Worth getting a sound card?

james.miller said:
id be very suprised if an audigy se is any better than your onboard sound. i really cant see the point in buying one of those at all
Click to expand...

Read some of the reviews, people praising it at least.

I bought an Audigy, though I got one the same time as I got new speakers so I never really tested the onboard, got the speakers and card at the same time so just didn't bother.

Will probably give it a test in a few days when my headset comes. :p
 
Went from Realtek onboard to Audigy SE, on a pair of good Sennheisers, haven't noticed a difference in MP3s or flacs. I'm sure there is a difference, but it wasn't striking enough for me to notice.

Games/5.1 I dunno, because I only got a 5.1 setup when I got the Audigy, it's sweet in games, but the onboard may have been just as good.

Will check over summer when I have more time to waste :p
 
lol, yeah it's only a budget soundcard, but my mobo cost £35, the soundcard £18, so I'd expect it to be at least a decent amount better...:p

Mate has an expensive Xonar one, I'll borrow that and see if that's any different.
 
Paracelsus said:
lol, yeah it's only a budget soundcard, but my mobo cost £35, the soundcard £18, so I'd expect it to be at least a decent amount better...:p

Mate has an expensive Xonar one, I'll borrow that and see if that's any different.
Click to expand...
A lot of people just get the creative stuff for EAX, even if the sound quality isn't really much different from onboard.

FLAC's, Good soundcard, good Sennheisers, and maybe a headphone amp (depends what Sennheisers you have) = Win!
 
james.miller said:
people will prise anything if they havent seen or heard better. i didnt lie when i said the se was an awful card. its nothing but an onboard chipset, off-board. and because its a creative, it had the audigy name with none of the benefits and creative's hiked prices.
Click to expand...

I'm using that card and I did one of the reviews on it but maybe I should explain why I thought it was OK or at least better than onboard as my prerequisites for sound maybe different than other peoples.

I only use 2 channel stereo, but I use a mic a lot and I use the mix feature for music and mic.
I wanted a card that would work in XP and Vista that had mix and mic boost.
I would have used an SB Live which does work in Vista with Daniel_K drivers but I have 4 gigs of ram so thats a no no.

This was on a new build using a Abit IP35 Pro, and I really tried with the onboard sound on that before going the creative route.
If your using mic and music at same time with the onboard it crackles when you change tracks, and the sound is thin to my ears (ear in fact) but you don't have to be an audiophile to hear it.
The downside to that Audigy SE is it has no mic boost unless you do it in the registry, and the newer drivers don't have mix (Creatives What U hear) in Vista.
I used older drivers with it that have mix (as do the MS ones) and its OK.

Wish I'd made a recording of the onboard Abit one to prove my point, but I never thought it would be necessary.
If your just listening to music whatever and your mics not involved then maybe the onboard is OK, but it certainly sound thin to my ears compared to ANY of the creatives.

You said in another post...
why do soundcards even have problems with microphones. I'm sure they think everybody is going to use a professional low-gain mic instead of the soft of micrphone you'd normally use on the pc. its crazy and they need to fix it really.

I agree with you 100%, and thats another factor that limits my sound card choice.
Is there a chance they keep this low to stop the mic circuit interfering with the other channels on the card?
 
i can explain it. ( i think)

i went from onboard realtek HD To Auzentech Prelude 7.1

noticeable changes:
Clearer voices in songs & Games

Bass that was in games just got whole more real onbiard just virbrated. the soundcard you can hear the actual beat but still shakes you. also if you havve the bass up high you can feel the beat under you where as on board it just weent boom rather than say "ta boom da ta boom"

Higher voices say a women hits a really high note onboard it was just high
on my new soundcard on high note sometimes hurts your ears and you can feel the sound :D

clear surround sound can hear footsteps location more clearer and hear every single footstep (2,6,10 guys!)

fps boost i noticed around 15fps in games (possible due to xram on my card and dedicated processor)

extra features for fims that can really make the difference in surround sound experience, such as dolby dightal. DTS

neighbours dont moan any more as they can hear it clearly (sorry couldn't help myself lol)

online voices are clearer to,

EAX support can help in games voices,noises.

i enjoy listening to music more now to.... :/


or i could summarise it in 1 sentence

you can listen to music but can you hear the Music...
 
