Best External Sound Card

[Vakas]

So I've upgraded my case and unfortunately my sound card won't fit,

I'm looking for a external sound card, which would you recommend I've looked at the Creative C6 and X4

 

[Vakas]

I don't know much about these so I will need a bit more information

Will these be better than buying a sound card with a dac like the sound blaster G6

Can you use any software with these

I have the logitech g560 speakers so which of these will I need amp or no amp

Thanks

 

[Vakas]

Can you use any software with these, I saw a sound blaster G6 today on sale and picked it up not tired it yet

 

[Vakas]

I've never used the on board audio but I would assume it's not great

 

[Vakas]

So would I need an optical connection on my speakers as they don't have one

 

[Vakas]

The logitech g560 speakers aren't actually bad and sound good I used then on my xonor phoebus sound card but I can't fit this into my new case is the problem I'm facing

I do have a set of logitech Z5500's which I can use

 

[Vakas]

Upgrade your speakers first. Zero point getting better soundcard with those speaker shaped objects.

Look into some near field monitor speakers, either active or passive

Which speakers would you recommend

 

[Vakas]

I've seen some pioneer DJ DM-50D-BT-W

Any other recommendations

 

[Vakas]

Ifi zen V2 is a great option.

Will look into this need to be clued up about this stuff never used or researched in the past

 

[Vakas]

Here’s a review https://www.whathifi.com/reviews/ifi-zen-dac-v2

It’s more a stereo music kind of DAC instead of an RGB 7.2 surround sound gaming DAC but for most people, it’s great.

I picked mine up used for half of the retail price and I love it.

Looks really good this,

Since you mention it what would be the best gaming dac

 

[Vakas]

@Vakas you've asked a couple of times if you can use software with a DAC, I assume you mean the type of software that comes bundled with gaming based sound cards. The answer is no and this is the reason I use a creative G6 on my PC and a Zen 2 DAC for Hifi duties. The Zen 2 sounds fine on the PC but the creative software is useful to get the best gaming experience whether you use speakers or headphones

So do you just use the G6 on your PC or the Zen as well?

 

[Vakas]

Sorry for the confusion I just the G6 with the PC, the inbuilt DAC in the G6 is fine for playing music too, the software has an equaliser you can set up for music listening and separate settings for games, you can even have separate equaliser settings for headphones vs speakers as it detects when you connect up the headphones. It's just quality of life things like that that make the G6 the better option for the PC IMHO plus it's cheaper than the Zen 2. The Zen 2 I use as a DAC on my bedroom HiFi System between a Raspberry Pi streamer and my amp, and I'm more than happy with it in this scenario as the Pi streamer has all the audio settings I need to tweak.

Thanks for explaining much appreciated