I am looking for a good sound card for my pc to listen to music

[MugiwaraX]

Hello there

I am looking for a good music card for my PC but I don't want something that is overpriced, and I don't have that much of an experience about sound card but, I want one that will make me feel the difference when i listening to Flac music.

If there is is a good sound card for booth gaming and music it will be better.

 

[Isokolon]

what mainboard are you currently using?
if doesn't come with a complete junk audio chip you most likely won't hear much of a difference without going to an external amp

 

[BadBoyGreek]

Depends on your budget... "noticeable" improvements in audio quality usually equate with more expensive upgrades. If you give us a budget, we could give you a better assessment.

 

[Rocky Bennett]

I agree with both Isokolon and BadBoyGreek, what they both said is 100% accurate. Please give us your current system specs as well as your budget.

I was going to recommend a USB DAC before reading your first post because the thread title only mentioned listening to music. But if you play games then I think that a USB DAC would be above your sonic needs, although they can turn FLAC files into sheer heaven.

 

[MugiwaraX]

asus z-87 c is my mother board
Gtx 650 ti - Intel 4430 - 8gb ram
My budget is 130$ or it can be a little bit more.

 

[BadBoyGreek]

Budget?

 

[Isokolon]

asus z-87 c is my mother board
Gtx 650 ti - Intel 4430 - 8gb ram
My budget is 130$ or it can be a little bit more.

the difference with a DAC won't really be worth all the cost and trouble imo (DACs suffer from bad drivers, especially Creative but lately ASUS as well)
unless you got serious Hi-Fi headphones for 300$+

 

[MugiwaraX]

130$ or a little bit more.

 

[MugiwaraX]

Then what do you guys recommend for me to do.
Do I get a sound card, DAC, or by a good headphones ?

 

[BadBoyGreek]

It might be a little out of your price range, but the best PC sound card, IMO, is the Asus Xonar Essence STX / STX II. You could probably even get one second hand in the price range you're willing to spend, and that would be a massive improvement.

While a good USB DAC would be the ideal route to go, you won't find anything worth your while in your price range. I'd really push for the Xonar Essence if you can afford it.

 

[MugiwaraX]

I can't afford that it's way too expensive.

 

[Rocky Bennett]

https://smile.amazon.com/Creative-Blaster-Audigy-Performance-Headphone/dp/B00EO6X4XG/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1478290575&sr=1-1&keywords=sound+card

 

[BadBoyGreek]

On sale right now through Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Blaster-Performance-Headphone-Forming-Microphone/dp/B009ISU33E/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478292820&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=sound+blaster+audigy+z

Can't beat $60 for that.

 

[Rocky Bennett]

Great call BadBoyGreek.

 

[MugiwaraX]

How about this one ?

https://www.amazon.com/HT-OMEGA-CLARO-Channel-Sound/dp/B006U9OML8

 

[Isokolon]

for 190$ I'd go with an external solution

https://smile.amazon.com/Creative-Blaster-Audigy-Perfor...

this will hardly be better than the internal solution and the driver is just a pain in the back

On sale right now through Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Blaster-Performance-Headphone-Fo...

Can't beat $60 for that

this is generally good, from what I've heard spending extra on the external modul is worth it.
although the difference is still not the biggest. but it's generally one of the better internal DACs

of course you could get the $60 version and pair it with this beauty:
Fiio EK11

 

[MugiwaraX]

for 190$ I'd go with an external solution

https://smile.amazon.com/Creative-Blaster-Audigy-Perfor...

this will hardly be better than the internal solution and the driver is just a pain in the back

On sale right now through Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Blaster-Performance-Headphone-Fo...

Can't beat $60 for that

this is generally good, from what I've heard spending extra on the external modul is worth it.
although the difference is still not the biggest. but it's generally one of the better internal DACs

of course you could get the $60 version and pair it with this beauty:
Fiio EK11

So what you recommend for me is to get both Fiio EK11 and Sound Blaster Z PCIe Gaming Sound ?

If so what is the use of Fiio EK11 ?

and if it's really worth it i will get both of them 😀

 

[Isokolon]

for 190$ I'd go with an external solution

https://smile.amazon.com/Creative-Blaster-Audigy-Perfor...

this will hardly be better than the internal solution and the driver is just a pain in the back

On sale right now through Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Blaster-Performance-Headphone-Fo...

Can't beat $60 for that

this is generally good, from what I've heard spending extra on the external modul is worth it.
although the difference is still not the biggest. but it's generally one of the better internal DACs

of course you could get the $60 version and pair it with this beauty:
Fiio EK11

So what you recommend for me is to get both Fiio EK11 and Sound Blaster Z PCIe Gaming Sound ?

If so what is the use of Fiio EK11 ?

and if it's really worth it i will get both of them 😀

okay so I did a bit of a read up since it's been a long long time since I read about sound cards and all that stuff
bascially, forget the Fiio I mentioned earlier, the Creative card actually has a great amplifier
I still stand by what I said: internal sound cards below 150$ sometimes pick up noise from inside the case and aren't always very well shielded. also depending on your mainboard they sometimes suffer with bigger GPUs.
so I'd still get an external solution like the Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi HD

 

[MugiwaraX]

for 190$ I'd go with an external solution

https://smile.amazon.com/Creative-Blaster-Audigy-Perfor...

this will hardly be better than the internal solution and the driver is just a pain in the back

On sale right now through Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Blaster-Performance-Headphone-Fo...

Can't beat $60 for that

this is generally good, from what I've heard spending extra on the external modul is worth it.
although the difference is still not the biggest. but it's generally one of the better internal DACs

of course you could get the $60 version and pair it with this beauty:
Fiio EK11

So what you recommend for me is to get both Fiio EK11 and Sound Blaster Z PCIe Gaming Sound ?

If so what is the use of Fiio EK11 ?

and if it's really worth it i will get both of them 😀

okay so I did a bit of a read up since it's been a long long time since I read about sound cards and all that stuff
bascially, forget the Fiio I mentioned earlier, the Creative card actually has a great amplifier
I still stand by what I said: internal sound cards below 150$ sometimes pick up noise from inside the case and aren't always very well shielded. also depending on your mainboard they sometimes suffer with bigger GPUs.
so I'd still get an external solution like the Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi HD

I think I will go with this but just one last thing before I make up my mind. Why do i need X-Fi HD to have better experience using Sound Blaster Z PCIe and how can connect the Xi-Fi Hd with it ?

 

[Isokolon]

nonono. you JUST use the X-Fi.
the thing the X-Fi does is get the Sound Signal from your computer either via USB or optical and converts the digital signal outside your computer into an analogue and amplifies it
it's an external soundcard if you will
this has 3 advantages:
- it's portable. you can in theory use it with your laptop as well
- you don't get any interference from your computer
- it doesn't take up space inside your computer

 

[MugiwaraX]

So is the X-Fi better than Sound Blaster Z ? and why if you don't mind

 

[Isokolon]

The X-Fi was one of Creatives best cards.
they're usually on par
difference - as stated above - while thhe Sound Blaster Z is a PCIe card and therefore inside your pc
the X-Fi HD linked is external via USB/optical