envy24HT based sound card and I have only read good things about it. On the other hand having an external sound card could be an adventage. I'm not sure whether or not I should wait until the fortissimo is available in the UK.

I have my music albums on my PC as Wav files. Currently I have an on board sound card (Soundmax). I have Roland DM10 2.0 amplified studio monitors which are connected of course with an analog cable since the on board sound card has no other line out. The studio monitors have both optical and coaxial input which would be nice to connect to a sound card.

My headphone is HD595 50 ohm version. I connect them to the headphone output of the Rolands. They sound pretty good actually but I would like to see if a sound card would imnprove the sound quality. I have no amplifier. Mainly I listen music through my headphones.

Which one should I consider?

 

[sgrossklass]

Keep in mind that you're paying extra for the case etc. of the external solution. You'll certainly get the better sound quality from the Fortissimo 4, the Aureon 5.1 USB should be based on some CMedia CMI10x - not totally bad, but a long way from a full-blown Envy24HT card with decent DACs.