Why sound cards?

harakim

harakim

Big Geek
Why sound cards? Is it really worth 100s of dollars and what does it do? Most motherboards are equipped with 5.1 surround sound, aren't they?
 
What do you mean by 'Why sound cards'? They give us sound!
Worth 100's of dollars? Well that depends on what the card will be used for, for extreme gamers and audiohile's, they are worth every cent.
Most motherboards after 2003 come with 6 channel sound and generally sound pretty good by default.
 
The high-dollar cards run hardware encoding/decoding for starters, which means the CPU uses less resources than they would with a codec, which involves software that the CPU has to work. The second thing is, most motherboards have the sound chip right on the motherboard, which means the distance the signals travel from the codec chip to the audio jacks has to deal with the interference from other signals on the motherboard. By isolating the chip, either hardware or codec on it's own PCB, this takes this issue pretty much out of the equation.

Additionally, some sound cards have higher specifications that sound recording requires. I am not an audiophile, but there are people who have tuned ears to the point they can pick out squeaks and other interferences that the casual listener may not catch or not be aware of to listen for.

Lastly, some cards include breakout boxes to plug in equipment to rather than run them to the back of the PC.
 
I am not sure if this is because of the make of my mobo or what but I have an onboard sound and it absolutely, 100% sucks! (C-media).

I used to have a PCI sound card (Creative) and it was absolute joy.
I cannot wait to be able to buy a decent card again....

My other experiences are with PC's at work who also have sound chips and they are realy poor in performance, even with updated drivers etc....
 
Yeah I'm a bit of an audiphile and since studying music and learning about music technology I can notice the difference, on-board sound just can't cut it for me, I love my sound card and the software bundled with it makes it a brilliant thing to use.
The power of modern sound cards is astonishing, the sound quality is quite simply amazing! And to extreme gamers having a top of the line sound card (talking about the X-Fi really) can give them a few more fps in games (can't remember where I saw the article)
For most people on-board sound is pretty good and on modern motherboards the sound quality is getting better and better, on older boards to have 5.1 or any type of surround sound you'd have to re-configure things on the motherboard either through jumpers of software and this can mean losing out on Line Ine and Microphone jacks because they have to be used to speakers jacks.
Basically if you're happy with your current sound quality then I'd stick wth it. Unless you feel you have to have the best sound etc etc don't buy an expensive sound card.
You can buy some decent sound cards relatively cheap nowadays though!
 
Ever since posting this, I've noticed how bad my sound really is. I am going to get a sound card now, but it would seem pointless unless I got some good headphones.

Where would I find information about what features headphones have? I want, like, noise cancelling surround sound headphones.
 
For awhile, C-media didn't understand the concept of an equalizer, but they've fixed that last time I'd used a Cmedia chip, and that does make a major difference. A good sound chip is certainly desired, but if you don't have an equalizer that can make an awesome sound card just mediocre
 
The thing that bugs me with the sound card market is the lack of choice. If you don't want a Creative Labs product then your stuck! Most of the sound cards these days are based on the AC'97, and suck! I'm no audiophile, but I do like a crisp and clear sound.

The only exception to this rule are the products from M-Audio. But then again, they are more for music production, rather then listening to music through Realplayer or such-like.

Another thing that annoyes me is the lack of quality stereo cards. You can't seem to buy them anymore. I've looked around, and all I can find are 5.1 or 7.1 cards. Sure, these may be OK for games and films, but what if you want to sit back and listen to a bit of David Bowie in good old fashion stereo? I know that some of the surround sound cards can play quality stereo music, but a similar priced stereo card will outperform it because you are paying for less features and better quality audio.
 
Ok speaking honestly here, I can't tell the difference playing back music from my Audigy2 ZS, from a 5 or 6 channel onboard sound. Maybe I'm just crazy. That or I'm going deaf.

But the part where a good sound card could give some extra FPS, I'd really like to read that article if you can find it.
 
I'm sure you could hear the difference with a quality set of headphones. You won't be able to tell the difference if your speakers aren't up to it. Most PC speakers regardless whether they are 2.0, 2.1, 5.1, 7.1 can't cut it. You are better off buying a decent sound card, then hooking up an amplifier with quality HI-FI speakers.
 
Is this card very good?

What about Phillips. I love Phillips, and I would probably take a slightly worse sound card from them over anyone just because I love every audio product they've ever made.(Magnavox CD players were the best!!)

Unforunately, I can't find out which card of theirs was the best. Any way to find that out? The Phillips site doesn't help. :/
 
While I'm not terribly impressed by Philips stereo systems (give me Aiwa or Koss), I do run a no-longer-produced Dynamic Edge. After the Hercules Fortissimo II I still have, the DE is my favorite sound card. I try not to buy based on brand alone, but I do look at certain brands closer than others.

I had an original Audigy, and, quite honestly, I couldn't tell the difference between it and a Live! 5.1 card...kinda sad. Now, I've heard pretty good things about the Audigy 2 ZS, but I'm happy with what I got, so until I require something else, I'll be sticking with the DE.

I've always heard pretty positive things about M-Audio (formerly MidiLand) regarding the sound quality, but never used 'em.
 
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