recommend me a sound card

[FX5900]

$100 is my limit. i am thinking about this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102178

any others that work good?

 

[digitalwanderer]

I wouldn't get an OEM Audigy2 again, other than that it's a great card.

 

[MulciberXP]

i bought that card from newegg a month ago, along with some logitech z2300 more recently. the investment has singlehandedly rekindled my love of music.

 

[Guden Oden]

$100 is my limit. i am thinking about this one:

Creative's the only manufacturer still making hardware accelerated audio solutions. I have a ZS that I used in my old PC, it's not a bad product at all.

 

[BlueTsunami]

I've personally very much enjoyed my Turtle Beach Montego DDL. Though, its really for the person who really wants to get the best sound out of their Music and have the sound from the PC games passthrough to their Receiver and play it in a home theater setting.

The downside is that it only uses AEX2 (AEX4 being the most modern version).

/me shakes his fist at Creative

 

[Accord1999]

I've personally very much enjoyed my Turtle Beach Montego DDL. Though, its really for the person who really wants to get the best sound out of their Music

Unless the Montego DDL does bit-perfect digital output, which the X-Mystique does not, you're not getting the best sound out of the music in digital mode, compared to the AV-710, the Revo, Audigy 2 Value, A4 Pro or X-Fi.

and have the sound from the PC games passthrough to their Receiver and play it in a home theater setting.

Analog connections would also get you game audio in a home theater setting.

 

[Pete]

Is an Audigy 4 better than a 2 ZS? The retail one is $71 @ ZZF or Buy.com. Not sure how it differs from the other two versions in terms of features. There's the A4 7.1 OEM, the A4, and the A4 Pro.

 

[Geo]

I'd scuffle around to find an X-Fi Extreme Music for less than $100. One of our members recently scored one at Best Buy for just under that on sale. And they seem to run around there on some ebay auctions.

I undertand price limits, but personally for a small reach I'd rather have new tech that is being reviewed very well (and mine seems nice. :smile: )

 

[Rolf N]

If you want EAX support for the most fancy multi-channel sound in games, get a Creative whatever, live with their crappy drivers, crappy support, cheap-ass build quality, and sleep well at night knowing that you're further bolstering a totally undeserved and consistently underachieving monopoly.

If you don't want EAX, we can talk more

 

[_xxx_]

Is an Audigy 4 better than a 2 ZS? The retail one is $71 @ ZZF or Buy.com. Not sure how it differs from the other two versions in terms of features. There's the A4 7.1 OEM, the A4, and the A4 Pro.

It is better, although based on the same chip. Better DAC's etc., even suited for recording.

 

[MuFu]

X-Fi XM.

 

[bdotobdot2]

X-Fi Xtreme Music all the way, I got mine at Best Buy on sale for $99.

 

[Sxotty]

Unless the Montego DDL does bit-perfect digital output, which the X-Mystique does not, you're not getting the best sound out of the music in digital mode, compared to the AV-710, the Revo, Audigy 2 Value, A4 Pro or X-Fi.


Analog connections would also get you game audio in a home theater setting.

Not really, music is in stereo. So for the uninformed you take your receiver hook it up to analog and use that for music, then you use the digital for suround, well what do you know an easy solution and only two cables.

 

[Diplo]

I'd say get an OEM Soundblaster 4 Audigy - you can pick one up for £35 (~$60) and it has most of the features of it's bigger brother, minus the price eg.

DirectSound3D, EAX, Dolby Digital EX, ASIO 2.0, THX, EAX 4.0, Digital Theater Systems Extended Surround (DTS-ES), EAX ADVANCED HD

7.1 channel surround sound

24 bit sample rate

1 x audio - line-In - 4 PIN MPC ¦ 1 x audio - line-out (centre/subwoofer/left surround) ¦ 1 x audio - line-out (rear/right surround) ¦ 1 x audio - line-out - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm ¦ 1 x audio - input - digital audio connector ¦ 2 x daughterboard

Just don't expect fancy packaging, free games or other crap you don't really need

 

[Pete]

Buy.com has the 2 ZS Platinum for $65 ... after $100 rebate, if you need all those accessories.

Normally I'm as indignant as zeckensack about Creative (RIP Aureal), but I couldn't pass up the 2 ZS Gamer's Edition for $55AR a few months ago--and the only reason I bought it was b/c it came with a handful of good games I hadn't played yet and I wanted Firewire. At least I lost the electrical noise from the SoundStorm (yeah, I know, Realtek via analog) onboard my nF1, but it didn't help my framerates any--and I'm severly bottlenecked by an AXP. Seriously, I actually gained significant speed disabling h/w sound in Halo.

But Gamespot's and 3DC's tests do show that a discrete card like an Audigy can help in some games, like HL2, so it has its merits. So either get the big-rebate 2ZS Plat, or just get the affordable 4 (you lose Firewire but gain quality, according to _xxx_). I dunno about $100+ for the X-Fi. Will it sound twice as good or net you a significant framerate increase? I haven't done the research to say for sure, but I doubt it.

 

[willardjuice]

My vote is X-Fi. It has EAX 5 which will be useful in the future, but most of all it does not have a horrible resampler (you can even bypass using the digital out in audio creation mode) like the A2 series did so your music will actually sound clean. But it's all relative, I am sure you will enjoy an A2ZS either way.

By the way, for the record, a regular Audigy 4 (non-pro) is just an Audigy 2 ZS.