Considering an External Sound Card. Suggestions?

Sound cards don't improve digital sound! You want to upgrade your receiver.KHAndAnime

[QUOTE="KHAndAnime"]Sound cards don't improve digital sound! You want to upgrade your receiver.BPoole96

[QUOTE="BPoole96"][QUOTE="KHAndAnime"]Sound cards don't improve digital sound! You want to upgrade your receiver.KHAndAnime

The signal being sent to the reciever is digital so the signal is perfect.

Your sound quality is being limited by 3 things:

• Source file - low quality mp3s are never going to sound perfect
• Speakers - even with a perfect reciever and source, the speakers are where the sound comes from
• Reciever - It can limit the quality of the sound that's sent to the speakers

I can't comment on what is the limiting factor in your case since i don't know much about your setup, but a sound card won't make a difference if you're using optical.

Sound cards don't improve digital sound! You want to upgrade your receiver.KHAndAnime

I have had an internal card (Echo Mia Midi), an external Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 and have tested the onboard sound and I can assure you each has its own characteristics. From a music production viewpoint the onboard sound is pretty terrible.

To be fair though with the sort of speakers you are running I doubt you would notice a lot of difference and $50 doesn't buy you a quality soundcard so I wouldn't bother.

[QUOTE="KHAndAnime"]Sound cards don't improve digital sound! You want to upgrade your receiver.bulby_g

I have had an internal card (Echo Mia Midi), an external Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 and have tested the onboard sound and I can assure you each has its own characteristics. From a music production viewpoint the onboard sound is pretty terrible.

To be fair though with the sort of speakers you are running I doubt you would notice a lot of difference and $50 doesn't buy you a quality soundcard so I wouldn't bother.

[QUOTE="KHAndAnime"]Sound cards don't improve digital sound! You want to upgrade your receiver.bulby_g

I have had an internal card (Echo Mia Midi), an external Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 and have tested the onboard sound and I can assure you each has its own characteristics. From a music production viewpoint the onboard sound is pretty terrible.

To be fair though with the sort of speakers you are running I doubt you would notice a lot of difference and $50 doesn't buy you a quality soundcard so I wouldn't bother.

Ah yes sorry, with them types of speakers I guess that's the case. I use studio monitors so I guess it's a totally different story for me! Sorry, should have thought about the individual case a bit better. ;p

I just read "soundcards do not effect sound quality" and thought YOU WHAT!

Based on your original comment, what is wrong with the audio right now that you feel it warrants an upgrade?

Happy gaming,

Boz

Ah yes sorry, with them types of speakers I guess that's the case. I use studio monitors so I guess it's a totally different story for me! Sorry, should have thought about the individual case a bit better. ;p

I just read "soundcards do not effect sound quality" and thought YOU WHAT!

bulby_g

I don't see how it would be different with studio monitors, they're just speakers designed for accuracy.kraken2109

Based on your original comment, what is wrong with the audio right now that you feel it warrants an upgrade?

Happy gaming,

Boz

Bozanimal

Nothing in particular is wrong with my speaker setup (I actually think they are great, especially considering what I paid for them). I was just under the impression that having them hooked to a sound card would make them sound even better. For ~$50 it would be more than willing to put that towards better sound but if it would cost me $300+ for a good receiver than I'll stick with what I have

The digital to analog converter won't be used, as it is being connected to the receiver digitally. APiranhaAteMyVa

I didn't even realize that could be done until I hooked up a set of USB speakers which bypassed my PC audio chip entirely.

I don't see how it would be different with studio monitors, they're just speakers designed for accuracy.kraken2109

I don't know, I was just under the assumption that the sound card made a difference to output quality from everything I have heard. It has got me intrigued so I spoke to an engineer I know who writes for a reputable music magazine and he seemed to think it had an effect on the output quality as well... So if the soundcard does nothing and the signal passes straight through it, why does it make such a huge difference to latency? I'm not saying you're definitely wrong, I'm just interested as I know very little about the inner workings of a soundcard/audio interface.

[QUOTE="kraken2109"]I don't see how it would be different with studio monitors, they're just speakers designed for accuracy.Bozanimal

[QUOTE="kraken2109"]I don't see how it would be different with studio monitors, they're just speakers designed for accuracy.bulby_g

I don't know, I was just under the assumption that the sound card made a difference to output quality from everything I have heard. It has got me intrigued so I spoke to an engineer I know who writes for a reputable music magazine and he seemed to think it had an effect on the output quality as well... So if the soundcard does nothing and the signal passes straight through it, why does it make such a huge difference to latency? I'm not saying you're definitely wrong, I'm just interested as I know very little about the inner workings of a soundcard/audio interface.

It reduces latency because it can respond and process audio faster than onboard sound. If you're using anologue outputs a good soundcard will make a difference to quality.

Yes they are made to have as flat a response as possible unlike Hi Fi speakers that tend to have a bass boost and other various boosts and dips in the frequency range. My Bower & Wilkins are certainly more pleasurable to listen to than my Adams but you sure as hell couldn't use them to mix a track well. So it isn't really all marketing, I think that's the wrong word to use. They are just speakers yes but designed with a different purpose and not to make music sound as pleasing as possible. They can also take much more of a beating, if you send half the hums, clicks, and spikes you chuck at a set of monitors in the studio through a set of Hi Fi speakers they will likely break in no time.bulby_g

Take a look at a budget speaker design such as the Zaph SR71.

or a higher end speaker such as the Philharmonic 3

Sound cards don't improve digital sound! You want to upgrade your receiver.KHAndAnime

My Creative X-Fi Elite Pro begs to differ and thinks your post is stupid!

[QUOTE="KHAndAnime"]Sound cards don't improve digital sound! You want to upgrade your receiver.MexiBillBacker

My Creative X-Fi Elite Pro begs to differ and thinks your post is stupid!

[QUOTE="KHAndAnime"]Sound cards don't improve digital sound! You want to upgrade your receiver.MexiBillBacker

My Creative X-Fi Elite Pro begs to differ and thinks your post is stupid!