Best Soundcard Brands?

HELP_ME · 10-29-2009, 12:20 AM

Hey, i have never bothered buying sound cards in the past so i know very little about any of them or which companies make the best one so i would like your opinions please! thanks.

lubo4444 · 10-29-2009, 01:43 AM

The best brand is Creative, at least that's my opinion. I would buy one of those two if i was on budget but they are pretty expensive.

1. Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102015

2. Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102021

voyagerfan99 · 10-29-2009, 02:09 AM

I'd only buy Creative cause they know what they're doing. I don't really have experience with anything else.

However, I think Diamond might be a good company also.

**bomberboysk** · 10-29-2009, 02:37 AM

Asus and Creative are the only companies to buy a consumer sound card from period. I love my X-fi.

voyagerfan99 · 10-29-2009, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bomberboysk

Asus and Creative are the only companies to buy a consumer sound card from period. I love my X-fi.

How is Asus compared to Creative?

daisymtc · 10-30-2009, 09:32 PM

From what I've read, Asus product better sound quality

XSIMan · 11-03-2009, 04:43 AM

The only sound card for full gaming sound is Creative X-Fi Titanium because it does more than just surround sound it also does 3D sound over 500 sounds effects channels in EAX 5HD and Open Al. It also does 3D surround with headphones. The most expensive version has 64MB of ram so that games makers can put uncompressed sounds files on the card. When Microsoft made Vista and Win 7 they got rid of hardware 3D sound support but Creative found a way around this when they made X-Fi sound cards. Creative X-Fi cards are the only sound cards that do 3d sound effects in hardware and do it upto EAX 5 and Open AL. Games makers are shifting to Open Al and Creative does a good job of it. If you only want sourround sound and music also look at the Asus cards those cards are only about surround sound for films and music and sacrifice EAX and Open Al.

Make sure you have a PCi E 1x slot or above because acording to Creative The PCI slot versions have a bit of delay causing sound issues mainly with nforce boards the newer X-Fi Titanium is PCI e 1x so it does not have these problems.

I've seen benchtest reviews of Creative X-Fi vrs onboard and ASUS and the X-Fi wins mosts tests and also adds 2fps more to games due to the card doing all the sound in hardware instead of the CPU doing half of it.

X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty PRO Technical Specifications
Hardware Open Al
Hardware EAX® 5.0
Dolby Digital Live encoding
Accurate 3D positional audio with X-Fi CMSS®-3D
24-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion of analog inputs at 96kHz sample rate
24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of digital sources at 96kHz to analog 7.1 speaker output
24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of stereo digital sources at 192kHz to stereo output
16-bit to 24-bit recording sampling rates: 8,11.025,16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 and 96kHz
ASIO 2.0 support at 16bit/44.1kHz,16-bit/48kHz, 24-bit/44.1kHz 24-bit/48kHz and 24-bit/96kHz with direct monitoring
Enhanced SoundFont support at up to 24-bit resolution
64MB of X-RAM
Analog output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-weighted): 109dB

Connectivity Line in / Microphone in (shared 1/8" mini jack)
Speaker out (4x 1/8" mini jacks)
Optical out (TOSLINK)*
Optical in (TOSLINK)
Intel HD Audio Compatible Front Panel Header (2x5pin)
* Optical Out supports stereo SPDIF out, multichannel out via Dolby Digital Live, and pass through of multichannel DVD sound

Speaker Support Stereo/2.1 Speakers
4/4.1 Speakers
5.1 Speakers
7.1 Speakers
Headphones

Bus Connection PCI Express 1x

10-29-2009, 12:20 AM	#1 (permalink)
HELP_ME Gold Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: ottawa, canada Posts: 465	Best Soundcard Brands? Hey, i have never bothered buying sound cards in the past so i know very little about any of them or which companies make the best one so i would like your opinions please! thanks. __________________ CPU: AMD Phenom II x3 710 @ 2.6GHz MOBO: Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P RAM: OCZ Platinum DDR3 PC3-12800 GPU: Sapphire HD 4870 512MB DDR5 HDD: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 16mb cache CASE: Antec Three Hundred PSU: OCZ 700W StealthXStream

