Onboard vs Soundcard

Shure · 20 Dec 2006 at 14:44

Can anyone put this into perspective for me? I've NEVER heard music through a dedicated soundcard and I am trying to understand how much of a difference it makes compared to onboard sound(Realtek ALC888)
I'm looking at the X-Fi Xtreme Music are there any better cards ~£50

I only use headphones on my pc if that meakes a difference

manic_man · 20 Dec 2006 at 14:52

Its not necesserily a case of "wow everything sounds so much better" as you can probably appreciate actual sound quality increases are never that profound. Often a better set of speakers makes far more difference than a soundcard (or headphones in your case)

What cards by creative DO offer is just an easier experience. very rarely will you fire up a game with an X-Fi in and find the surround sound doesnt work or you cant select EAX. The software (althouigh a bit bloated) is also far better than anything offered by realtek or c-media.

Theres also the small matter of a few extra FPS here and there as x-fi's are pure hardware cards rather than simply being codec based (i.e. passing the work off to the CPU)

If you only listen to music i personally would say dont change. if however you play games then absolutely X-Fi is the only way to go at the moment...

squiffy · 20 Dec 2006 at 15:03

If it's for music only apparently there are better Hi-Fi cards available than the Creatives, such as the M-Audio 2496, slightly cheaper too. Although it doesn't have any gaming features (hardware mixing, EAX)

photoshop · 20 Dec 2006 at 15:29

If its for pure music then go for a card which is made for sound quality. M-Audio all the way brother!

I know 70% of forum users here swear by creative (you wount see many M-Audio topics in the soundcard section) but if you want sound clarity and quality then get an M-Audio s/c. Personally i have had 2 creative soundcards but it was only when i tried M-Audio that i realised what a load of crap creatve really are for music.

Shure · 20 Dec 2006 at 15:44

Could be my dumb question for the day but I'm looking at the 2496 and I dont see how I could possibly hook my headphones up to that card? am I missing something?...

Does the Revolution 5.1 rate as highly as the 2496?

squiffy · 20 Dec 2006 at 15:56

I use a Revo 5.1 in the HTPC, it has headphone output.
The 2496 doesn't have a headphone output, only line out, you'll need to use headphone amplifier down the line.

photoshop · 21 Dec 2006 at 08:55

chrisstevens said:
Does the Revolution 5.1 rate as highly as the 2496?

i have the revo 5.1

it does everything and has everything i want and need. not sure about the 2496, never tried it.

I think the revo 7.1 is slightly better than the 5.1 but not by much though.
The revo is a very good card in its own right though. Google it and you'll find many reviews which highly rate it.

The revo 5.1 does have 2x outputs which is a good thing as i have my amp wired upto it and my headphones.

Codmate · 21 Dec 2006 at 12:22

photoshop said:
i have the revo 5.1

it does everything and has everything i want and need. not sure about the 2496, never tried it.

I think the revo 7.1 is slightly better than the 5.1 but not by much though.
The revo is a very good card in its own right though. Google it and you'll find many reviews which highly rate it.

The revo 5.1 does have 2x outputs which is a good thing as i have my amp wired upto it and my headphones.

Yeah - I have a friend with the revo 5.1 and I was visibly shocked at how good it sounded. I didn't actually think as much of the 7.1 when I heard that through a similar setup. YMMV though.