Fancy Soundcards

[mrstats]

Ok, I'm ignorant on soundcard specifications. Do the more expensive soundcards like Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS have any real sound improvements over the Soundblaster Live 5.1 (my current soundcard)?

I play mostly CDs and hybrid SACDs. Ocassionally I will watch a DVD, but I only have two speakers and a subwoofer. Would an upgrade to a more expensive sound card give me better sound? Any help would be appreciated. I thank you in advance.

[Gardo]

Originally posted by mrstats
Ok, I'm ignorant on soundcard specifications. Do the more expensive soundcards like Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS have any real sound improvements over the Soundblaster Live 5.1 (my current soundcard)?

I play mostly CDs and hybrid SACDs. Ocassionally I will watch a DVD, but I only have two speakers and a subwoofer. Would an upgrade to a more expensive sound card give me better sound? Any help would be appreciated. I thank you in advance.

I had a SoundBlaster Live card and later an Audigy, and on the advice of Grant I switched to a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. There was a big difference. The Santa Cruz sounded much more open, detailed, and deep than the SB Live or the Audigy, and my needle drops sounded much, much better. One of the best 80 buck sound purchases I ever made.

Skip the SoundBlaster line, I'd say. Go for the Santa Cruz if you're on a budget. If you've got 150.00-200.00 to spend, check out the M-Audio card, with the appropriate cautions stated in that thread.

[Joe Koz]

I'll second that Turtle Beach Santa Cruz recommendation. I also purchased the Santa Cruz on the advice from Grant, (probably the same thread) and fell in love with the sound and the ease of putting the card in and the software that came with it. For the price, you can not go wrong with this sound card.

[Grant]

I'm glad I had an influence on yoru choices! Thank You.

But, you must know that, as good as the SC sounds, it isn't the quietest card in the world, but it's a hell of a lot quieter than any Creative card with less distortion.

The Creative cards are OK if you just want to listen, but they shouldn't be used for recording or serious listening.

[mne563]

Well, I'm an M-Audio guy, got the Delta 66 card, and I love it. Yes, this is still the digital world, but what you can accomplish on your own home computer these days is amazing, loads of fun! Especially if you have a good analog front-end. Had my neighbor over tonight for a few beers and a few games of pool. We listened to a needle drop I did of Black Sabbath, and it was fat and sweet and tasty, he loved it. Sounded like he remembered it, the biggest compliment of all!

Do some research, spend good money and you will have fun! :)

[whaaat]

Originally posted by mne563
Well, I'm an M-Audio guy, got the Delta 66 card, and I love it.
Yay, me too! :)
We're like sisters! ;)

[CardinalFang]

M-Audio rocks. I have the Delta 1010 in my home studio, and I plan on getting the Audiophile PCI card for my office computer.

I've used the Santa Cruz cards too, and I agree that they are indeed of good quality.

[-=Rudy=-]

Originally posted by mrstats
Ok, I'm ignorant on soundcard specifications. Do the more expensive soundcards like Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS have any real sound improvements over the Soundblaster Live 5.1 (my current soundcard)?

My Audigy Platinum is OK for playing back streaming internet radio and CDs over my computer speakers, but I wouldn't recommend it for recording as it adds its own signal processing to digital inputs. The coolest part about it is the front panel that fits in an open drive bay in the computer. Neat if I need to use headphones. Other than that, for serious recording, I now own an M-Audio Audiophile USB outboard encoder, and actually plan to finish building a small PC to keep next to my audio system so I can more easily do my recording, run XM Radio, etc.

[mrstats]

The folks that responded seem to favor the Santa Cruz 5.1 over the Soundblaster Live 5.1 and even the Audigy series. I had not even considered the Santa Cruz card. Does it work well with Windows XP. I only use the soundcard for listening, not recording.

Please feel free to comment. Thanks again. I appreciate all the input.:thumbsup:

[Joe Koz]

mrsrats,
I'm running the Santa Cruz in Windows XP with no problems.

[mrstats]

Originally posted by Joe Koz
mrsrats,
I'm running the Santa Cruz in Windows XP with no problems.

Thanks. I read a comment (from someone who was trying to sell one) that it didn't work very well with Windows XP. The person probably had trouble with it on his computer.

[CardinalFang]

Originally posted by mrstats


Thanks. I read a comment (from someone who was trying to sell one) that it didn't work very well with Windows XP. The person probably had trouble with it on his computer.

It's been my experience that sound card problems usually come down to motherboard problems rather than OS issues. If you know what you have, do some Googling and see if you can find any issues/problems. Or just call up Santa Cruz and ask.

[Joe Koz]

Originally posted by mrstats


Thanks. I read a comment (from someone who was trying to sell one) that it didn't work very well with Windows XP. The person probably had trouble with it on his computer.

When I up graded from Windows 98se to Windows XP, I just re-installed my Santa Curz drivers, I had no problems with it. You also can download 2000XP drivers from their web site.

Santa Curz (http://www.turtle-beach.com/site/)

[mrstats]

I own a Dell Dimension 4500 Pentium 4 (2.4 Ghz). Hopefully, there won't be an issue with the Santa Cruz card.

[Joe Koz]

I don't think there should be, I don't see were the Dell Dimension would have a problem running the Santa Cruz. For the price of the card and the ease of installing it, you can't go wrong.

[Grant]

Originally posted by mrstats
The folks that responded seem to favor the Santa Cruz 5.1 over the Soundblaster Live 5.1 and even the Audigy series. I had not even considered the Santa Cruz card. Does it work well with Windows XP. I only use the soundcard for listening, not recording.

Please feel free to comment. Thanks again. I appreciate all the input.:thumbsup:

I run XP and the Santa Cruz Card works flawlessly in playback and recording.