Whatever happened to the sound card market?
Nov 7, 2012 at 4:14 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 7

smileywond3r

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Ive been usnig my audigy 2 zs since 2004 and I believe that was when sound cards were booming.  Nowadays I see new pc's that are generally equipped with onboard sound.  Is onboard sound just as good?  Reason being I am looking for a new sound card because mine is simply too old now.  I also recently bought a pair of sony v6's.
 
Anyone know a reasonably priced card below 50$?  The Audigy 2 ZS is great but I feel like I need an upgrade.
 
Nov 7, 2012 at 4:22 PM Post #2 of 7
I believe that card that you have is still pretty good, Yes they are better, but it depends on what you using it for.
 
I just got the Sound Blaster Titanium HD for music and gaming I do a lot of gaming, but I also use it to listen to my music on my pc, 
 
I know sound blaster is coming with a new line of cards but they are way more expensive that $50 and i don't think they are better than the HD titanium since they don't support hardware accelerated decoding, especially for gaming, a lot of the  new ones are more software emulated than hardware.
 
so far I'm very happy with mine.
 
Nov 7, 2012 at 4:26 PM Post #3 of 7
How old is your sound blaster and does it work right out or do you gotta install drivers? Reason being my audigy 2 ZS has slim to no support anymore.  I fear that if I switch t windows 8 it wont work.  When I went from XP to 7, I lost a lot of functionality with it.  That is why I feel like I need to upgrade.
 
Btw your card is way out of my budget lol.
 
Nov 7, 2012 at 4:32 PM Post #4 of 7
Quote:
Ive been usnig my audigy 2 zs since 2004 and I believe that was when sound cards were booming.  Nowadays I see new pc's that are generally equipped with onboard sound.  Is onboard sound just as good?  Reason being I am looking for a new sound card because mine is simply too old now.  I also recently bought a pair of sony v6's.
 
Anyone know a reasonably priced card below 50$?  The Audigy 2 ZS is great but I feel like I need an upgrade.

Refurb Creative X-Fi Titanium (PCI-E) sound card, $49.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102043
 
Nov 8, 2012 at 11:31 AM Post #5 of 7
I have been considering a sound card for stereo music only (without spending much money), and I determined that the Asus Xonar cards are a good way to go.  The lower priced DS and DG models can be had for between $15 and $35.  One is 5.1 and the other is 7.1.  As far as I remember the cheaper DG model is better for stereo but I would recommend you check out the many reviews out there.
 
I will order one of these in a couple of days, but I am in no rush because I usually take the digital audio from the PC and run it into the DAC of my headphone amp.
 
Good luck!
 
Nov 9, 2012 at 1:54 PM Post #6 of 7
Quote:
I have been considering a sound card for stereo music only (without spending much money), and I determined that the Asus Xonar cards are a good way to go.  The lower priced DS and DG models can be had for between $15 and $35.  One is 5.1 and the other is 7.1.  As far as I remember the cheaper DG model is better for stereo but I would recommend you check out the many reviews out there.
 

 
This ^
Asus have pretty good cards for the price, you have to choose depending on your uses. The DG is a good soundcard for headphone guys. 
 
Nov 9, 2012 at 2:21 PM Post #7 of 7
Quote:
I have been considering a sound card for stereo music only (without spending much money), and I determined that the Asus Xonar cards are a good way to go.  The lower priced DS and DG models can be had for between $15 and $35.  One is 5.1 and the other is 7.1.  As far as I remember the cheaper DG model is better for stereo but I would recommend you check out the many reviews out there.
 
I will order one of these in a couple of days, but I am in no rush because I usually take the digital audio from the PC and run it into the DAC of my headphone amp.
 
Good luck!

Xonar DS & DSX, uses DTS only, not Dolby and does not have a headphone amplifier.
DTS is good to have for playing Blu-ray disks.
 
Xonar DG & DGX uses Dolby only, has basic head amp. and optical output is 2-channel only.
 

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