soundcard suggestions?

[Shamus MacNoob]

Creative cards are crap...Unless you are a gamer and need EAX. If all you need is a analog stereo out OR a bit perfect digital out, the Chaintech av-710 is a great, great card for $26 on newegg. The Turtle beach santa cruz is a good card as is the M-audio revolutions.

Thats a little harsh there is nothing wrong with the cards today

 

[dreamliner77]

Except horrible quality resampling (all creative cards resample to 48kHz).

Want a good example: look for a sample online called udial.wav and see what happens.

edit: Oh, and the drivers still suck.

 

[zeke_mo]

Except horrible quality resampling (all creative cards resample to 48kHz).

Want a good example: look for a sample online called udial.wav and see what happens.

edit: Oh, and the drivers still suck.

audigy 2 samples at 96KHz

 

[ShepsCrook]

AC-97 is great for an Onboard sound solution.
Creative Audigy 2 cards are great for gaming and EAX
M-Audio Revolution 7.1 is great for music and general sound
Turtle Beach is good for the same as the M-Audio.

I think that's about right.

 

[dreamliner77]

audigy 2 samples at 96KHz

Only for signals >48kHz

 

[zeke_mo]

Am I not understanding something, cuz its been one of those days :cry:

 

[dreamliner77]

That is the sampling rate of the signal that it sends out via the digital out.

For analog output, all sources less than or equal to 48kHz will be resampled to 48kHz (yes, even a 48kHz signal will be resampled).

For analog, all sources >48kHz will be downsampled to 48kHz
(both of these are defined in the AC97 standard)

For digital, all signal will be ouput at the given sample rate. <96kHz will be padded with zeros and 96kHz or greater will be resampled.

All Creative cards (Emu cards notwithstanding) are incapable of bitperfect digital output.

I hope that clarifies a few things.

 

[Weasel]

Hurrah, dreamliner's on my side. I forgot M-Audio made a more "standard" port pc audio card; be sure to check them out as well. I have an AudioPhile 2496 but it's hooked up to my soundboard and is used for recording.

 

[egghead]

The Ddigy 2 does suport 192kHz,

The Audigy 2 can only sample at 48kHz, 96kHz and 192kHz sampling rates.That means that all sampling rates below 48kHz get resampled to 48kHzusing upsampling. 64kHz and 88.2kHz audio files are resampled to 96kHz.And 176.4kHz audio gets resampled to 192kHz.

You should check out the CHAINTECH 7.1 Channel PCI Sound Card, $26
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=29-120-103&depa=0


Specifications:
Channels: 7.1
Audio Processor: VIA ENVY 24PT
Max Sampling Rate: 24-bit/192KHz
PC Interface: PCI
I/O Interface: Mic In/Line In/4 Line outs & Digital Optical Output, 2 separate CD audio stereo inputs

 

[dreamliner77]

Egghead,

I'm 99% sure that the Audigy 2 downsamples 192 to 96, unless they changed this in the ZS. It's a shame too, because the chip is more than capable of "good" audio (see E-Mu cards).

I heartily agree that everyone should look at the Av-710. Just a note on that card though.. The good outputs are actually channels 7 & 8 (Wolfson DAC)

 

[ElementalDragon]

yah, egghead. looks like a pretty nice card. only downside to that is that it's out of stock. lol. also still have to try to sell my Sony Vaio desktop. if ur wondering... that thread's in the trading post somewhere. shouldn't be far down the first page.

 

[egghead]

i came acroos a review of some soundcards i think you guys would like to read..

Winter Audio Reference: On-Board, Consumer, and Pro Solutions

Today, we are going to take a look at a cross section of the audioindustry. The lineup includes two cards from Creative (the Audigy 2 ZSPlatinum Pro and Audigy 4 Pro), the Realtek Intel HD Audio solution,and the Echo Audio Gina3G. With these cards, we are covering our basesfor the consumer add-in market, professional recording, and onboardaudio solutions. Over time, as we review more audio solutions, we willcompare against these cards as well.
http://www.anandtech.com/multimedia/showdoc.aspx?i=2338

 

[falconguard]

ok here is one for you guys how about a audioo card with an S/PDIF coax connector? I dont want to use an optical connection because the run is to long from my computer to my amp.everything. Everything I have seen so far uses optical connections.

 

[dreamliner77]

YOu could always get an optical to digital converter.

There are cards with coax out, none come to mind right now though...

 

[falconguard]

YOu could always get an optical to digital converter.

There are cards with coax out, none come to mind right now though...

not really an option as my computer is really pretty far from my amp, Plus I'm considering running through the wall, through 2 face plates and into my amp. Optical quality will degrade after 15 feet, and keep on degrading after that, whereas Coax won't. I might have to consider a new motherboard, when I build my new one, but if you remember anything post it here, Thanx

 

[dreamliner77]

not really an option as my computer is really pretty far from my amp, Plus I'm considering running through the wall, through 2 face plates and into my amp. Optical quality will degrade after 15 feet, and keep on degrading after that, whereas Coax won't. I might have to consider a new motherboard, when I build my new one, but if you remember anything post it here, Thanx

You could run a 1-3 ft optical to the converter and then the rest coax

 

[dreamliner77]

Some cards with coax digital out:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=29-121-105&DEPA=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=29-121-103&DEPA=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=29-118-102&DEPA=0 (needs an 1/8" to rca adapter)
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=29-121-101&DEPA=0 (my pick)

 

[falconguard]

thanks dreamliner, rep for you

 

[dreamliner77]

Thanks