Putting together a system, and need to replace my Creative SB 16 (only one ISA slot, need it for my modem). I play a small handful of games, listen to the occasional CD while writing, and that’s about it. Can’t see spending one to two hundred clams on a SB Live card, but wanted to get the TM’s opinion on it first. Is there really a big difference between the fifty - sixty dollar cards and the higher end cards? How much more realistic can mutant-drool sound? CD music is CD music, so I don’t think there could be a difference. Thoughts? Thanks!
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I’ll second Glitch’s vote for the SB. I’ve got the live value and it’s a terrific all around board. I had an earlier ISA soundblaster and this one has much better midi voices and all around sound. It has extra connections for voice enabled modems and digital output from a CD player.
I paid around 50 for the live value card, an OEM version.
The Live value and the Live! Platinum are pretty much the same card. Only difference is that you don’t get the digital in/out daughtercard. Which, unless you are using your pc as a professional recording station, is way overkill anyway.
I have a live value.
You may also want to look at the Monster M300 series, or any other card with a Vortex A3D chip, though those are more gamer-centric.
I’d give you pricewatch quotes, but it seems to be slow today.
If all you want is to play games, just buy the cheapest card you can find. There really is not a significant difference in sound quality - definitely your speakers make a much larger difference then your sound card ever will.
I won’t agree about the cheap cards Coop but good speakers should not be overlooked. I’m running one of the Altec satellite/subwoofer systems and it’s a killer value. Natural sound, clear stereo separation and bong rattling bass for $40-50.
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Get a Sound Blaster Live card. I’d go for the 4 speakers for positional audio too.
There is a big difference using the Live card series. Some cards use the CPU for doing most of the work. The Live series does most of it’s processing on the card.
I’m going to have to warn against the Sound Blaster cards for personal politics reasons. They advertise that they have a digital output on them, but they use a propriatary connector that nothing but their speakers can connect to. To get a standard SPDIF connector you have to buy the Platinum, which is mass overkill for someone that just wants to have good sound on the computer. The Monster Sound MX400 and the Turtle Beach Quadzilla all have that connector for half the price. Turtle beach used to be a pain to set up, but their new cards are okay, and I’ve never seen a problem with a Diamond card.
Also important is going to be the speakers. Altec Lansing makes some kick ass surround speakers, the ACS 56s. They also have a new THX set, the 885s, but they’re hard to find. I’m sure there’s other good speakers out there, but I only support the Altecs.
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I found that most cards in the computer seem to have a lot of hiss in the output. This is particularly bad on the older SBs. Anyone with experience on this? Kind of tangential to the OP, but relevant. In other words, I always found problems generating sounds from the PC without a lot of hiss management. Its like recording to cassette without Dolby or DBx.