Hardware Soundcard Recommendations

[hunoi]

Is there a ~$80 soundcard for great sound quality?

 

[Originality]

For that budget, what's wrong with your motherboard's onboard sound?

 

[tech3475]

Asus xonar dgx worked fine on my old rig when the onboard failed.

 

[hunoi]

For that budget, what's wrong with your motherboard's onboard sound?

Onboard Sound wouldn't be Sufficient, I lost train of thought while posting this thread. What it will be used for (most likely) is gonna be for Guitar amp sims.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Onboard Sound wouldn't be Sufficient, I lost train of thought while posting this thread. What it will be used for (most likely) is gonna be for Guitar amp sims.

Why wouldn't on-board audio work for that?

 

[migles]

you are looking for something usb? or internal? pci expresss, pci?

 

[hunoi]

Why wouldn't on-board audio work for that?

Guitar Amp sims are very reliant on sound quality.

you are looking for something usb? or internal? pci expresss, pci?

definitely not usb, internal. willing to go ~60-80 USD

 

[TotalInsanity4]

Guitar Amp sims are very reliant on sound quality.

Motherboards over the last two generations or so have stepped up their game with audio quality, especially on the higher tier boards. You may want to try your amp before looking for a sound card, if you haven't already

 

[hunoi]

Motherboards over the last two generations or so have stepped up their game with audio quality, especially on the higher tier boards. You may want to try your amp before looking for a sound card, if you haven't already

problem is when i get the moneyz for a new PC im gonna be on a ~700 USD build so a 145 USD mobo is out of the question. As far as testing a Amp right now is also out of the question (Dell E5500 Basically clinging on to life). Sorry if im all over the place, haven't slept since 3PM yesterday.

 

[Armadillo]

I'd grab a soundcard just to avoid realtek drivers. Hardware may be decent, drivers are shocking. Even the "pop" issue has been going on for years (realtek added a power saving to their drivers, ports are shutoff when not in use and depending on hardware you may here a slight pop just before audio starts when the ports go live) and even though it would be a simple fix (let people switch off the stupid power management), realtek just sit on their ass and ignore it.

 

[Originality]

Personally I think that $70 would be better spent on a better motherboard, but anyway.

Asus Xonar series tend to make good budget sound cards, whilst the current recommended PCI-e soundcard is the Asus Strix RAID DLX. But a sound card that good is double your budget.

 

[hunoi]

I'd grab a soundcard just to avoid realtek drivers. Hardware may be decent, drivers are shocking. Even the "pop" issue has been going on for years (realtek added a power saving to their drivers, ports are shutoff when not in use and depending on hardware you may here a slight pop just before audio starts when the ports go live) and even though it would be a simple fix (let people switch off the stupid power management), realtek just sit on their ass and ignore it.

I've known people with the "pop" issues before, my friend blew a set of speakers this way due to him never turning his volume down.

Personally I think that $70 would be better spent on a better motherboard, but anyway.

Asus Xonar series tend to make good budget sound cards, whilst the current recommended PCI-e soundcard is the Asus Strix RAID DLX. But a sound card that good is double your budget.

I might go with your suggestion, the reviews look amazing and honestly i feel as if it would be a better investment.

 

[Jayro]

I'd grab a soundcard just to avoid realtek drivers. Hardware may be decent, drivers are shocking. Even the "pop" issue has been going on for years (realtek added a power saving to their drivers, ports are shutoff when not in use and depending on hardware you may here a slight pop just before audio starts when the ports go live) and even though it would be a simple fix (let people switch off the stupid power management), realtek just sit on their ass and ignore it.

You can go into the Power Management tab the card within Device Manager, and disable Power Saving mode. It stopped the popping for me.

I only have $50 on a gift card, so I'm also looking for a PCIe 1x soundcard that isn't Realtek.

 

[Armadillo]

You can go into the Power Management tab the card within Device Manager, and disable Power Saving mode. It stopped the popping for me.

I only have $50 on a gift card, so I'm also looking for a PCIe 1x soundcard that isn't Realtek.

Thanks, I'll keep it in mind if I ever drop back to onboard (I bought a cheap used SBZ ages back). Hopefully it works on the latest chipset, as nothing else seems to (other than using windows default drivers) since realtek removed the toggle in the soundcard control panel .

Really not sure why realtek don't acknowledge it and just put the option in the sound control panel like they used to. No reason at all for the chipset to behave like that on a desktop. Shouldn't have to go digging around to fix their crap.

 

[Jayro]

Thanks, I'll keep it in mind if I ever drop back to onboard (I bought a cheap used SBZ ages back). Hopefully it works on the latest chipset, as nothing else seems to (other than using windows default drivers) since realtek removed the toggle in the soundcard control panel .

Really not sure why realtek don't acknowledge it and just put the option in the sound control panel like they used to. No reason at all for the chipset to behave like that on a desktop. Shouldn't have to go digging around to fix their crap.

well if you can download and install the last old version of the sound control panel, you can install the newer driver manually in device manager, and have the best of both worlds.