Soundcard

[stenbod]

I'm going to buy a new soundcard but I don't know which soundcard I should choose. Of course I want good sound and I also want to use it for music-creation. I know that I get what I pay for, but I want a relatively cheap sound-card with good sound and functions. Any suggestions?

[Roj]

I'm going to buy a new soundcard but I don't know which soundcard I should choose. Of course I want good sound and I also want to use it for music-creation. I know that I get what I pay for, but I want a relatively cheap sound-card with good sound and functions. Any suggestions?
Sure!

1) Stay away from any and all Creative Labs garbage

2) have a look at offerings from Terratec or M-Audio. I'd recommend the Terratec DMX 24/96 6Fire or the MidiMan Audiophile 2496

I'd recommend the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 but it lacks digital inputs which might be important to you for music creation.

[Hanzo]

Sure!

1) Stay away from any and all Creative Labs garbage

2) have a look at offerings from Terratec or M-Audio. I'd recommend the Terratec DMX 24/96 6Fire or the MidiMan Audiophile 2496

I'd recommend the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 but it lacks digital inputs which might be important to you for music creation.
Hey Roj, any "chosen one" sound card you may suggest? Just tell me which is your favorite soundcard. I'm building a computer for a hardcore so called "audiophile" and he'll buy it. I might learn something as well...

[drewkeller]

I'm building a computer for a hardcore so called "audiophile" and he'll buy it.
hmph, that seems quite a matter of personal taste once you get past a certain point

[krazyd]

Hey Roj, any "chosen one" sound card you may suggest? Just tell me which is your favorite soundcard. I'm building a computer for a hardcore so called "audiophile" and he'll buy it. I might learn something as well...
Well, I'm quite happy with my M-Audio Revolution. Haven't tried any other M-Audio products, but the Revolution is great, especially compared to my previous sound (crappy on-board thingy). As Roj pointed out it doesn't have a digital input, but if your 'audiophile' doesn't need one, then I thoroughly recommend this card. :)

[brian]

How does the lack of digital input on the Revo affect recording? I get very good results converting tracks from vinyl or tape to digital via the Revo line-in. But perhaps I've misunderstood the point.

[krazyd]

How does the lack of digital input on the Revo affect recording? I get very good results converting tracks from vinyl or tape to digital via the Revo line-in. But perhaps I've misunderstood the point.
Well recording from an analogue source like vinyl/tape is okay I suppose, but if you want to record from a digital source the sound is converted to analogue and then back to digital by the soundcard - leading to quality loss. How easy the difference is to hear ... ;)
Edit:spelling;)

[brian]

Ah - thanks for the clarification; I thought I must have missed something. I guess that's because I can't see myself ever wanting to record from a digital source.

[Hanzo]

hmph, that seems quite a matter of personal taste once you get past a certain point
I mentioned he's a so called "audiophile" he only buys by specs and does not care about sound quality.

[Roj]

hmph, that seems quite a matter of personal taste once you get past a certain pointI'd have to say that a lot of so-called "audiophiles" wouldn't be able to quantify what they're supposedly hearing if it reached up and bit them in the ass. There's a lot of superstition inherent in that genre ("cables molecularly aligned to smooth electron flow" indeed) and in general I find much of it to be a massively overpriced con job.

Then, at the other end of the spectrum (and in the PC genre) you have folks on multimedia forums claiming that Creative Labs actually produces audiophile quality products comparable to M-Audio and Terratec.

Personal taste does come into it but when someone tells me thay can hear the difference between a $1000 CD transport and a $4000 CD transport, my BS Repellant goes off big-time. The same applies to those who claim that the CL stuff surpasses the wares of the aforementioned two *quality* audio card vendors, especially when the differences are *audible*.

Specs are only a place to start - and they can be misleading. Look at the BS both Klipsch and Logitech came out with vis a vis their power ratings. Look at the garbage CL claims with their A2 sound cards.

There's lots of high calibre fecal matter floating around out there... :)

Oh, and by the bye, I own a Revo - no CL fodder on my entire home network, thank-you-very-much. :)

[hedge]

yeah i've got a SB live 5.1 dig., and damm it might be betta than my cruddy on-board, but the drivers have given me nothing but trouble... i think i might get myself one of those m-audio cards, sounds damm good for the price, and maybe that distortion i've been getting might disappear too....