Last edited:
OK, time out people, you're basing judgements on sound cards on piezzo electric "microphones" that connect via minijacks. ROFLMAO.

Test it with an AKG C1000....oh you can't, no XLR inputs, no phantom power, and no actual mic pre-amp (despite the little ticky box).

Truth hurts, but compared with actual audio equipment from the Real World, we're discussing which pile of poo smells least awful here.
 
thegoonden said:
OK, time out people, you're basing judgements on sound cards on piezzo electric "microphones" that connect via minijacks. ROFLMAO.

Test it with an AKG C1000....oh you can't, no XLR inputs, no phantom power, and no actual mic pre-amp (despite the little ticky box).

Truth hurts, but compared with actual audio equipment from the Real World, we're discussing which pile of poo smells least awful here.
Click to expand...

Honestly, who is suggesting that it can match up to high end audio equipment? Is it too much to ask that a basic PC microphone works for use in in-game communications?
 
split said:
I thought when I heard the onboard sound on an Abit NF7s that long last they had made a huge leap in onboard sound.
That does not seem to be the case.

I also tried the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe board which is very similar to the Abit above, and it picks up noises from the motherboard which is a pain.
I then tried onboard on an MSI Neo2, and that was like an AM radio compared to an SB live that sounded so much smoother.
I recently tried it on an Abit IP35 Pro, and again it's thin and it crackles at the start of a track.

I'm not going to quote figures, I'm just trusting my ears cos thats what you should be doing and IMO they have only ever got it right on one motherboard that I have tried.
Click to expand...

They dropped the soundstorm,as when i upgraded my motherboard i had a hard time to find a soundcard at the time to work properly with my denon amp in 5.1 until i got my hdaXplosion
 
smogsy said:
hes just a p-peniser :D

anyway high end audio equipment is only needed for studios
Click to expand...

LOL, quite.
But the point I was making was that whether it's onboard sound or a soundcard, it's still fairly cack in the big scheme of things.

Even my M-Audio Delta's not great as it has no XLR inputs (does have pre-amps on balanced 1/4inch jack inputs, though the first question there is "why?").



One observation BTW.....
Some folks were saying that soundcard X sounded great on their cans, but soundcard Y sounded tinny and crap.
I just though it was worth mentioning, that a soundcard is only "obliged" to output at line level. Some, BUT BY NO MEANS ALL, can detect the different impedance of headphones and adjust their output to drive them. If you lug cans into a card that cannot make this change, they will sound quiet (damn near inaudible unless they are VERY efficient), and the signal will be skewed (different frequencies dissapate differently when running though a bad impedance/level match).


One thing in favour of soundcards, particularly the expensive ones.....proper I/O on real world connectors not bleedin minijacks (Satan's personal choice of connector, fragile, fiddly AND noisey).
 
You have a point about inputs, but I guess they think everyone wants to use a £5 headset with mic.
See the add ons for the Asus Xonar D2X 7.1 for instance.

Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) - Provides advanced Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) for best voice conferencing quality in VOIP applications or online gaming
Magic VoiceTM - Modifies and disguises the sound tone of your voice for VOIP and online chat applications
Karaoke Functions - Music Key-Shifting and Microphone Echo effects

All of which are rendered useless if you can't get the mic loud enough.

I use Skype and any sound card that requires me to shout to be heard is useless.
Have you noticed in the threads on the ASUS cards its been asked a few times if the mic is low as reported, and only one persons replied.
Others on the ASUS forum are saying the same though.
 
XLR is hardly a big deal. It's simply an input, it doesn't make any difference to volume and is only needed in terms of sound quality for recording media, not for use with Counter Strike Source.

