Best Sound Card and Speakers?

[4745454b]

no budget,i just want whats best...So when i said best i meant pc best,for all-around use,meaning a card and speakers,at about 600-650 euros

I'm not trying to be rude either, but if someone asks about budget, don't lie and say there is none because you "want the best". $1200-1400USD can buy a lot of speaker, or none at all depending on what you are looking at.

Some have suggested it, I am to. Go the home theater route. Both PC speakers are good, I'm glad I don't have to chose between them. I love the sub on the z5500s, but the satellites on the gigaworks do sound better to me. (whats worse, when you crank the sub all the way up, its to powerful.) I have my PC hooked up to my HT surround receiver, and I never looked back. As good as PC speakers have got, they simply still aren't better then even mediocre HT speakers. If you want the best, and have that much money, then going the HT route shouldn't be difficult to do.

Go to your local store, and have them walk you through it. Listen to the different models they have, and see whats sounds best to you.

 

[quantumsheep]

Oh yeah, MrCommunistGen Do you not realize that a 10DB difference is a little over 12 times louder? Most people don't realize that an increase of 3DB represents a doubleing of sound. That being said 3db would bring you to double your original SPL, 6db will be 4x (your original 3DB double) doubled, and then finally your 2nd doubling. LOL, have I lost anyone yet?

When talking about the soundcards/audio equipment the Db measurement doesn't measure loudness it's something to do with sensitivity, i think.

 

[MrCommunistGen]

When talking about the soundcards/audio equipment the Db measurement doesn't measure loudness it's something to do with sensitivity, i think.

Thank you. I was talking about SNR not SPL. Its the ratio between signal and noise and has to do with clarity not volume. Aside from the decibel confusion, another popular misconception is that you need a LOT of wattage, and in most cases that is simply not true. Most home theater grade speakers have a sensitivity of around 90dB. I'm not 100% sure on what the complete unit of measure is, but sensitivity is rated at 1W. That means that most HT grade speakers will play at about 90dB with 1W of power. As long as you're using moderately clean amplification and aren't overdriving the amp, having gobs of extra wattage will buy you squat... like sticking a 1kW PSU in a stock Dell POS.

-mcg

 

[yay]

/\finally a decent analogy we can all understand /\ lol

 

[quantumsheep]

Thank you. I was talking about SNR not SPL. Its the ratio between signal and noise and has to do with clarity not volume. Aside from the decibel confusion, another popular misconception is that you need a LOT of wattage, and in most cases that is simply not true. Most home theater grade speakers have a sensitivity of around 90dB. I'm not 100% sure on what the complete unit of measure is, but sensitivity is rated at 1W. That means that most HT grade speakers will play at about 90dB with 1W of power. As long as you're using moderately clean amplification and aren't overdriving the amp, having gobs of extra wattage will buy you squat... like sticking a 1kW PSU in a stock Dell POS.

-mcg

I agree that the amount of wattage needed is always over-exaggerated. However i wouldn't mind one of these:

http://www.audionet.de/main/komponenten/endverstaerker/max/charakteristik/page.html?L=en

They weigh 38kg each (So 76kg in total) and give a total wattage output of 400 WpC through 8ohms and 700 WpC through 4ohms. Now i just gotta find some speakers that need that much power! 😀

 

[therock003]

Guys could you bee more specific about wattage?

For example logitech has 505 W rms and a 188w sub and gigaworks have 700w rms and 210 Watts RMS subwoofer.

What can someone make of that?

Also yet another sound card emerge,with even crazier price.I dont know if you've heard of it,but i hust did.ITs the x-fi elite pro http://www.soundblaster.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=208&product=14064 with a price of 350 euros!

If i get a reciever will i need the best sound card possible?

 

[waxdart]

I'm not trying to be rude either, but if someone asks about budget, don't lie and say there is none because you "want the best". $1200-1400USD can buy a lot of speaker, or none at all depending on what you are looking at.

$1200-1400USD - Thats a bit low budget.

Spend more and spend pounds - as it would cost you £3000USD for a loaf of bread in the U.K. :0


I wish I has the money to buy $1200-1400USD speakers

 

[jitpublisher]

It really is about personal preference. I have a friend that has a 30 year old Kenwood 400 watt amp/reciever, and a set of equally old Genesis Phase II speakers, coupled with an Technics direct drive turntable. (Anybody remember these?) This setup is by far the most amazing crystal clear, and LOUDEST thing I have ever heard in a home system. When you crank this thing up, it will rattle the windows in the neighbors house! I think the old undigitized sound is far superior than anything you can buy today.

 

[systemlord]

When talking about the soundcards/audio equipment the Db measurement doesn't measure loudness it's something to do with sensitivity, i think.

You got it Q sheep, its sensitivity.

 

[systemlord]

Guys could you bee more specific about wattage?

For example logitech has 505 W rms and a 188w sub and gigaworks have 700w rms and 210 Watts RMS subwoofer.

If i get a reciever will i need the best sound card possible?

