Sound Cards

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 19, 2005, 8:59 pm

I've been reading up on sounds cards. the AC97 crap that comes standard these days on just about every motherboard doesn't cut t anymore.

Creative is the godzilla of sound cards but every review I've seen of this card

http://www.bluegears.com/xmystique.html

has peeps raving over it's sound quality. The key thing about the card is that is has Dolby Digital Live which converts any source to Dolby Digital 5.1. (except of course 7.1 sources)

I don't much care for Creative. Besides the proprietary EAX 3 and 4 in their high end cards, the Bluegears card costs less (89.00 Newegg) and sounds better. Games also sound grea with it, you just don't get the extra reverberations that EAX enhanced games offer...big whoop.

I'm just curious if anyone has this card. The only knock on it is the the Mic output is low or something. Don't care about that either.

I need Optical SPDIF-OUT which this card has.

The Newegg link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829127001

miir · Post by **miir** » December 19, 2005, 9:32 pm

Creative's new XFi cards are phenomenal.
I love mine.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 19, 2005, 10:01 pm

miir wrote:Creative's new XFi cards are phenomenal.
I love mine.

I was looking at those today at Fry's and was leaning toward getting one until I read the reviews from Newegg and other places with people that had listened or owned both, giving the nod to the X-Mystique.

I really like that Dolby Live feature as all of the oddball movies played from my computer with various sound formats would be nice to listen to in Dolby 5.1 streaming from my computer to my Home Theater Receiver.

Drolgin Steingrinder · December 19, 2005, 10:23 pm

# Unique Karaoke functionality : Mic Echo, Key-shifting, Vocal Cancellation

Tell us why you really want this card, Winnow...

I've heard amazing things about the x-fi elite pro, and that's from people using the cards for mock-production. That's a first for Creative - anything else they've put out (except maybe the audigy x2) has been shit as far as midi control etc has been concerned, and the sn ratio has been out the window. I've never heard of BlueGears and so I'm a bit skeptical - but will do some research!

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » December 19, 2005, 10:35 pm

Drolgin Steingrinder wrote:
# Unique Karaoke functionality : Mic Echo, Key-shifting, Vocal Cancellation
Tell us why you really want this card, Winnow...

He's planning on doing some Tejano shoutcasts!

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 19, 2005, 11:29 pm

Drolgin Steingrinder wrote:
# Unique Karaoke functionality : Mic Echo, Key-shifting, Vocal Cancellation
Tell us why you really want this card, Winnow...

I've heard amazing things about the x-fi elite pro, and that's from people using the cards for mock-production. That's a first for Creative - anything else they've put out (except maybe the audigy x2) has been shit as far as midi control etc has been concerned, and the sn ratio has been out the window. I've never heard of BlueGears and so I'm a bit skeptical - but will do some research!

As a penist (sp!), you probably focus more on the midi and recording capabilities of a card over it's ability to "upscale" audio formats into DD 5.1 and make them sound as good as they can. There's a 300+ post thread over on Hard[OC] forums about this card that I'm reading through.

The benefits of the X-Fi are a little better FPS in games and propretary EAX. (and most likely the X-Fi is much better for creating music).

I'm mostly interested in the card that makes all audio formats sound the best ranging from mp3's to videos.

The lower end X-Fi cards don't have Optical SPDIF-OUT as part of the standard outs on the back of the card.

I doubt you could go wrong with either card. I hadn't noticed the Unique Karaoke functionality you pointed out. It's a deal maker!

noel · Post by **noel** » December 19, 2005, 11:54 pm

Please forgive the naivete, but:

I have an Audigy 2 and I don't make or edit music on my PC. I mostly play games, watch the occasional movie and listen to audio files. Is any compelling reason for me to upgrade my soundcard? To my untrained ears, everything seems to sound great and my surround sound speakers work well in games that support it.

Ransure · Post by **Ransure** » December 20, 2005, 12:08 am

If your using a semi inexpensive set of powered computer speakers... even the AC97 chipset will sound ok... computer speakers while they have gotten better, are not the same as a stand alone HT receiver with some good speakers.

If you hooked your comp up to a decent stereo system, thats when your going to want the higher end card.

Winnow, if the card has a digital output on it, you might not want the card to do the upsampling for you and let your receiver do the work (test which works better). The D/A converters and audio processors in receivers these days are going to do a pretty damn good job if you get them even a decent digital audio signal.

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » December 20, 2005, 1:25 am

Noel wrote:I have an Audigy 2 and I don't make or edit music on my PC. I mostly play games, watch the occasional movie and listen to audio files. Is any compelling reason for me to upgrade my soundcard? To my untrained ears, everything seems to sound great and my surround sound speakers work well in games that support it.

I had ye same sound card until I got my XFi. The question of whether or not it'll be worth it for you is a matter of how much of an audiophile you are. Even the untrained ear will be able to tell the difference in sound (it really is amazing), but most people wouldn't pay for the sticker. If it's a question of performance and price isn't an issue, then go for it. If spending hundreds of dollars isn't your thing for a simple audio upgrade and 10 frames per second, then forget about it. The card does wonders to my Sennheisers and I don't regret the purchase at all.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » December 20, 2005, 1:44 am

Ransure wrote:
Winnow, if the card has a digital output on it, you might not want the card to do the upsampling for you and let your receiver do the work (test which works better). The D/A converters and audio processors in receivers these days are going to do a pretty damn good job if you get them even a decent digital audio signal.

That's what I do now, but what the Dolby Live does is convert every other source to DD 5.1 so your home theater can play it via the SPIF-OUT. I also want the best source for headphone listening with Sennheiser HD 595s.

http://www.headphone.com/products/headp ... hd-595.php

Also, from a review:

One other thing I would like to mention as I found it to be very interesting are the Karaoke/Magic Voice options. With Magic Voice, your voice from a microphone can be distorted to sound like a mid pitched girl, low pitched man, a monster (lower pitched than a man), or a cartoon (higher pitched than a girl).

Oh yeah!

noel · Post by **noel** » December 20, 2005, 2:20 am

Thanks guys.

I think I'm getting some logitech digital 7.1 speakers for X-mas, so I've been thinking about getting a new card.