Sound cards

[archibald649]

I was thinking of getting a new sound card. I currently have a Sound Blaster Live 24-bit from like 2003. I also have a 5.1 surround setup.

Is it worth getting a new sound card?

Fixed

[Lunarbunny]

I don't know, is it? :evil:

But really, I don't have any experience with anything but Realtek ALC650/850 onboard sound and the X-Fi XtremeGamer. That was a huge improvement but I'm not sure how much improvement you'll see over your Live.

[PsxMeUP]

I've been using the same sound card (Creative SB Live) for the last 6 years. Love it. I see a lot of people skipping on the sound cards in my parts. They simply plug into the motherboard. There is a difference. I've noticed some motherboard sound systems have an electric humming noise coming from the speakers. I don't see a need to get a new one, though.

Unless you write songs, I don't think you'll ever need a new one. I have a friend who writes songs on his computer. He got a very expensive professional sound card. He showed me the difference between a bobo card us laymen use and the expensive one he bought. Sound quality-wise there was no noticeable difference. But using the normal card there was a delay of about half a second between the time he pressed a key on his piano thingy and the sound that came out of the speakers. Half a second isn't much but composing music with sound delay is a HUGE annoyance. The expensive card he got didn't have any delay. If you're composing professionally you use synthesized sounds. Each synthesized piano note is like 40 megs (one note). And those 40 megs have to travel through the sound card out your speaker in a fraction of a second without delay, that's why good sound cards are needed. But for mp3 listening and movies you don't need anything special. A simple sound card is enough, as long as it's not too old.