Theres such a thing as speaker efficency, so by having more watts doesn't mean louder cleaner sound. You need to quit looking at the spec's and numbers here or your head will explode. Theres two ways to be sure that you got the right speaker system: (1) you listen to them at the store, (2) you read as many reviews possible and make a desision based on the evidence. I can tell you all day whats best, but thats just me and not you.

 

[SheizaSoSay]

I have to disagree with you about the "best subs you can get are made by Velodyne". They're decent enough subwoofers but they don't excel in any single area, in my opinion. Although for the price they're quite impressive. If you really want "ballz to the wall pieces" as you put it, you're going to want to get something like a Wilson Benesch Torus or something similar. Then again something like that is easily going to cost £3000.

If i was in the market for a high end reciever at the moment it would either have to be Onkyo or Pioneer, their high end stuff really is bloody good.

Really if i priced up a "dream" stereo system it would come out well over £100,000 (which is around $200,000).[/quotemsg

I stand corrected, the Wilson Benesch Torus is the best, however last I checked I remember it being like 15,000 dollars. The same mag I read that said it was the best sub in the world, and most beautiful I think, also done the review for 5 or 6 receivers in the sub $2000 range. Competitors that I know were there were Yamaha and Denon. I think that Onkyo was there and one or two I can't remember. Yamaha placed first and second. I THINK Denon pulled third. Either way, a lot of factors come into picture and one most definately is Price. Here is a link with some receivers that are top picks for their price range: http://www.hometheatermag.com/buyersguides/avreceivers/

And Velodyne I believe does have the best subs aside from mega expensive subs. If they aren't the best by someone else's standard thats ok too.

 

[therock003]

Guys i think i'm going to thin it further and not sticj with the PC speakers.

So i would need a little more info about recievers.

-Y are they need,and y cant the signal travel from the sound card to the speaker directly?

-If i get a reciever would i need a good sound card as well fo maximum performance?

-Y are they solda as av recievers?Y would someone really need for signal to travel from a video source to reciever and then to video output device (monitor or whatever)?I mean i get that a reciever somewhat amplifies sound,but how can that be done with video as well?

Ok so here on greece,i get the following options,what do you suggest?

http://www.plaisio.gr/productlist.aspx?catalog=19&category=69979827

http://www.e-shop.gr/search_per.phtml?category=HOME%20AUDIO&category2=%C5%CD%C9%D3%D7%D5%D4%C7%D3

 

[danmo]

I have an ONKYO sr606 AV reciever, 2 AE309 floorstanding speaker, and AE307 center, Q acoustics 1000 sub and 2 monitor audio av bookshelf speakers for rears. the AE309 fronts are bi-amped off the front and rear surrond on the amp.
I was using the motherboards optical out (P5ND mother board) and have just ordered the sound card mentioned above (XFi fatal1ty pro thingy)
so will be able to comment as to if it make much difference - I play UT3 at the mo and listen to music on it.
Not sure how helpful this will be to you, but gives an idea of other setups I suppose.

Also I use an acer G24 24" screen with resolution 1920 x 1200 (using an IXOS HDMI lead) and have 2 x 9800 GT 1GB in sli mode (unrelated to topic I know 😛)

Dan.

 

[B-Unit]

Yea, Im waiting on a sweet deal on a Pioneer system. If Klipsch still made a 5.1 system, I might go in that direction, but as they only offer 2.1 PC speakers now, Im gonna have to go the HT route.

 

[gamerk316]

First off, I hate Creative with a passion, mainly because myself and a lot of others continue to have issues with their products.

I recommend either an ASUS Xonar D2/D2X or the Razer Barracuda. The Xonar had much more options for Dolby playback, and is the more rounded package overall, but I give the Barracuda a nod when it comes to gaming. Both are great cards, and far more stable then Creatives offerings. Both only support EAX up to 2.0, but like Creative has to do on Vista OS's, have their own software implementation to accomplish the same effects.

As for speakers themselves, the others before me have given plently of good one's already, so I plead the fifth. 😀

 

[angelicvoices]

Forget SB. Look into the Auzentech Prelude.

If you're more of an audiophile than a gamer look into HT Omega series.

 

[danmo]

Hi, just to follow up on my promise to update as to if my sound has improved or not.

I has, and dramatically. Even just listening to an mp3 file it is much clearer.

Dan.

 

[kelesf]

Some guys say logitach z-5500 has excellent bass performance but it's treble isn't good. İf your first goal about watching movies you could buy z-5500. The user which have auzen prelude are satisfy with their rig.

 

[will_chellam]

Right - If quality is an issue then there is no argument, a separates system is definately the only way to go. period.

I run an Arcam Diva A90 a Xonar sound card and some Linn Ninka's = $8000 and i still want something better....

If money was no object, I'd run a Lexicon MC-1 processor with probably Linn Chakra Twin Poweramps in tri-amp with some M&K or B&W speakers, the total cost is gonna be in excess of $200,000 though.