10-29-2009, 02:09 AM	#3 (permalink)
voyagerfan99 Diamond Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Connecticut/New Jersey, USA Age: 18 Posts: 3,712	I'd only buy Creative cause they know what they're doing. I don't really have experience with anything else. However, I think Diamond might be a good company also. __________________ Mach Speed MSNV-939 nForce Socket 939 AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (OC'd to 2.20 Ghz) Power Up Black ATX Mid-T Case w/700W & Clear Side 4 GB DDR PC3200 RAM/Logitech MX Revolution Mouse 690 GB Storage (320S-ATA, 120-ATA, 250-SATA) Asus HD4870DK 1GB 22" Viewsonic LCD w/ iPod Dock + 22" ASUS Logitech G15 Keyboard/G51 Seakers Computer Pics

10-29-2009, 02:37 AM	#4 (permalink)
bomberboysk Moderator Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Northeast Ohio, But mainly infront of computer Age: 16 Posts: 8,068	Asus and Creative are the only companies to buy a consumer sound card from period. I love my X-fi. __________________ CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 @ 3.90Ghz Custom Water Loop \| Mobo: EVGA 790i Ultra SLI \| GPU: 9800gtx and GTS250 in SLI\| Ram: 4GB(2 x 2gb) 1333Mhz ddr3 \| Case: Xclio WTBKAdvanced \| Sound: X-fi Fatal1ty Championship, Z-5500 5.1 Surround\| HDD: 2x Raid 0 7200.11 500gb \| PSU: Zalman ZM-1000HP \|OS: Windows 7 Enterprise x64\| Dont skimp on a power supply,if it fails, it usually takes out other components alongside it. New? Dont forget to read the rules, Know them so you dont break them:) My Heatware

11-03-2009, 04:43 AM	#7 (permalink)
XSIMan New Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 21	The only sound card for full gaming sound is Creative X-Fi Titanium because it does more than just surround sound it also does 3D sound over 500 sounds effects channels in EAX 5HD and Open Al. It also does 3D surround with headphones. The most expensive version has 64MB of ram so that games makers can put uncompressed sounds files on the card. When Microsoft made Vista and Win 7 they got rid of hardware 3D sound support but Creative found a way around this when they made X-Fi sound cards. Creative X-Fi cards are the only sound cards that do 3d sound effects in hardware and do it upto EAX 5 and Open AL. Games makers are shifting to Open Al and Creative does a good job of it. If you only want sourround sound and music also look at the Asus cards those cards are only about surround sound for films and music and sacrifice EAX and Open Al. Make sure you have a PCi E 1x slot or above because acording to Creative The PCI slot versions have a bit of delay causing sound issues mainly with nforce boards the newer X-Fi Titanium is PCI e 1x so it does not have these problems. I've seen benchtest reviews of Creative X-Fi vrs onboard and ASUS and the X-Fi wins mosts tests and also adds 2fps more to games due to the card doing all the sound in hardware instead of the CPU doing half of it. X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty PRO Technical Specifications Hardware Open Al Hardware EAX® 5.0 Dolby Digital Live encoding Accurate 3D positional audio with X-Fi CMSS®-3D 24-bit Analog-to-Digital conversion of analog inputs at 96kHz sample rate 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of digital sources at 96kHz to analog 7.1 speaker output 24-bit Digital-to-Analog conversion of stereo digital sources at 192kHz to stereo output 16-bit to 24-bit recording sampling rates: 8,11.025,16, 22.05, 24, 32, 44.1, 48 and 96kHz ASIO 2.0 support at 16bit/44.1kHz,16-bit/48kHz, 24-bit/44.1kHz 24-bit/48kHz and 24-bit/96kHz with direct monitoring Enhanced SoundFont support at up to 24-bit resolution 64MB of X-RAM Analog output Signal-to-Noise Ratio (A-weighted): 109dB Connectivity Line in / Microphone in (shared 1/8" mini jack) Speaker out (4x 1/8" mini jacks) Optical out (TOSLINK)* Optical in (TOSLINK) Intel HD Audio Compatible Front Panel Header (2x5pin) * Optical Out supports stereo SPDIF out, multichannel out via Dolby Digital Live, and pass through of multichannel DVD sound Speaker Support Stereo/2.1 Speakers 4/4.1 Speakers 5.1 Speakers 7.1 Speakers Headphones Bus Connection PCI Express 1x Last edited by XSIMan; 11-03-2009 at 04:53 AM.

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10-29-2009, 01:43 AM	#2 (permalink)
lubo4444 Platinum Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: In front of my PC Posts: 586	The best brand is Creative, at least that's my opinion. I would buy one of those two if i was on budget but they are pretty expensive. 1. Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102015 2. Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102021

10-30-2009, 09:32 PM	#6 (permalink)
daisymtc Diamond Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: UK Posts: 3,918	From what I've read, Asus product better sound quality

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