XLR means nothing. You're not guarranteed anything more over standard mini-jack. And then what are you gonna do? Buy an XLR mic? Why?
 
thegoonden said:
OK, time out people, you're basing judgements on sound cards on piezzo electric "microphones" that connect via minijacks. ROFLMAO.

Test it with an AKG C1000....oh you can't, no XLR inputs, no phantom power, and no actual mic pre-amp (despite the little ticky box).

Truth hurts, but compared with actual audio equipment from the Real World, we're discussing which pile of poo smells least awful here.
Click to expand...

Erm, not an AKG C1000, but due to the lack of a PC mic right now, I use a tube condensor mic into either an M-Audio Tampa or Presonus Eureka into my soundcard :p
 
Chimerical said:
XLR is hardly a big deal. It's simply an input, it doesn't make any difference to volume and is only needed in terms of sound quality for recording media, not for use with Counter Strike Source.

XLR means nothing. You're not guarranteed anything more over standard mini-jack. And then what are you gonna do? Buy an XLR mic? Why?
Click to expand...

Agree'd, both a stereo mini jack and XLR can both easily carry the current of a microphone, and both can be balanced.
 
split said:
I'm using that card and I did one of the reviews on it but maybe I should explain why I thought it was OK or at least better than onboard as my prerequisites for sound maybe different than other peoples.

I only use 2 channel stereo, but I use a mic a lot and I use the mix feature for music and mic.
I wanted a card that would work in XP and Vista that had mix and mic boost.
I would have used an SB Live which does work in Vista with Daniel_K drivers but I have 4 gigs of ram so thats a no no.

This was on a new build using a Abit IP35 Pro, and I really tried with the onboard sound on that before going the creative route.
If your using mic and music at same time with the onboard it crackles when you change tracks, and the sound is thin to my ears (ear in fact) but you don't have to be an audiophile to hear it.
The downside to that Audigy SE is it has no mic boost unless you do it in the registry, and the newer drivers don't have mix (Creatives What U hear) in Vista.
I used older drivers with it that have mix (as do the MS ones) and its OK.

Wish I'd made a recording of the onboard Abit one to prove my point, but I never thought it would be necessary.
If your just listening to music whatever and your mics not involved then maybe the onboard is OK, but it certainly sound thin to my ears compared to ANY of the creatives.

You said in another post...
why do soundcards even have problems with microphones. I'm sure they think everybody is going to use a professional low-gain mic instead of the soft of micrphone you'd normally use on the pc. its crazy and they need to fix it really.

I agree with you 100%, and thats another factor that limits my sound card choice.
Is there a chance they keep this low to stop the mic circuit interfering with the other channels on the card?
Click to expand...

nope i agree there, mic's are one thing you would benefit from. everything else on that particular card though, it just isnt worth the price of the upgrade. id sooner by a usb mic than bother with an audigy se, or spend a little more and get a xonar dx which is out now and benefit in all the other areas. it could be a reason, yes. i hadnt really thought of that. i doubt it would be a problem with a decent sound card but on board, quite possibly.

The biggest problem with minijacks are the build quality. noise isnt normally in issue outside of a mixing studio, unless you think a recorded noise level of -110db @ 24/96 is bad from my xonar d2 doing a loopback test, and that is card-limited . the jack's themselves arent the problem. its a function of the cable connected and influence from impedance, inductance, interference ect. thats what XLR was deigned to overcome. two signals, one 180 degrees out of phase with the other. any interference gets introduced on both and when the two signals are joined back up, the interference is cancelled out.

the problem here is that the mics arent loud enough, interference or an absolute linear response arent not the top priority for most people.
 
Last edited:
thegoonden said:
Even my M-Audio Delta's not great as it has no XLR inputs (does have pre-amps on balanced 1/4inch jack inputs, though the first question there is "why?").
Click to expand...
I think they use 1/4" TRS connectors to save space, and you can just use a TRS to XLR adapter if you like. Still no phantom power tho which is a shame, meaning an external mixer is still needed for a mic.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom