sound card and speakers query

bluetoon

bluetoon

bluetoon

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11 Mar 2009
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Hello all, just joined today and making my first post, so please bear with me if i'm abit long winded!
I was thinking about getting some new speakers, looked at G51 first but then read about the Z-5500 on this forum and am now undecided about what to get! Either one means saving up for them, so getting it now or some months down the line is'nt a problem.
I have a m.b from Gigabyte Technology, GA-MA69VM-S2, with i think Realtek High Definition Audio on it, but not a separate soundcard, i'm not that entirely computer savvy has you can tell!
Now my question is this, would either one of these systems be good enough to use with my setup or would a separate sound card be of greater benefit first and then the speakers or would one like the G51 be good enough with just the Realtek? And if a soundcard would be better, which one?

Would really appreciate your help, saving takes time, so need to get it right the first time!

Thanks all
 
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If you're just using the optical out to connect to the speakers then the onboard sound will be fine. If not then it's probably best getting a dedicated sound card. The Realtek HD audio on my Asus motherboard is awful and outputs quite a noisy signal.
 
Sorry, i use the computer mostly for fps games, but my daughter likes to use it for playing her music, loudly most of the time! I also want to use headphones with it since i play my games most of the time late at night.
 
That soundcard would do, i can afford that, but how easy or difficult in my case would something like that be to put it in myself? Would you recommend the G51 or the Z-5500 with it?
Thanks for all the replies so far.
 
I may be wrong on this but I don't think the Xtreme Audio supports Dolby Digital Live (5.1 over optical in games - movies will work though). It's best to think of it as an Audigy rather than an X-Fi, as it doesn't support many of the features of a full X-Fi.

You can use analogue connections for either speaker set though.

Stepping up to either an X-Fi Titanium, or a Xonar D1 / DX (which can also be found on OCUK) would get you a much better sounding, more fully featured card with digital out (including Dolby Digital Live) should you need it. They cost more than the Xtreme Audio but you get what you pay for. If you're just using speakers I would go with the X-Fi, as it has marginally better games compatibility. If you intend to game or watch movies with headphones at all I would recommend the Xonar, due to its excellend Dolby Headphone implementation.
 
Well, the purchase of a dedicated sound card like the ones mentioned will give you superior sound to the on board Realtek.
I guess all it comes down to is how much you are willing to spend all in.

What is your budget roughly for a speaker setup and soundcard?
 
These cards have a good range of outputs and are based on newer chipset compared with the Xtreme audio; hence are more pricey.

Since you've got a sizeable budget you can afford to spend a bit more if you wish but this would be a good start;

The X-FI titanium;
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-062-CL&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=

Plus the Logitech Z5500's which are incredible value for money, plus the Overclockers price is pretty good.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-021-LG&tool=3

Total; £245

Or you could step up to the Xonar D2 soundcard
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SC-000-AS&groupid=701&catid=11&subcat=
for a total of £275; closer to your maximum.

Worth bearing in mind that a sound card is one piece of hardware that will generally last you far longer than something like a GPU; you will not have to upgrade it as much.
 
Reality|Bites said:
Why is it a waste of time buying a soundcard if you use an optical connection? Is the quality poor no matter what or something?
Click to expand...

It depends what motherboard you have, and what soundcard you have. With an optical connection, the digital to analogue conversion is done by the receiver. With analogue connection it's done by the soundcard. The quality of this digital to analogue conversion isn't the only variable to affect sound quality but it's important. Generally the better soundcards are on par with a receiver costing hundreds of pounds and are far better than any PC speaker sets.

If you want to game in 5.1 using a digital connection you must have Dolby Digital Live or DTS connect. These aren't supported by all motherboards or soundcards.

Some soundcards also offer additional features over motherboard audio, such as higher EAX levels.

If you use Vista you need a sound device that has a fix for the lack of DirectSound 3D, which is required for many games, especially older ones. Without it you will only get stereo. Currently this includes Realtek HD onboard (not AC97), Creative Audigy (IIRC you have to pay extra for it to work on Audigy) and X-Fi cards and Asus Xonar cards. There are a few other obscure brands doing solutions but I forget which ones.
 
so if I wanted a good sound card which would you reccomend

I would use it for fps gaming, blueray dvd and music and will be using a good headset (not decided which yet)

sorry to hijack post :)
 
Griff7520 said:
so if I wanted a good sound card which would you reccomend

I would use it for fps gaming, blueray dvd and music and will be using a good headset (not decided which yet)

sorry to hijack post :)
Click to expand...

Any internal Asus Xonar (my preference, especially with headphones, but I'm not entirely happy with drivers). Any Creative X-Fi internal but not Xtreme Audio. Any Auzentech X-Fi (not entirely happy with Creative / Auzentech X-Fi drivers either but some EAX games supported better than on Xonar cards)

Edit: I'm not familiar with requirements for HD audio on blu ray. If that's an issue it might be worth looking it up.
 
I think the problem may have been early hardware, and associated compatibility problems, rather than just drivers. The reason being, I have an X-Fi Xtreme Music. It was fine in XP and Vista with less than 4GB RAM. With 4GB I just got silence from it.

Since then I've used an X-Fi Go! and an X-Fi Prelude. Both worked perfectly. The Xtreme Music hardware has since been revised and I've not heard many people report a problem with a new card.

In a way, I'm glad the Xtreme Music didn't work or I'd have never have bought a Xonar. Happy conseqences...
 
Thanks everyone for your help, i've decided to go for the Asus Xonar D2 soundcard and the X-5500 speakers, so that will take abit of time to save up for.
 
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