[GreenFloyd]

How does it compare to M-Audio Revolution? Audigy 2?

I'm looking for a good card (a step up from my soundblaster live!, anyways). This is so cheap and I've heard such good things.

I will most likely end up just going with the Audigy 2, but I want to make sure I don't ignore the other options out there.

 

[Earwax]

For 2-channel music, not surround or gaming, the Chaintech AV-710 is supposed to be the best budget soundcard (under $30). http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=63301 I haven't heard the SantaCruz, but they say the chaintech is better.

 

[Thump]

I'm two channel (headphones) almost exclusively and went from SB Live! Value to TB Santa Cruz to M-Audio Revolution.

There is a huge jump in quality from the SB to the Santa Cruz. The M-Audio is slightly better than the Santa Cruz. You can find the Santa Cruz for about $40 all the time, and for most people its the best $40 to spend on improving their computer audio system.

 

[AlphaHX]

if you want the tb santa cruz sound quality but want a seperate front or base unit like the audigy 2, take a look at the hercules game theater xp. its supposed to be the same as the tb santa cruz (someone correct me if im wrong) and it has an external unit for outputs, headphones, mic, etc.

 

[Glassman]

none of them is better than sub-$30 Chaintech AV-710, so why look further..

 

[pedxing]

Santa Cruz is very old and I think it uses an old Cirrus Logic dsp. The Chaintech AV-710 uses some sort of Via sound chip.

I usually find that the quality of the sound output is usually determined by the quality of the parts. Of course, paying more money doesn't mean better parts. Also, board manufacturers like to change parts depending which supplier is cheaper, hence two boards of the same version may sound different. I have experienced this inconsistent problem with various Sound Blaster products, including the audigy and audigy 2.

If you want to get fancy, get a card with digital outs and get a good dedicated SPDIF decoder device. Of course, quality still counts. I have actually tested poorly built sound cards with busted SPDIF out's or have high rate of SPDIF signal errors.