Sound card question

[BucketMaster900]

Since these things don't seem to cost too much (although I bet I'd be shown otherwise), I am looking for the ultimate sound card to play my APE's.

My system is two channel + sub woofer.

I've looked into Creative stuff, the X-Fi sounds great but I just have no idea which one to get. All I need is 2.1 channel goodness, please tell me what you are using and suggest something for me.

Also, is the computer program that plays the music (like Winamp or Windows Media Player) important to sound quality?

Thanks. Tod.

 

[masak_aer]

I use the x-Fi Xtreme Music. It is great so far. You need to be sure to turn off the 3D sound effect or you'd have the muddy sound (thanks to 10010011 ). Turn the volume up to the max (thanks Sheep ), use your receiver for the volume instead. Put the EQ to mid (default).
About the software, i use windows media player (ease of use to select the album i ripped) and the creative media player. They sound a bit different. I find creative media player (comes with the x-Fi) is a lil' bit clearer. I haven't tried winamp though.

 

[nav]

The Creative X-Fi series is a nice (if a little expensive) option for Windows users and I'm sure even the pickiest of audiophiles will find its quality acceptable. The Sound Blaster and Audigy 1/2 series were not the world's best design as far as audio quality went (unless you mixed all output in software to 48000 Hz).

Creative as a company has largely turned its back on its user/developer community of late and I no longer like to recommend their products, so I feel obliged to offer some alternatives. (PM me if you're actually curious about all of that stuff.)

Sound cards based on VIA's Envy24HT chipset tend to perform very well. M-Audio makes a couple of excellent cards marketed under the Audiophile and Revolution names with the Envy24HT (excellent cards, pick the one with just the features you need to save a bit of expense). There are less expensive cards that use the same chipset with different inputs, outputs, DACs, and levels of driver support. I don't know as much about the Envy24HT's SRC process as I do with Creative's chipsets' SRC procedure.

If you're planning on running a simple digital output to a receiver which will then do the heavy-lifting, C-Media makes a line of chips that is completely sufficient. Many, many companies manufacture cards that include their chips with, again, varying levels of driver support (in theory, at least, you can just use C-Media's drivers with all of the cards that use their chipsets). Again, I don't know huge amounts about how this chip's inner workings are setup.

HydrogenAudio.org is an excellent website to research a sound card purchase on, if you'd like to search through their forums.

Hope that helps somewhat. No hard feelings if you stick with big-fancy-expensive-name-brand .

 

[Hi Ho]

If two channel goodness is all you want then the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 is what you want.

 

[sholling]

I've used the now discontinued but still around Turtle Beach Santa Cruz for years. For under $50 you'll have one of the best sub-$200 sound cards ever made.

 

[rtcp]

If two channel goodness is all you want then the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 is what you want.

I have this. It's lovely. It's cheap, and has RCA connectors. It also sounds quite good to me.

 

[masak_aer]

Hope that helps somewhat. No hard feelings if you stick with big-fancy-expensive-name-brand .

If you got it for free anyway...there's little chance that there's any hard feelings ...

The M-audio isn't cheap as well? How does it compare to x Fi?

 

[nav]

If you got it for free anyway...there's little chance that there's any hard feelings ...

True enough .

The M-audio isn't cheap as well? How does it compare to x Fi?

They're not exactly giving them away, no.

From what I found online, here are some comparison measurements from RightMark Audio Analyzer (both at 16 bit, 44 kHz).

Creative X-Fi (taken from a now defunct website):
Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: +0.02, -0.07
Noise level, dB (A): -92.9
Dynamic range, dB (A): 92.8
THD, %: 0.0020
IMD, %: 0.0066
Stereo crosstalk, dB: -94.0
IMD at 10 kHz, %: 0.0095

M-Audio Audiophile 2496 (from here):
Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: +0.02, -0.05
Noise level, dB (A): -92.4
Dynamic range, dB (A): 92.3
THD, %: 0.0010
IMD, %: 0.0075
Stereo crosstalk, dB: -92.3
IMD at 10 kHz, %: 0.0079

And, as a comparison:
Creative Audigy 2 ZS (from here):
Frequency response (from 40 Hz to 15 kHz), dB: +0.12, -0.34
Noise level, dB (A): -88.1
Dynamic range, dB (A): 87.8
THD, %: 0.0032
IMD, %: 0.013
Stereo crosstalk, dB: -83.5
IMD at 10 kHz, %: 3.470 ( )

So, in this particular benchmark, the former two cards both measure excellently. The latter, not so much.

 

[BucketMaster900]

Many thanks. I am not familiar with 50% of the figures you presented but they look so close on the first two that I am gonna give myself a green light to get the X-Fi, since it's much more easy to find where I am.

BTW, which X-Fi was tested?

 

[nav]

The measurements for the Creative X-Fi and M-Audio Audiophile are excellent, I highly doubt that any of the non-linearity or distortion either has is audible.

BTW, which X-Fi was tested?

The web page I stole those specifications from didn't specify, so I'm not sure. Here is a test (using the same software) that does specify that they're testing the "X-Fi Fatal1ty" (i.e., even more expensive because some gaming group put their name on it , he/they seem to put their name on anything lately). That test has slightly different results, but similar and still very good.

The X-Fi cards all have the same chipset, on-board memory, and output jacks but come with different accessories (front bay panel, external I/O box, remote control). In my opinion, just go with the cheapest one that will make you happy. The XtremeMusic model is only a little more expensive than the M-Audio Audiophile I recommend so much.

If you really need to spend big bucks to be satisfied, look into RME Audio. Very nice sound cards, but pricey. Besides, is there any more impressive name for a sound card than the "Hammerfall"?

 

[sholling]

Sounds like some nice stuff but I'll stick with my cheapie as long as there is driver support.

MIDI Wavetable Synthesis:
-------------------------
8MB DLS synthesizer with scalable DSP/Host load sharing. Up to 64-voice
hardware polyphony with more than 1,000 software voices (limited by host
CPU.) MIDI controls reverb, chorus, volume, envelope, pitch shift, tremolo
and vibrato.

Audio Converters:
-----------------
Dual AC-97 2.1 audio codecs with hardware full-duplex for simultaneous
record and playback at up to 48kHz sample rates. Stereo 18 bit A/D
converters for high resolution recording of up to 4 sources.
3 stereo 20 bit D/A converters for high resolution playback of up to 6
independent streams.

Audio Performance:
------------------
Frequency Response (A-A): 10Hz - 120KHz. (-3dB)
SNR: > 96 dB FS A.
THD+N: (-3dB): >91 dB FS (0.0027%).
Crosstalk: 105 dB @ 100Hz.

Digital I/O:
------------
48 kHz PCM audio or Dolby Digital(R) AC-3 for external decoder.

Oh yes and it has an optical output.

 

[jcPanny]

PC sound card

I bought the chaintech card for $30 from newegg to add a bit perfect optical output to my receiver.
The MAUDIO and X-fi cards are good options, too. If you get the X-fi Music card, you will need to buy a seperate adapter just to get a digital coax or optical output.

 

[jonnythan]

What are you amplifying with? Do you have digital inputs? If so, a $20 sound card is more than adequate.