Should I Upgrade My Sound Card? (and if so, why?)

[DavidJ]

I've been wondering, if I buy a new sound card, will it make my MP3's sound "better"?

Or just when I listen to them from the PC, and not my iPod?

A good layman's explanation would help, in either case.

Thanks!

 

[avaserfi]

Before you upgrade your sound card you should have a lossless or near lossless format for your music. If you are purchasing mp3s via iTunes you are probably getting 192kbs quality which is rather poor. If you have ripped your cds yourself you should rip them in a lossless format like wav or 320kbps mp3s. That will help sound quality the most.

After that speakers for your computer and headphones for your ipod would probably be the next upgrade unless your sound card is very old. What kind of sound card do you have?

 

[DavidJ]

Sound Card

Hi,

I usually buy my music from allofmp3.com, at 320kbps, and rip my CD's into apple lossless.

I have the sound card that came with my laptop (a Toshiba Satellite), but use HD600's and a CMOY amp with my iPod or PC, and find these pretty good.

I understand (I think) that downloading music or ripping CD's is just data, and moving that data from one place to another (CD to PC to iPod). I just wondered whether a better sound card would make any difference to this process, or whether it only affects output.

While I'm here, do you know whether converting 320kbps downloads to Apple lossless makes any difference whatsoever, apart from using lots more memory? I've listened closely and, although I know good sound when I hear it, I couldn't hear any difference.

Thanks again!

 

[avaserfi]

The sound card you have shouldn't affect the quality your ipod plays (someone correct me if I am wrong).

For the most part 320kbps is going to sound the same as a lossless track (some people claim a difference) but converting lossy to lossless is pointless its just like upconverting you dont add any detail that wasn't already there.

 

[DavidJ]

Sound Card

Okay, thanks for that.

I've been tempted for ages by an Audigy 2ZS and a Creative Gigaworks S750 setup, but I've heard bad things about the S750 amp overheating. Plus, it's not true high-end gear (far too cheap to be that good, right?), and GAF for that sub would be almost non-existent..

 

[Adam]

Okay, thanks for that.

I've been tempted for ages by an Audigy 2ZS and a Creative Gigaworks S750 setup, but I've heard bad things about the S750 amp overheating. Plus, it's not true high-end gear (far too cheap to be that good, right?), and GAF for that sub would be almost non-existent..

I have an Audigy 2 ZS soundcard (desktop, not notebook), and I was extremely happy with the improvement in sound compared to the motherboard's onboard sound (which was also 5.1). In terms of outputting sound, I highly recommend that you give one a try...you can alway return it if you don't like it.

 

[avaserfi]

Personally I would never compare any on board component to a separate. Generally they are added for convenience not quality.

 

[MDS]

Personally I would never compare any on board component to a separate. Generally they are added for convenience not quality.

Not that it matters but I did a crude comparison between the motherboard down Realtek sound chip and the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz soundcard using Sound Forge. With nothing connected and SF armed for recording the level meters showed ~-50 dB for the onboard chip and ~-80 dB for the sound card. That is a rough approximation of the noise floor. A 30 dB diffference is HUGE.

My current Audigy 2 ZS is even quieter. The onboard chips are convenient and work fine for most casual listening but just about any outboard sound card will trump its performance - especially if you use it to record.

 

[avaserfi]

Not that it matters but I did a crude comparison between the motherboard down Realtek sound chip and the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz soundcard using Sound Forge. With nothing connected and SF armed for recording the level meters showed ~-50 dB for the onboard chip and ~-80 dB for the sound card. That is a rough approximation of the noise floor. A 30 dB diffference is HUGE.

My current Audigy 2 ZS is even quieter. The onboard chips are convenient and work fine for most casual listening but just about any outboard sound card will trump its performance - especially if you use it to record.

I didn't realize the difference was that big. I guess I will need to re-rip all my music to wav files again once I get a decent sound card. What program do you use or recommend preferably free. I just use WMP.

 

[MDS]

The sound card has no bearing on ripping a CD. Ripping (technically 'digital audio extraction') just reads the data on the CD and stores it as a WAV file. The data on the CD is PCM and a WAV file is nothing more than a header with bookeeping info followed by the raw PCM samples.

No need to re-rip. The sound card only affects playback or recording. A high noise floor isn't so great for recording.

For what it's worth I use Sound Forge (Audio Studio, no need for the Pro version) for both ripping and subsequent editing of the music.

 

[avaserfi]

Alrighty, thanks for clearing that up MDS. Glad to hear I don't need to waste more time . Ill look into sound forge.

 

[jaxvon]

I use an Audigy 2ZS PCMCIA card in my Dell laptop because the noise in the onboard sound was unbearable. The Creative card has an absolutely silent headphone output as well as a host of other features that are easy to use and convenient. I would at least try an improved sound card if you suspect that you have a noise/clipping issue with your onboard sound.