Audio Newbie to Sound cards - suggestions required for sound card upto 3k

T

TheBroker

Skilled
Hi,
I'm a total novice when it comes to sound cards and the technologies associated with it.

I'm looking for a sound card to go with my Gigabyte H55M-S2 motherboard ( it has Realtek ALC888B Codec ). I currently use Altec Lansing BXR1221 speakers with it, but I plan to buy another PC soon & pair with a better set of speakers.

Music that I listen to - Trance, Lounge, Hindi. Also into gaming and watching movies / TV shows on my PC.

Preferred range upto 3k but will stretch by 1k for a value deal.

I stay in Mumbai and am open to buying online.

Thanks in advance :)
 
@TheBroker
Strech your budget and go for a Asus Xonar DX will be worth the price . It fulfills all your requirements perfectly .
 
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whats your budget for your speakers? In my experience. Unless it's 15K+, you're better off spending your money on speakers than a soundcard. the marginal ROI is much better
 
Greenie, he's running ALC888. Even a little $40 plugin module from eBay will beat the crap out of it.

I'm thinking New Muse HiFi USB DAC PCM2704 Sound Card Decoder USB to s PDIF Converter Silver | eBay OR SMSL Fort PCM2704USB Music DAC Sound Card Headphone Amplifier | eBay

Of course, these are two-channel 44.1/48 only, but I always have said that you can have two good channels or 5 ho-hum ones at any given price point. The PCM2702/04 are excellent for their price (practically free) and there's isn't much even the Chinese can do to screw it up.
 
He's planning to get another machine right? just choose a motherboard with a decent non realtek onboard sound, and he should be good.
 
greenhorn said:
He's planning to get another machine right? just choose a motherboard with a decent non realtek onboard sound, and he should be good.
Click to expand...

Not planning a high end machine! Planned motherboard is Gigabyte B75M ( or another mobo based on the B75 series) so that's why looking at the sound card purchase.


greenhorn said:
whats your budget for your speakers? In my experience. Unless it's 15K+, you're better off spending your money on speakers than a soundcard. the marginal ROI is much better
Click to expand...

Upto Rs. 5000, 2.1 speakers.

Basically I'm building my hardware bit by bit. And the discussion of the veterans here is confusing me :p
 
greenhorn said:
He's planning to get another machine right? just choose a motherboard with a decent non realtek onboard sound, and he should be good.
Click to expand...

Such as?

There is no such option in low-cost boards anymore, maybe at the absolute high end and even then all you get is Creative. Even Intel has migrated to Realtek for the cost benefits. The only people who use good onboard sound are Apple, who have stuck with Cirrus, but even then only the low-cost models. And Greenie, you know how mobo manufacturers implement audio. The performance is far below the potential of the chipset.
@TheBroker: Greenie has a point when he mentions onboard is good enough for most speakers under 5k. I don't necessarily agree, but there it is. Onboard audio is designed for Windows alerts and very basic audio equipment, and eve a tiny expense can provide very reasonable upgrade. The B75 from Gigabyte has a very basic onboard chip (FWIW I have never enabled it so have no clue how good/bad it is). I would suggest you buy the speakers first and if you feel the sound isn't up to scratch, you can start thinking about a soundcard upgrade. However note that most PC speakers upto 5-6k are quite basic, and may not show any upgrade even with a good card.
 
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Get the Xonar DG very good card for the price. You will find world of difference compared to your on board sound card + it has headphone amp as well. Very VFM.
 
@cranky - You're post leaves me with a lot more questions than I started with. I've decided shall not invest heavily in a soundcard but in a speaker set. Finally decided to get the Xonar DG, as its pretty inexpensive and I can always upgrade later!
@amitjakhar - I'm going to buy that. Thanks !

One last help, will the card fit in with my motherboard or do I need to buy a connector? I've the Gigabyte H55M-S2 - GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1156 - GA-H55M-S2 (rev. 1.3)

One blue slot is occupied by my GPU ( Sapphire HD 7750 ).
 
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I would suggest you spend on speakers, and keep an eye on the classifieds for soundcards and pick a soundcard second hand when a good deal comes up. use this thread if you need any advice about older soundcards

or is the DG that good ?
 
greenhorn said:
I would suggest you spend on speakers, and keep an eye on the classifieds for soundcards and pick a soundcard second hand when a good deal comes up. use this thread if you need any advice about older soundcards

or is the DG that good ?
Click to expand...