The reason you need a receiver or amplifier (in answer to your question above) is that hifi speakers need more energy to function than can be provided by your sound card - speakers are either passive (cheap and crappy) or have an ac adapter (active) and run off an amplifier (typically built into the subwoofer on PC speaker systems).

Most hifi set-ups have passive (hifi) speakers running from an amplifier or receiver that amplifies a 'line-level' signal to one with enough energy to make the speakers make some noise - fundamentally the more power = more control over the speakers and less distortion - but this has to be high quality (read expensive). There is more of a trend in america especially for running monobloc (single channel) amplifiers and sitting one next to each speaker.

Some hifi setups have active speakers, the most common in the UK being meridian, who specialise in very high end home cinema and AV equipment, in theory you could connect some expensive active speakers directly to your soundcard.

I have to say, If you are going down such an expensive route, you really dont want to be listening to mp3's even fairly inexpensive hifi gear will expose the inherent flaws in cmpressed audio, and no matter how expensive your amp and speakers are, it wont make an mp3 sound any better than it is.

 

[will_chellam]

In another reply to your question about receivers, they have several advantages over a normal stereo amplifier.

The first it that they offer decoding of digital sound, this varies from model to model, the most basic these days is dolby digital (5.1 surround, AC-3 etc) newer and better amplifiers decode newer and better surround sound, the latest being the blu-ray formats dolby tru-hd and DTS-HD master audio. The very best receivers also carry THX certification.

The second advantage is that you can say hook your TIVO, PC, Games console, blu-ray etc through the receiver then plug the output into your TV so when you switch the source on the receiver, the Video and Sound both change over.....

If you're unsure about any of the terms I've used check out wikipedia, or drop me a message.

 

[PabloOchoaM60]

The best would be ONKYO 7.1 Surround Sound Receiver

Okay i'm also having trouble with finding a new sound card. After ions of plotting, thinking, searching ......waiting i finally have bought my lcd, video card and boxes. Nothing too fancy though. I hope you guys will not laugh: ati radeon 4850 (512 mb) Acer X233H (contrast 40.000 but too bad no hdmi) and hmmhm, mmhhh uhhuh logitech G 51 speakers. Yeah baby just bought them for 100 Euros. I already heard them, the bass and sound packs a wallet and blows up the hole ***. Anyway so now I just need a sound card. I was almost going to buy the x-fi prelude, luckily i didn't. I didn't even noticed that i had'nt had a free pci-e slot. When i read the box of my msi Am2 motherboard it said it has 1 pci-e x16, 1 pci-e x1 and 2 pci v 2.34 or something. But when i actually looked i saw one pci-e x16 and two identacilly slots wich i think are that pci-e v 2.34. So i can't even plug a pci-e x1 soundcard in it? I think the motherboard is called KVG9m-V somethin.

Okay but to get to the point i often hear you guys speak of setting up these yamaha or Onkyo boxes with a pc. And i don't understand much of that stuff. But the quality of wich you guys are speaking can't pass me this time unnoticed. So you guys are telling me that its possible to set up these large boxes from cars or whatever with my pc? I mean i heard it many times but it just sounds too fascinating. There is just one problem with me money is a big issue otherwise i didn't bought the G51. I heard someone here say that he has 8000$ system and still isn't satisfied. Well you can give it to me then, lol just kidding. But i'me already proud of my G51.

Anyway basically i'm looking for a sound card for 1st gaming, 2nd movies and 3d music. I dont know much about EAX but i know its for gaming. I know 5 is the highest, but is it bad if i have lets say EAX 2.0. I hear Bluegears b-Enspirer is also awsome for the money. but does he even gets close to auzentech prelude. Sorry for all my dumb questions. If someone could just answer a couple of them that would be great.

Buy!

 

[gamerk316]

I'd take the Xonars over anything at this point. More dolby options then god, and keep in mind, even though they don't support EAX 3-5, can you tell me any game released in the past two years to list EAX as an option? Heck, the only two I know of are Battlefield 2 (EAX 2.0) and Splinter Cell.

Every sound card has a way to deal with 3d effects. EAX is a marketing ploy, nothing more.

 

[dbarker]

WOW!
This sure is a long train of replies. I'm in the same boat here. I'm a novice that enjoy's putting my own PC together. I'm putting an I7-950 CPU with an ASUS Rampage ii Extreme Motherboard. I'm going to also put in a SFX HD-485X-ZDFC Radeo HD 4850 1GB Video Card.

All this with memory is costing about $1100 so far. I was wanting a 7.1 Sound Card with the best sound on a Bose PC Speaker system. I want to spend about $175 or less on the sound card.

What would you recommend???

 

[gamerk316]

...next time, make a new thread.

What type of input does your Bose system use? The old analog jacks, or Optical Digital? If its optical, I'd go with the ASUS STX Essence in a heartbeat. If its analog, its a bit more open, with the Xonar DX and the Auzentech Forte being the two primary competitiors.