Soundcards

[Deleted]

So my birthday is coming up and I'm on the lookout for a decent soundcard. I'm not 100% sure what headset/headphones I'm gonna be using but I'm looking at possibly buying a pair of HD 598s and a desk mic (blue microphone snowball maybe?) as I'm not really sure I want a dedicated gaming headset such as the PC360s. I was just curious what soundcard people would recommend to fit into my current build at around the £50-100 mark.

Any suggestions regarding a mic/pair of headphones would also be nice.

Cheers

[BicycleMafioso]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=SC-002-AS

[Deleted]

Im interested in a build similar to yours since I have a razer carcharias and I want to buy new ones. Everyone seems to say that headphones+mic is the best but my concern is for example : would the blue snowball pickup a lot of noise either from the computer making that constant noise while im on skype or from keyboard smashing? And would I be able to use it even when my voice is considerably lower like when gaming on the middle of the night? Because If I have to put it near me it might get burdensome (space wise) for gaming..

[Laeryn]

If you have a decent motherboard, you honestly don't need a sound card..You'd need some pretty powerful headset (studio quality) or amazing 200+ dollar sound system to even notice a difference, from my experience anyway. A 75-150 (euros converted to canadian) sound card won't get you much of a difference man, on board sound on new motherboards is pretty amazing now, but if you must - stick to Asus, as the above poster has given an example. They make great stuff.


-8 years experience repairing and building gaming rigs.

[Deleted]

If you have a decent motherboard, you honestly don't need a sound card..You'd need some pretty powerful headset (studio quality) or amazing 200+ dollar sound system to even notice a difference, from my experience anyway. A 75-150 (euros converted to canadian) sound card won't get you much of a difference man, on board sound on new motherboards is pretty amazing now, but if you must - stick to Asus, as the above poster has given an example. They make great stuff..

I have a z77 pro 3 as a mobo.. Dont know how good it is when it comes to sound quality

[Vile]

If you have a decent motherboard, you honestly don't need a sound card..You'd need some pretty powerful headset (studio quality) or amazing 200+ dollar sound system to even notice a difference, from my experience anyway. A 75-150 (euros converted to canadian) sound card won't get you much of a difference man, on board sound on new motherboards is pretty amazing now, but if you must - stick to Asus, as the above poster has given an example. They make great stuff.

-8 years experience repairing and building gaming rigs.

No offense, but this is a huge misconception that people have and is untrue for the most part. Even though the quality of onboard audio has increased and is better now than it was in the past, onboard audio still does not come anywhere near close to quality compared to using a sound card.

The Xonar (linked above) is an amazing card with great quality, as is something like the X-Fi Titanium HD

It does depend on what type of speakers/headphones are being used in the setup but there is most definitely a noticeable difference in quality when comparing onboard vs. sound card

[Laeryn]

I'm using the pc360's and logitech z906's, and the only places I found a difference was on the speakers. There was more contrast and depth to sounds, but only in newer games like BF3 and skyrim. WoW had no difference, and it wasn't a difference I'd say is worth spending 100 euros on.

Edit: My bad, I tested with the asus xonar dx

[Deleted]

One thing soundcards (intergrated) generally suck if you plan on using the mic input at all. I switched to soundinterface (usb) few years ago since soundcards themself had not really evolved over the years at all. Then again most headsets/pc mics are usb nowdays for a reason.

+if those Sennheiser HD 598 are anything like the same model (plastic parts) other headphones(595, 555 etc.) they are very prone to crack (google). The warranty works, but for me it took LOONG TIME (EU), and new ones cracked almost immidiately again... personally will not buy same headphone models anymore. 3 different headphones 2 different models, crack on exactly same spot on all + pictures on web of cracks on same spot, and dont bother gluing they just fall a part completely.

[BicycleMafioso]

One thing soundcards (intergrated or cards) generally suck if you plan on using the mic input at all. I switched to soundinterface (usb) few years ago since soundcards themself had not really evolved over the years at all. Then again most headsets/pc mics are usb nowdays for a reason.

That reason being that poor USB sound is better than poor integrated sound cards? Yes.

Microphones and sound cards do not have an inherent flaw with quality.

[Jiambi]

i just recently picked up an Asus Xonar STX. Was using onboard sound prior, Asrock Z77 extreme 4. And the quality difference is night and day especially if your running a great set of speakers and high quality headphones. For a long time i was hesitant to get one. Literally just got it installed 10min ago and I am amazed at the difference in quality.

Audio setup:
Movies: Harmon Kardon 355, JBL Speakers (Old Northridge setup, ND310 mains and E20's surround)
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 598's

[Deleted]

i just recently picked up an Asus Xonar STX. Was using onboard sound prior, Asrock Z77 extreme 4. And the quality difference is night and day especially if your running a great set of speakers and high quality headphones. For a long time i was hesitant to get one. Literally just got it installed 10min ago and I am amazed at the difference in quality.

Audio setup:
Movies: Harmon Kardon 355, JBL Speakers (Old Northridge setup, ND310 mains and E20's surround)
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 598's

Might have to pick up one aswell then. Running a very similar setup to yours audio wise;
Pioneer VSX 322k
JBL ES 80's
Sennheiser HD 558's.

Care to share how different your experience is by installing the soundcard?

[Jiambi]

Had some issues installing the drivers, i suggest you use the Downloader assistant from the ASUS website. Worked when i used the DL assistant. Other than that. works great on Win 8. I keep my Speakers and headphones hooked up i just select which audio out i want the card to use when swapping between Movies on my TV and headphones for gaming.

[Deleted]

i just recently picked up an Asus Xonar STX. Was using onboard sound prior, Asrock Z77 extreme 4. And the quality difference is night and day especially if your running a great set of speakers and high quality headphones. For a long time i was hesitant to get one. Literally just got it installed 10min ago and I am amazed at the difference in quality.

Audio setup:
Movies: Harmon Kardon 355, JBL Speakers (Old Northridge setup, ND310 mains and E20's surround)
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 598's

Do you use any sort of mic? Because I want to move from headset to headphones+mic but the mics that ive read about like zalman mc1, blue snowball, all capture way to much noise such as keyboard and fans..Although the audio quality is superior I kinda prefer to have one headset that doesnt pickup those sounds..

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Remember to disable the onboard audio in BIOS before installing the sound-card.

[Jollytime]

Do you use any sort of mic? Because I want to move from headset to headphones+mic but the mics that ive read about like zalman mc1, blue snowball, all capture way to much noise such as keyboard and fans..Although the audio quality is superior I kinda prefer to have one headset that doesnt pickup those sounds..

I've used several integrated headsets (headphone + mic), but I've always found that:
a) Audio quality was lacking
b) If either breaks, you have to get a completely new headset

If you're having trouble with picking up sounds from keyboard an idea would be to use the mic in a webcam. It's positioned high above the keyboard and most often at the same height as your mouth. Works wonders for me!

In general, I can say that investing in a quality soundcard did wonders for me. I had issues with music sounding very flat and when I was gaming the sound got muffled and honestly sounded like s**t as soon as there were too many things going on at once. When I was raiding, it literally sounded like someone had cranked my volume to 100 % and put a pillow over my speakers. Switched to the Asus soundcard and boy, was I happy that I made that investment!

For the original poster: if you're using quality headphones like the 598's - your gimping yourself with onboard audio.

My audio setup:
Soundcard: Asus Xonar Essence ST
Speakers: Corsair SP2500 2.1
Headphones: Sennheiser 555 (modded to become 595s)
Mic: using the mic from my Logitech webcam

[Jiambi]

i am using a cheap USB mic i got online for like 10 bucks lol