Soundcard Choices

[Tahir2]

What soundcard should I buy all in the same price range I have 3 options:

SB Audigy
Philips Acoustic Edge
Fortismo III 7.1

I don't need anything more than 5.1 and it will be mainly for games and some DVD playback on my PC. I have a fairly powerful PC as it is so don't worry about CPU utilisation either. From a pure quality basis what would you recommend? If you choose none of the above let me know what you would recommend instead.

This will be followed by another poll asking what speakers to get.

 

[Doomtrooper]

Fortismo III...

Heard it, used it, great card:

http://www.guru3d.com/review/hercules/fortissimo3/

 

[Tahir2]

Thanks for voting DT.. I have tested out another CMedia solution, the Philips Dynamic Edge 4.1 which I believe uses the same soundchip as the Fortismo III albeit only one of them. It definitely sounded better than a SB Live! a friend has, but I am inclined at the moment to get the Philips Acoustic Edge and voted accordingly so I could see the damn votes

 

[BRiT]

If you were open to anything, my current favorite is the NVIDIA nForce2 SoundStorm MCP-T built in audio.

But out of the 3 choices, I would put the SB-Live (and even the SB-Audigy) as dead last. Unfortunately, I cant keep straight the other two cards and its been a while since I read about them. But what I do remember is the Fortismo line is pretty good.

Have you checked out 3D Sound Surge, http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/ , to see what they have to say?

 

[Tahir2]

Yea I checked a few places out. Just need some personal recommendations now.

having heard what QSound does with the Philips Dynamic Edge 4.1 I am extremely impressed with the technology. However I am just wondering if it is worth paying a few more pounds for. I have a Soundblaster Audigy with the PCI ID scrambled so it only has two channels and I was impressed with the quality of the sound. Researching into the problems with the Audigy range has further increased my bias towards the Philips Acoustic Edge.

The Fortismo III is nice but reading more into it, the card does the bare minimum with regards to its functionality and the 7.1 surround sound at this point is a bit gimmicky (no speakers to support it - at least none I can afford).

At the moment it is looking 70% Acoustic Edge 30% the rest.

 

[Doomtrooper]

Good choice..they are all great cards.

 

[Doomtrooper]

If you were open to anything, my current favorite is the NVIDIA nForce2 SoundStorm MCP-T built in audio.

But out of the 3 choices, I would put the SB-Live (and even the SB-Audigy) as dead last. Unfortunately, I cant keep straight the other two cards and its been a while since I read about them. But what I do remember is the Fortismo line is pretty good.

Have you checked out 3D Sound Surge, http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/ , to see what they have to say?

I ordered a MSI-K7N2-L Nforce 2 that was supposed to have the MCP-T chip on it according to the US website, checked the taiwan page and it said it didn't have it...just the standard MCP.
Emailed them and find out it doesn't...the whole Nforce MCP -MCP-T is very misleading.

 

[BRiT]

DT,

Tthat bites. That's one of the reasons I opted for the Epox 8RDA+. It was clearly presented that the Plus model has the SoundStorm audio. It also helped that they have excellent overclocking features. I put the Audigy in my second rig. The only thing I'm missing from the Audigy is the typical hassle and sporadic issues; certainly something to be glad to be rid of.

I had such a PITA with MSI and VIA boards, that I've sworn them off. The first was the K7T-266Pro (KT266 chipset) where the USB will sporadicly die even using 133Mhz FSB, and is completely dead above 138Mhz. The second is the MSI-KT4-VL where I had crc/file corruption issues when transfering anything across the PCI bus; I experimented with everything and did over 42 fresh-installs of WinXP in under 2 weeks. Both are wide-spread issues as numerous others have reported the identical issues.


Tahir,

The 7.1 does seem to be gimicky; even the 6.1 seems the same way too.

 

[Doomtrooper]

My experience with MSI has always been good, I was a MSI partner when I had my PC company..never had any real hardware issues with them.
Then I thought I'd try a Epox 8KHA+ and it was damn flaky, come to find out the BIOS chip on my board revision was the problem..returned it and they didn't have any more so I got the MSI kT266a board, been working great running @ 145 mhz FSB. :?

My problem is if you look at the reviews, alot of the reviewers don't go into great detail about the differences in the MCP and MCP-T...look on amdmb.com forums and look at how many people are pissed because Anand raved about Nforce audio and they got a MCP and ALC650 combo :?

 

[Tagrineth]

I'd say give Audigy (or a2) a shot, see if you have any problems. If you're lucky it'll work as advertised... if it does, it's great. ^_^;

 

[Tahir2]

I'd say give Audigy (or a2) a shot, see if you have any problems. If you're lucky it'll work as advertised... if it does, it's great. ^_^;

And if it doesnt work then...? heh

 

[Tagrineth]

Return it and forsake Creative Labs forever.

 

[Tahir2]

Return it and forsake Creative Labs forever.

Im gonna be getting it from the place I work at which is a small company and returns like that affect their bottomline - add that to the fact I may be getting it at cost price 8)

However I might try what you are saying out and get an Audigy from one of the larger retailers.. If I like it I will keep it if not I will give it back

 

[Tagrineth]

Ah, hmm... OK.

Reason I said that is I tried Audigy a while back and I had that lovely squeal of death problem. With two separate Audigy cards, and a reformat.

For the five minutes or so that it would work, and the one time when it mysteriously decided to work 100% perfectly, it was great. Much clearer output than my Live!5.1 and so on... although now with the kxproject driver my Live! sounds a lot better.

 

[Tahir2]

LOL.. you want me to be a guinea pig for Creative Labs software too?
Thats tres bad! .... A friend of mine has a SB Audigy and noted that it affected his connectivity using an ADSL modem.. I told him to disable the Firewire device and it was all good after that.

Just realised: Thanks Tagrineth you have talked me out of the SB Audigy!!