Audio Do I need a sound card?

Mephistopheles

Mephistopheles

ex-Mod
I have an Asus P5NSLI mobo @ADI AD1986A audio CODEC which is connected to my Altec Lansing VS3251 5.1 speakers. I have heard of the many benefits of a dedicated sound card so was wondering if buying one with respect to my budget would help significantly improve sound quality on my speakers.
I have this in mind:
Creative Sound Card Blaster Audigy Value @INR1760

Will it benefit me and improve the sound quality of my speakers? Is it worth the money spent?
The above soundcard is the max im willing to spend. I would also like to know if there is any other card which is better than this one priced similarly or lower than this one.
 
sound cards give better sound that what on-board offers, but the question is how much better and is it worth? Creative cards are not very good for music but good enough for gaming purposes. If you are primarily into listening to music, i suggest wait till u increase the budget to 5-6k and then buy an audiophile card.
 
talsilo said:
sound cards give better sound that what on-board offers, but the question is how much better and is it worth? Creative cards are not very good for music but good enough for gaming purposes. If you are primarily into listening to music, i suggest wait till u increase the budget to 5-6k and then buy an audiophile card.
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Basically wht Im asking is that what I get now from my onboard, whether for gaming, movies or music will get better from a soundcard @my budget? If they are not very good fro music, they still will be better than onboard? My main purpose is movies and music and a bit of gaming too.
 
VS3251 dont deserve a sound card, but then it doesnt deserve shitty motherboard audio either.

So the answer is very practical and individual, you will have to find out yourself by comparing your speakers with onboard and dedicated sound cards that its worth to spend 1.7k on the sound card or not.

(Personal opinion: Get a sound card, it will be an improvement over onboard audio. The improvement would be more significant when you shift to better speakers)
 
A dedicated sound card will obviously give you better audio, the change may not that significant with the creative card you're considering but it would surely be evident.
 
^^ That's not true. It depends on the speakers/headphones as well. Just because you bought that latest X-Fi or Xonar sound card doesn't guarantee improvement in audio. With poor quality speakers/headphones, some times the audio can actually sound worse than before. The vice versa also holds true. If the source is poor (on board audio) , a good headphone/speaker can sound worse than a poor one.

In this case however, I don't think the Altec Lansing's can be that bad. However I am not sure whether the Audigy value is a good choice? I think I read somewhere that its same as an SBLive class card and not acutally an Audigy (just like the X-Fi Xtreme Music is acutally an Audigy 2 and not X-Fi). Not sure about it though.
 
Lord Nemesis said:
In this case however, I don't think the Altec Lansing's can be that bad. However I am not sure whether the Audigy value is a good choice? I think I read somewhere that its same as an SBLive class card and not acutally an Audigy (just like the X-Fi Xtreme Music is acutally an Audigy 2 and not X-Fi). Not sure about it though.
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Greenleaf said:
A dedicated sound card will obviously give you better audio, the change may not that significant with the creative card you're considering but it would surely be evident.
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So what would be the most economical card I could buy?

sato1986 said:
(Personal opinion: Get a sound card, it will be an improvement over onboard audio. The improvement would be more significant when you shift to better speakers)
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Well, I wont be upgrading my speakers in the near future (like not be4 9-10 months), so is the creative card a good choice?
 
Audigy value 7.1 is a decent improvement from motherboard audio especially in games. But dot expect phenomenal improvements.

If u can get a XOnar or XFi extremegamer it would be betterm, with a mx5021 or for music orX540 for gaming and movies
 
Lord Nemesis said:
^^ That's not true. It depends on the speakers/headphones as well. Just because you bought that latest X-Fi or Xonar sound card doesn't guarantee improvement in audio. With poor quality speakers/headphones, some times the audio can actually sound worse than before. The vice versa also holds true. If the source is poor (on board audio) , a good headphone/speaker can sound worse than a poor one.

In this case however, I don't think the Altec Lansing's can be that bad. However I am not sure whether the Audigy value is a good choice? I think I read somewhere that its same as an SBLive class card and not acutally an Audigy (just like the X-Fi Xtreme Music is acutally an Audigy 2 and not X-Fi). Not sure about it though.
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The original X-Fi XM was most definitely an X-Fi.
 
A used Audigy 2 ZS would be best if you want a decent card on a tight budget. I believe you can get one in decent condition for somewhere around 1.7~2.2k (i.e. if you manage to find someone selling it off).