I'm willing to make an instinctive purchase on the DG :)
 
@cranky, @greenhorn

Would your advice to rule out a discrete sound card for below 5K speaker units also apply to headphones. My question is similar to the OP's but for the fact that i consume majority of my content (mostly HD videos as a Clip+ serves music needs and i do not game at all) using a pair of Sony MDR-XD200s instead of speakers (have Creative Inspire T3130s, which i turn on only occasionally). Would it do more good to buy better headphones rather than an entry-level soundcard like the Xonar DG. The audio chip on my mobo is an ALC 892.
 
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Again, I do not rule out discrete sound cards unless you have very poor speakers. I don't know what kind of speakers are available in the 5k range.

Headphones magnify differences between cards even more sharply and even if you could manage without a card for speakers, I suppose a good card or amp/dac combo is indispensable for even the most basic of headphones.

YMMV.
 
actually over the couple of days a few things happened which have changed my opinions a lot. My mom stumbled onto my porta corda 3 which I'd always considered lost. And I got a pair of arko 80W bookshelves at a sweet deal. Hooked them up, have been rediscovering music all over again :)

PS: My total outlay for the whole thing was 2.2k a couple of years ago for the DAC and 3.5k for the speakers. I'm sure there is not a system under 10k which can touch it for resolution, and if I add my Z2300 sub, It's godlike.

Eternomind, why not one of them DAC/headphone amps ? Btw, the XD 200's, while warm and bassy, are very forgiving headphones. so adding a soundcard might not five you gains in resolution. however, do try playing Eminem's ass like that with your XD200's in movie mode, and see if they vibrate without distorting. If they distort/fail to vibrate - you need something brawnier than your current onboard - I used to be able to notice this with my XD 200 when i switched between my mp3 player and soundcard
 
Just pick up that 1500 rupee Xonar DG. Its decent enough for the price and far better than onboard sound. One thing that no one tells you about onboard sound is the fact that the quality of audio output at idle and at load are very different. They sound terrible when the machine is under load thanks to all sorts of emi interference. Here's an example:

Asus' P8Z77-I Deluxe Mini-ITX motherboard reviewed - The Tech Report - Page 7

Check the bottom of the page for difference in quality - from very good at idle, it drops to piss poor under load. This basically means all your games will sound like crap.

Disclaimer: Of course, all the above is thrown out of the window if all one is looking for is a digital out via HDMI. Then onboard sounds just fine. In fact to my ears, onboard hdmi out sounds better in movies than the hdmi out of a discrete card. At least this is my experience on my htpc when comparing the hdmi out of a p8h77-i mini itx board and the hdmi out of a radeon 6570.
 
Hi all,
bought the Xonar DG a week back, finally installed it today! I couldn't be more happier with the purchase. This is a good piece of hardware and it makes a good difference to the sound output, be it gaming or music. Can hear the small details of songs / instrumental songs. And I'm saying that while using an Altec Lansing BXR1221, which is an inexpensive 2.1 speaker set, so while using a higher end speaker set, the sound will only be sweeter. I don't know the technicalities of audio, but I can guarantee that sound is better with this APU.

For 1600 bucks, this is a good purchase for anyone looking to upgrade their sound.

ONE IMPORTANT POINT OF CAUTION FOR ANYONE BUYING THIS CARD - I'm using a micro atx board ( Gigabyte H55M-S2 ) and this is a PCI based card, sitting right under my GPU ( Sapphire HD 7750, which is dual height) . The PCIE version will be better for m-ATX board users and shall future proof it too. My gaming temps are up by 5-7 degrees to 55 degrees Celsius. :(
 
TheBroker said:
[...]
ONE IMPORTANT POINT OF CAUTION FOR ANYONE BUYING THIS CARD - I'm using a micro atx board ( Gigabyte H55M-S2 ) and this is a PCI based card, sitting right under my GPU ( Sapphire HD 7750, which is dual height) . The PCIE version will be better for m-ATX board users and shall future proof it too. My gaming temps are up by 5-7 degrees to 55 degrees Celsius. :(
Click to expand...

yes there is a pcie version of the card Xonar DGX but not yet available in India.

you can relocate the PCI card with an extender like this Flexible PCI Riser/Extender


edit: btw 55 degrees is nothing to worry about ;)



_
 
DigitalDude said:
yes there is a pcie version of the card Xonar DGX but not yet available in India.

you can relocate the PCI card with an extender like this Flexible PCI Riser/Extender


edit: btw 55 degrees is nothing to worry about ;)



_
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'll buy a new PC in a while, so won't need the extender! And I'm not worried about the temps, but both hardware pieces sitting so close is something I'm not comfortable with! Just thought of warning anyone looking to buy this card and used an micro ATX mobo with a GPU!
 
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