sound cards

Big Woof · 01-11-2006, 10:26 AM

Just read a very good report on the Turtle Beach Montego DDL. It scored a 7.
I run XP2 with a Realtek AC97 sound card. Mini plug cable from pc to Panasonic digital stereo receiver. 2 channel stereo with Klipsch speakers.
If the Montego is a 7, what's better for my purposes. 98% music. 2% whatever.
Hope somebody can help with this. There's just too many cards out there for me to make an educated decision.
And I'm new to pc's too.
Thanks,
Big Woof

Rob Williams · 01-12-2006, 11:11 AM

If you are willing to spend money, the X-Fi may be the way to go. I use the Chaintech AV-710, which is almost a budget card but does music extremely well. Can't say the same for some gaming though.

madmat · 01-12-2006, 12:16 PM

The Montego most likely scored a 7 due to having no hardware acceleration for gaming. The sound is every bit as good as the Envy 24 based cards and better than a first generation Audigy.

Jag · 03-01-2006, 11:01 PM

I use an Audigy 2 ZS card, you can get them at a very decent price. Not top line but very solid and an excellent quality, especially if you primarily just need it for music.

Rob Williams · 03-01-2006, 11:20 PM

I prefer the Chaintech AV-710 over the Audigy 2 ZS because they are half the price and offer near the same performance. That's just me though.

/me wants an X-Fi :\

spiffyp · 03-04-2006, 07:00 PM

The problem with almost all of the add-on cards, I've found, is the amount of CPU load they add.

I'd rather use a built-on card (playing MP3s while gaming).
Or, buy an X-Fi. If you have the $$$.

/me drools... X-Fi...

fussnfeathers · 03-04-2006, 11:41 PM

You've got it backwards, Spif. PCI cards use less CPU, as long as they have onboard decoding for surround sound. Most add-in cards at least have regular audio processing built into them, whereas the onboard chips rely on the southbridge to process the stream, which in turn loads up the CPU.

Big Woof, if you're just listening to music, and super-high quality isn't an issue, your setup is actually just fine. I might ditch the Panasonic stereo for a good set of PC speakers, but I find 5.1 and 7.1 excessive for pure music.

If you want an add-in card, give the M-Audio Revolution a look, or just an Audigy 2. Both perform well, but I find the Revolution does a better job at music reproduction. The trade-off is the surround decoding for games and movies isn't done onboard, it's passed off to the CPU. For you, I don't think that will matter at all.

Flipi · 03-05-2006, 07:26 PM

If you want a card for music I would choose the M-Audio card, but beware of the 5.1 card, go for the 7.1 model. It does a better job than the Audigy series. The only problem with this card is that is not quite suitable for games.
Btw I am into music too and have Altec mx5021 wich is a 2.1 system and I love it. For true lovers though classic systems are of no comparisson to active speakers.

PUTALE · 03-06-2006, 12:49 AM

most onboard sounds are good for music hearing unless you are looking into heavy sounds that has a lot of ranges.

anibalX · 03-08-2006, 09:21 PM

I have the Creative Soundblaster live 24, it's a cheap card but has a good quality

Tech-Daddy · 03-10-2006, 04:17 PM

I have an X-Fi Music... Fry's has these baby's for sale pretty cheap right now with a mail in rebate. They really are great sound cards.

Highly recommended....

sbrehm72255 · 03-10-2006, 07:36 PM

On-board is good enough for my dead easr........

It only has to play basic sounds and low volume games on my system. So I really don't have a need for anything special.

fussnfeathers · 03-10-2006, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbrehm72255

On-board is good enough for my dead easr........

It only has to play basic sounds and low volume games on my system. So I really don't have a need for anything special.

Even you can benefit from a PCI based card. The main reason is most PCI based cards move the positional sound processing from the motherboard and CPU to a dedicated processor on the soundcard. This translates to a few FPS in games, and cleaner sound at low volumes. I go a step farther, my soundcard is an external FireWire based unit, so I'm completely removing not only the processing, but any potential crosstalk and noise.

sbrehm72255 · 03-10-2006, 11:56 PM

I know this about the FPS in games, a few FPS isn't going to make or break me on the games I play one way or the other.
I have a few Soundblaster cards around the house and opted not to use them. I hate the creative drivers along with the extra crap in my case, it just gets in the way of my water cooling. .................

Drew · 03-15-2006, 08:19 PM

I have to agree with Rob. I use the Chaintech and absolutely love it and the price was good too.