I have used one of these till some time back and its a tonne better than on board audio with the Headphones I have (Phillps HP805, Sennheiser HD485) as well with the original Altec Lansing 251 I have (The original unrevised version of these speakers are in fact better than most 5.1 systems Altec Lansing has right now).

However do note that lots of people seem to be having problems with Creative Sound cards especially Audigy 2 and X-Fi under Vista and Windows 7. I personally did not face any problems with my Audigy 2 ZS under Vista, but one can never be sure. So if you intend to use Vista/Windows 7 in a short while, you might want to skip Creative cards altogether if you do not want to take chances. A used Xonar may be another option.

TechHead said:
The original X-Fi XM was most definitely an X-Fi.
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Sorry about that, I was referring to the X-Fi Xtreme Audio I guess. :ashamed:

Anyways, another interesting thing I found is that SB Live, Audigy Value, Audigy SE, X-Fi Xtreme Audio and all have the same chipset

Sound Blaster X-Fi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and we curse nVidia for the renaming and selling the same chips. :rofl:
 
Lord Nemesis said:
^^ That's not true. It depends on the speakers/headphones as well. Just because you bought that latest X-Fi or Xonar sound card doesn't guarantee improvement in audio. With poor quality speakers/headphones, some times the audio can actually sound worse than before. The vice versa also holds true. If the source is poor (on board audio) , a good headphone/speaker can sound worse than a poor one.

In this case however, I don't think the Altec Lansing's can be that bad. However I am not sure whether the Audigy value is a good choice? I think I read somewhere that its same as an SBLive class card and not acutally an Audigy (just like the X-Fi Xtreme Music is acutally an Audigy 2 and not X-Fi). Not sure about it though.
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Yup an audigy value is not actually of audigy series. Infact some say that worse than SB Live! (Original)

Sound Blaster Live! (August 1998) saw the introduction of the EMU10K1 processor, a 2.44 million transistor audio DSP, rated at 1000 MIPS. The EMU10K1 featured hardware-acceleration for DirectSound and EAX 1.0 and 2.0 (environmental audio extensions, a high-quality 64-voice MIDI sample-based synthesizer, and an integrated FX8010 DSP chip for real-time digital audio effects.
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The Audigy SE and Audigy Value are stripped down models, with a less expensive CA-0106 audio-controller in place of the EMU10k2. With the CA-0106, the SE/Value are limited to software-based EAX 3.0 (upgraded to software-based EAX 4.0 with a driver update), no advanced resolution DVD-Audio Playback, and no Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby Digital EX 6.1 playback.

The SE is the only low-profile PCI card in the Audigy family.
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But since SB Live is EOL, and X-Fi and Xonar cost a LOT more, we are left only with Audigy Value as a budget-Sound-card option.
 
sato1986 said:
But since SB Live is EOL, and X-Fi and Xonar cost a LOT more, we are left only with Audigy Value as a budget-Sound-card option.
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So should i buy Audigy Value?

Lord Nemesis said:
A used Audigy 2 ZS would be best if you want a decent card on a tight budget. I believe you can get one in decent condition for somewhere around 1.7~2.2k (i.e. if you manage to find someone selling it off).
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That sounds nice...could u guide me as to where could get started?:)

and pls. do consider what speakers I have and help me out keeping that in mind
 
shivamrockz07 said:
That sounds nice...could u guide me as to where could get started?:)

and pls. do consider what speakers I have and help me out keeping that in mind
Click to expand...

The best thing to do is to create a WTB thread in the market section. I am sure you will find someone who can sell you this card.

In fact mine is also lying idle for sometime now, but I am not sure if its in a good working condition right now, I would not like to take the chance of selling a faulty card. Still lots of people have had this card earlier, so you are bound to find one for sale.
 
Well in my opinion, a second hand card with a decent DSP is any day better than a brand new card with with a much older SBLive class or even worse chip. But then its you money and your choice to make. :)
 
How much is this card priced btw? Isnt there any other card around 2k or so that could improve the audio quality of VS3251? I need a sound card that would benifit me keeping in mind my speakers. After all, its all about getting better sound quality, not the potential to have better sound quality.

btw, my main purpose is movies.
 
btw, I can stretch my budget a bit (for a new sound cardi.e. around 2.5k), I wasnt able to find a second hand Audigy 2 ZS, on TE and ebay so was wondering what was its actual price

and sorry for the double post
 
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