Best sound card for a Desktop?

Assassin

Active member
Hello,

Reading some reviews on sites, and opinions on this site, it seems to be the case where the standard onboard sound card is just as good as the 'Award Winner' Xonar DG. My question is, are the other sound cards better? Because apparently the Creative Sound Blaster isn't very good either - with the Asus Xonar DX surpassing it and being a very popular option. Should I just save up for that (DX), or go with another card available from this site? Not sure which one is the best!

Thanks.
 

bigben

Master Poster
Do you really need a sound card?
I hate tinny sound, but I use integrated sound and I find it perfectly adequate, obviously if you are using it for music producing or something it would be a different matter.
I would do what I decided to do, and see what you think of it without it, apparently they are easy to fit afterwards.
 

Assassin

Active member
Asus DX, very good card. Got one :)

Yeah - so I've heard. I'll probably buy one in the near future. Thanks.

Do you really need a sound card?
I hate tinny sound, but I use integrated sound and I find it perfectly adequate, obviously if you are using it for music producing or something it would be a different matter.
I would do what I decided to do, and see what you think of it without it, apparently they are easy to fit afterwards.

I don't know - I've heard many good things about it so it'd probably be of benefit. Regarding sound, the PC I'll be getting is primarily for gaming use, but also for minor sound/music editting. I'll probably won't get the DX until I've tried out the onboard for a while. Thanks!
 

keynes

Multiverse Poster
It supports dolby digital as well as 7.1 audio card, with the correct headset/speakers it would give you a nice experience.
 

Assassin

Active member
It supports dolby digital as well as 7.1 audio card, with the correct headset/speakers it would give you a nice experience.

Would the speakers available from PCs suffice? (I suppose this would also mean having to up the PSU even more!)
 

keynes

Multiverse Poster
Would the speakers available from PCs suffice? (I suppose this would also mean having to up the PSU even more!)

Speakers have their own power source, I'd get for the logitech 5.1 but while gaming I'd recommend a headset since the GPUs get quite noisy.
 

Assassin

Active member
Speakers have their own power source, I'd get for the logitech 5.1 but while gaming I'd recommend a headset since the GPUs get quite noisy.

Ahh alright then. I guess I'll be saving up for a headset/speakers (along with the DX!). Thanks again for your help lol.
 

Dekks

New member
Hello,

Reading some reviews on sites, and opinions on this site, it seems to be the case where the standard onboard sound card is just as good as the 'Award Winner' Xonar DG. My question is, are the other sound cards better? Because apparently the Creative Sound Blaster isn't very good either - with the Asus Xonar DX surpassing it and being a very popular option. Should I just save up for that (DX), or go with another card available from this site? Not sure which one is the best!

Thanks.

Not sure if others would agree, but I am of the opinion that with the onboard sound you get nowadays, you'll notice more of a difference getting a nice powered speaker setup than you would getting a soundcard. Unless you need lots of inputs and do music recording, the difference will be pretty negligible where as someone else mentioned, a 7.1 surround system will sound incredible, I don't have one myself due to space but one of my friends does and I was surprised just how many games make really good use of it.
 
Top