01-11-2006, 10:26 AM	#1
Big Woof Obliviot Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 1	sound cards Just read a very good report on the Turtle Beach Montego DDL. It scored a 7. I run XP2 with a Realtek AC97 sound card. Mini plug cable from pc to Panasonic digital stereo receiver. 2 channel stereo with Klipsch speakers. If the Montego is a 7, what's better for my purposes. 98% music. 2% whatever. Hope somebody can help with this. There's just too many cards out there for me to make an educated decision. And I'm new to pc's too. Thanks, Big Woof

01-12-2006, 11:11 AM	#2
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	If you are willing to spend money, the X-Fi may be the way to go. I use the Chaintech AV-710, which is almost a budget card but does music extremely well. Can't say the same for some gaming though. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

01-12-2006, 12:16 PM	#3
madmat Soup Nazi Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: No soup for you! Posts: 1,636	The Montego most likely scored a 7 due to having no hardware acceleration for gaming. The sound is every bit as good as the Envy 24 based cards and better than a first generation Audigy. __________________ M4N82 Deluxe Phenom II 940 Black Edition quad core @ 3.5Ghz 2x1 gig OCZ PC26400 Platinum, 2x1gig GSkill PC26400 EVGA GTX260 Buncha drives, Some other stuff, Even more stuff, If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside. --Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorld magazine Sign Me!

03-01-2006, 11:20 PM	#5
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,231	I prefer the Chaintech AV-710 over the Audigy 2 ZS because they are half the price and offer near the same performance. That's just me though. /me wants an X-Fi :\ __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

03-05-2006, 07:26 PM	#8
Flipi Obliviot Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Bucharest - Romania Posts: 22	If you want a card for music I would choose the M-Audio card, but beware of the 5.1 card, go for the 7.1 model. It does a better job than the Audigy series. The only problem with this card is that is not quite suitable for games. Btw I am into music too and have Altec mx5021 wich is a 2.1 system and I love it. For true lovers though classic systems are of no comparisson to active speakers. __________________ Don't think you are, know you are!

03-01-2006, 11:01 PM	#4
Jag Obliviot Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Texis Posts: 13	I use an Audigy 2 ZS card, you can get them at a very decent price. Not top line but very solid and an excellent quality, especially if you primarily just need it for music.

03-04-2006, 07:00 PM	#6
spiffyp Obliviot Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 33	The problem with almost all of the add-on cards, I've found, is the amount of CPU load they add. I'd rather use a built-on card (playing MP3s while gaming). Or, buy an X-Fi. If you have the $$$. /me drools... X-Fi...

03-04-2006, 11:41 PM	#7
fussnfeathers E.M.I. Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: The Fourth Level Of Heck, first house on the right. Posts: 82	You've got it backwards, Spif. PCI cards use less CPU, as long as they have onboard decoding for surround sound. Most add-in cards at least have regular audio processing built into them, whereas the onboard chips rely on the southbridge to process the stream, which in turn loads up the CPU. Big Woof, if you're just listening to music, and super-high quality isn't an issue, your setup is actually just fine. I might ditch the Panasonic stereo for a good set of PC speakers, but I find 5.1 and 7.1 excessive for pure music. If you want an add-in card, give the M-Audio Revolution a look, or just an Audigy 2. Both perform well, but I find the Revolution does a better job at music reproduction. The trade-off is the surround decoding for games and movies isn't done onboard, it's passed off to the CPU. For you, I don't think that will matter at all.

03-06-2006, 12:49 AM	#9
PUTALE E.M.I. Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 68	most onboard sounds are good for music hearing unless you are looking into heavy sounds that has a lot of ranges.

03-08-2006, 09:21 PM	#10
anibalX Obliviot Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 23	I have the Creative Soundblaster live 24, it's a cheap card but has a good quality __________________ -:- anibalX -:-

03-10-2006, 04:17 PM	#11
Tech-Daddy Tech Monkey Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Plano, Texas USA Posts: 663	I have an X-Fi Music... Fry's has these baby's for sale pretty cheap right now with a mail in rebate. They really are great sound cards. Highly recommended.... __________________ blingGreen \| Lupine \| BOSS:FX-57 \| DSF (Dallas Stars Foundation) \| Deuce \| DST (Dallas Stars Tribute) Currently working on : Sleeper

03-10-2006, 07:36 PM	#12
sbrehm72255 Tech Monkey Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Back Woods of MO Posts: 785	On-board is good enough for my dead easr........ It only has to play basic sounds and low volume games on my system. So I really don't have a need for anything special.

03-10-2006, 11:56 PM	#14
sbrehm72255 Tech Monkey Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Back Woods of MO Posts: 785	I know this about the FPS in games, a few FPS isn't going to make or break me on the games I play one way or the other. I have a few Soundblaster cards around the house and opted not to use them. I hate the creative drivers along with the extra crap in my case, it just gets in the way of my water cooling. .................

03-15-2006, 08:19 PM	#15
Drew E.M.I. Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Canada Posts: 68	ChainTech AV-710 I have to agree with Rob. I use the Chaintech and absolutely love it and the price was good too. __________________ "With such a wealth of information; Why are you so poor?" You've Got A Chance - Bad Religion

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