Which sound card?

LinkZ · 17 Dec 2005 at 14:30

I'm looking to buy a new sound card around the £50 area but im not sure which to buy. I'll be using it to play games on, listen to music, and to record from my decks (straight phono > headphone jack cable from the mixer to the sound card) so id like to have pretty good recording quality.

My friend has the HiTeC HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 and says its very good but after asking OcUK apparantly they won't be getting this back in until February, however id like to get a new sound card before that.

Is there any other cards around that offer similar quality at around the same price or would i be best off waiting for the HiTeC in February?

Firegod · 17 Dec 2005 at 14:39

Games and music I would instantly say the X-Fi music... but I don't know how it performs for recording (i.e. for your decks).

deadeyedic30 · 17 Dec 2005 at 17:56

Price is a problem though, X-Fi music is £90. There's not much choice in audio at that price range.

mancubas · 22 Jan 2006 at 17:20

LinkZ said:
I'm looking to buy a new sound card around the £50 area but im not sure which to buy. I'll be using it to play games on, listen to music, and to record from my decks (straight phono > headphone jack cable from the mixer to the sound card) so id like to have pretty good recording quality.

My friend has the HiTeC HDA Digital X-Mystique 7.1 and says its very good but after asking OcUK apparantly they won't be getting this back in until February, however id like to get a new sound card before that.

Is there any other cards around that offer similar quality at around the same price or would i be best off waiting for the HiTeC in February?

Any updates on the availability of this soundcard.. gagging to get a hold of it for me new HTPC.

ManC

glitch · 22 Jan 2006 at 17:41

Do NOT buy an X-Fi card. You want true 24/96 recording capabilities, so you'd either want an M-Audio 2496 (around £55) or an Emu 0404 (around £60).

I've got the latter and my mate's got the former. Both work perfectly well with the Emu card offering slightly more on features and Optical out in addition to the 2496's Coaxial out.

Street · 22 Jan 2006 at 19:20

The M-Audio 2496 would be perfect for recording and such, but as youre playing games, this probably isnt for you...

I recently changed from a 5.1 live to the X Fi xtreme music and for recording its damn good, puts my old card to shame. Its also better for games and movies and listening to music. I say save up a bit extra and get the xtreme music

glitch · 22 Jan 2006 at 20:26

The M-Audio or the Emu will be fine for games. I've never had a problem with mine and my friend has never reported any issues.

If he's recording mixes I'd put sound quality above gaming performance any day.

Street · 22 Jan 2006 at 21:35

I record mixes for demos to hand out for people, and also Ive got a show on DI.fm, no one has ever complained about the quality of the mixes, even from recordings on my old 5.1 live...

IMO, you're worth paying the extra to get the extra features for games and movies etc which make them sound loads better. The M Audio or Emu may be fine for games, but have you heard them playing something like BF2 against the X Fi?

glitch · 22 Jan 2006 at 22:56

I can see where you're coming from, but the X-Fi can't touch the pro audio cards for sound quality. It's one of those annoying choices that we have to make sometimes!

Street · 23 Jan 2006 at 00:11

Yeh true, I agree with you there... When I bought my X Fi, it was a toss up between that and the 2496, but I figured for my audio uses (I use Reason a bit, record using Soundforge, watch films and play games on my PC) the X Fi was the better allrounder.

And... if you're interested in hearing a recording from an X Fi.. tomorrow night at 8pm, Me and Lab4 on www.DI.fm (shameless plug)

glitch · 23 Jan 2006 at 11:46

Well, it won't make much difference what you recorded it with if it's streaming radio! But I'll check it out anyway and see how good you are.

Hard Trance is it?

B&W · 24 Jan 2006 at 14:27

glitch said:
The M-Audio or the Emu will be fine for games. I've never had a problem with mine and my friend has never reported any issues.

If he's recording mixes I'd put sound quality above gaming performance any day.

had an m-audio once. absolutely awful for games. apart from decreasing fps by 5-10 the sound in games was just awful, the onboard was better.

Logsi · 24 Jan 2006 at 17:33

Had to make the same decision myself and i also got a X-Fi, i usually use Cubase and Nuendo and it seems to hold up very well and the midi 5 pin dins are good for my Yamaha SY-85 Synth.

voodooflux · 24 Jan 2006 at 20:09

5bjoshua said:
Had to make the same decision myself and i also got a X-Fi

Same here, gone for the X-Fi Elite Pro as the best all-rounder for games, guitar, FLStudio etc.

cheers
v.f.

Codmate · 25 Jan 2006 at 10:07

B&W said:
had an m-audio once. absolutely awful for games. apart from decreasing fps by 5-10 the sound in games was just awful, the onboard was better.

It sounds as though you might have had hardware sound options enabled on a card that doesn't support them. When I've done this it's caused crackling and skipping and other wierdness.

The sound from my Delta66 is fantastic in games.
People always comment on the clarity when they come round.

I very much doubt the difference in FPS is as large as 10 between a pure stereo card and a card with onboard processing - I'd like to see some benchmarks to prove it.

B&W · 25 Jan 2006 at 19:04

it was around 1-2 years back when I had a gf2mx400.

tried Tactical ops( old ut mod) in normal software mode and compared to the audigy the ingame sound was awful.

and it was defo around 5-10 fps loss. I clearly remember that since I could barely get a playable fps.

it was an m-audio Audiophile 2496. connected to a cyrus amp and b&w speakers.

ended up selling it due to the gaming performance.

Logsi · 25 Jan 2006 at 19:45

B&W said:
it was around 1-2 years back when I had a gf2mx400.

tried Tactical ops( old ut mod) in normal software mode and compared to the audigy the ingame sound was awful.

and it was defo around 5-10 fps loss. I clearly remember that since I could barely get a playable fps.

it was an m-audio Audiophile 2496. connected to a cyrus amp and b&w speakers.

ended up selling it due to the gaming performance.

It is a Music Creation Card though so its using some of the processor to create awsome sound.

Mundu · 26 Jan 2006 at 18:07

I've got an E-MU 0404 great card, can't comment on recording though as I just use it for music and games. In game one problem I have is with GTA:SA where you have to turn audio hardware acceleration off everytime you want to play the game to get sound.