[Roj]

yeah i've got a SB live 5.1 dig., and damm it might be betta than my cruddy on-board, but the drivers have given me nothing but trouble... i think i might get myself one of those m-audio cards, sounds damm good for the price, and maybe that distortion i've been getting might disappear too....
No maybe about it - the distortion *will* disappear. :)

[Hanzo]

Well I know a thing or two about advertising. That PMPO thing that claims that a wallet sized speaker can produce 500 watts of pure musical power is nothing more than "caca".

Actually I own a Creative, but I'm a gamer too. I will try gaming on those Revo cards to see if they suit my gaming, because I'm not that picky, as long as I can hear the next motherfuck** trying to fill me with bullets in Unreal 2003 I'm OK.

But when it comes to listening music things change a bit. My ears aren't trained to notice the difference between sound card chipsets and DACs but I guess it is never late to learn...

Thanks a lot Roj for sharing your knowledge...:cool:

[Roj]

Well I know a thing or two about advertising. That PMPO thing that claims that a wallet sized speaker can produce 500 watts of pure musical power is nothing more than "caca".

Actually I own a Creative, but I'm a gamer too. I will try gaming on those Revo cards to see if they suit my gaming, because I'm not that picky, as long as I can hear the next motherfuck** trying to fill me with bullets in Unreal 2003 I'm OK.

But when it comes to listening music things change a bit. My ears aren't trained to notice the difference between sound card chipsets and DACs but I guess it is never late to learn...

Thanks a lot Roj for sharing your knowledge...:cool:The PMPO thing was one example but the two vendors concerned claimed RMS. What they didn't say was "burst" - that put a whole new shape on things.

You won't find a card as good for gaming as one made by Creative Labs - for the moment they have a hammerlock on that market, mostly because they control the APIs.

As to sharing what I know, you're welcome BUT...

...your ears are always the best judge. I may be able to point out things to listen for but only *you* can hear them and decide if you like what you have heard. :)

[Hanzo]

The PMPO thing was one example but the two vendors concerned claimed RMS. What they didn't say was "burst" - that put a whole new shape on things.

You won't find a card as good for gaming as one made by Creative Labs - for the moment they have a hammerlock on that market, mostly because they control the APIs.

As to sharing what I know, you're welcome BUT...

...your ears are always the best judge. I may be able to point out things to listen for but only *you* can hear them and decide if you like what you have heard. :)The list of lame things that vendors advertise are far more superior than their inventions for their devices, have you ever read a product catalogue from Rockford Fosgate? I mean their names for a simple MOSFET amplifier are sooo cool you might even take it as an alias. :)

I'm always looking for good advice on audio / computers and your posts are a valuable source of advice...

BTW that guy is buying some high end cables with "linear aligned atoms" for his newly imported 0 - 60khz speakers with Kryptonite magnets and gear interconnects...;)

[drewkeller]

linear aligned atoms
do they mean "extruded"???

[Hanzo]

do they mean "extruded"???
Dunno what that means... just being sarcastic. I guess it means that the atoms are perfectly aligned to avoid signal loss or something

[Roj]

do they mean "extruded"???Not only extruded (as in spat out of the cable making device - that for hanzo's benefit) but also given time to break in so that things mystically become aligned. I've actually had an audio salesman say that vables needed to be "broken in" for that purpose (electronic alignment of the atoms).

It's a freakin' cable for heaven's sake! It's not a speaker! :rolleyes:

[drewkeller]

LOL i wonder what "nothing" they will think of next

extrusion is a process where you have a little hole in the end of a tube and then a big press that pushes material through the hole so that it squishes out a very long thin strand. and you can make your holes different shapes to get different shaped strands. sort of like a cake decorator set, you push the frosting out of a tube and out comes a shape. enough on that...

i laugh at those medicine commercials that show the medicine going in and then "good vibes" going to the spot that hurts.

[Hanzo]

LOL i wonder what "nothing" they will think of next

extrusion is a process where you have a little hole in the end of a tube and then a big press that pushes material through the hole so that it squishes out a very long thin strand. and you can make your holes different shapes to get different shaped strands. sort of like a cake decorator set, you push the frosting out of a tube and out comes a shape. enough on that...

i laugh at those medicine commercials that show the medicine going in and then "good vibes" going to the spot that hurts.
:D ... Good Vibes there also for pillows and bed commercials. And for excercise machines too ! BTW thanks Drew for explaining "extrusion" to me. Did not knew what was that about.

[drewkeller]

ah, yes. many power heatsinks are also extruded. they must also have that "atomic alignment" then i suppose :) i thought about that before but i missed the marketing opportunity