Top 5 PC Sound Cards

[chanster]

Not necessarily...but light it far more immune to interference than electrical signals.

If u are goin this deep to experience audio clarity u wont need ears hahahahahahahahahaha..........Look man Get serious.....Or get your brains n ears checked.......maybe you should be in deaf school......
i have nothin more to discuss about your Audiointerfearence problem(Mental problem)......

 

[Anusha]

If u are goin this deep to experience audio clarity u wont need ears hahahahahahahahahaha..........Look man Get serious.....Or get your brains n ears checked.......maybe you should be in deaf school......
i have nothin more to discuss about your Audiointerfearence problem(Mental problem)......

Interference is interference! Whether it is felt/not felt and/or correctable/uncorrectable are/is something else.

And deaf school is for people who don't hear a thing...not for people who have super hearing powers

 

[samiram]

Sorry i totally 4got that u are using optical .....

By using digital, it means your onboard soundcard is almost useless, since it passes through the sound digital data from the source to a receiver(which in this case is your z5500)
now
so, by having 107SNR (which doesn't have any effect on digital data) it would be totally useless.
SNR = Signal to Noise Ratio.......... digital is not signal
if you use analog connection, then it would have effect the sound
why?
becoz the soundcard will transform the digital data from the source to analog
analog signal that is
now why is it your z5500 sounds crappy?
simple
onboard uses cpu and ram to extract audio data from the source (mp3,wav,flac,ape,etc etc etc)
that means your whole PC is being hogged
and your Z5500 can only display what has been transfered to it....N i didnt say sound card waz better than AMP did i?
U cant compare em itz like it's like comparing a fish with a dog
Xonar is a DAC, while receiver is a thing that receive (either sound signal or digital data)

2 different thing
you can;t simply plug anything to a receiver
you will still need a soundcard
in your case... your onboard
if u want to compare, it's z5500 receiver with yamaha receiver
yes yamaha receiver is better.... maybe far better, but it's not relevant to your question..... your z5500 sounds crappy becoz of your onboard
If u dont believe me connect your Yamaha to your onboard.....see for yourself...hear n believe.....

N if u haven't noticed my example was about how a dedicated audio card is better than onboard....it never said anything about a receiver hehe......

so your telling me that....
your sound card can beat an intel E6600..
hmm..
what a world....
BTW the sound extracting part is done by the CPU..
not by the sound card..
what the sound card does is do the DAC part and..
processing effects you use..

 

[samiram]

What? Analog or digital...SNR matters. More noise = more errors. More errors = autio quality gets crippled.

Just that in analog case, the signal is more susceptible to noise than digital signals.

if you use an optical..
then the interference will be minimal..
you can hear a small hum when you increase the volume to at least 5db..
if there is error in the line..
thats why most of the high end systems use opticals..

 

[samiram]

Not necessarily...but light it far more immune to interference than electrical signals.

example..?

 

[Anusha]

so your telling me that....
your sound card can beat an intel E6600..
hmm..
what a world....
BTW the sound extracting part is done by the CPU..
not by the sound card..
what the sound card does is do the DAC part and..
processing effects you use..

I too do not agree with the fact people call dedicated audio processing is superior to integrated audio JUST because of the "dedicated-ness". Modern CPUs are more than capable of handing audio on their own. The only things that someone should look for in a dedicated graphics card is the amount of effects it can give...such as EAX 5.0 in Audigy X-Fi or the very high SNR of CardDeluxe or Audiophile.

 

[Anusha]

if you use an optical..
then the interference will be minimal..
you can hear a small hum when you increase the volume to at least 5db..
if there is error in the line..
thats why most of the high end systems use opticals..

example..?

I meant, optical signals are NOT 100% immune to interferences, but they are much more immune to interferences than electrical signals. Probably not applicable to short distance communication as in the case of a sound system.

 

[pasanlaksiri]

Sorry i totally 4got that u are using optical .....

By using digital, it means your onboard soundcard is almost useless, since it passes through the sound digital data from the source to a receiver(which in this case is your z5500)
now
so, by having 107SNR (which doesn't have any effect on digital data) it would be totally useless.
SNR = Signal to Noise Ratio.......... digital is not signal
if you use analog connection, then it would have effect the sound
why?
becoz the soundcard will transform the digital data from the source to analog
analog signal that is
now why is it your z5500 sounds crappy?
simple
onboard uses cpu and ram to extract audio data from the source (mp3,wav,flac,ape,etc etc etc)
that means your whole PC is being hogged
and your Z5500 can only display what has been transfered to it....N i didnt say sound card waz better than AMP did i?
U cant compare em itz like it's like comparing a fish with a dog
Xonar is a DAC, while receiver is a thing that receive (either sound signal or digital data)

2 different thing
you can;t simply plug anything to a receiver
you will still need a soundcard
in your case... your onboard
if u want to compare, it's z5500 receiver with yamaha receiver
yes yamaha receiver is better.... maybe far better, but it's not relevant to your question..... your z5500 sounds crappy becoz of your onboard
If u dont believe me connect your Yamaha to your onboard.....see for yourself...hear n believe.....

N if u haven't noticed my example was about how a dedicated audio card is better than onboard....it never said anything about a receiver hehe......

Hey dude u know y Z5500 is sucks ?

dedicated audio card is better than onboard

Yes Agreed. But machan sound quality eka gana nam ubata oya widiyata kiyanna ba

 

[chanster]

so your telling me that....
your sound card can beat an intel E6600..
hmm..
what a world....
BTW the sound extracting part is done by the CPU..
not by the sound card..
what the sound card does is do the DAC part and..
processing effects you use..

i tot you might quote that..... but that's fine anyway...
since the facts still remains, the SOUND STILL BETTER... OVERALL!!!!!!
and that is not as subjective as you think it was.... it has already been tested by some of my colleagues(a quick blind test)
since not all of the cards tested is ASIO native... so we just use Kernel Streaming without using DSPs, from CDs, FLACs, and APEs. using Quad 11L, Z5500, Klipsch promedia, S750, Sennheiser HD600, and Audio Technica A900.
so Audigy 2 ZS has more features than onboard, decent audio qualities and better than onboard overall(it's not as bad as you think it is, but still worse than the rest of onboard)
my question is... have you compare them before? or have you actually heard Audigy 2 ZS audio performance before?
if yes, can i ask you with what media player and which configuration did you test it?
as i can post all the test details on the test i had done.
i may not be as good as you in technical mumbo jumbo... hell no... but i do know which one is better and which one is worse.
that my friend, i can guarantee you.
N r u so dumb?? who said anything about a E6600? CPU n Audio Processor are 2 different things.......
CPU=Process Data
Audio Processor=Process Audio
+ where did u get the info on "sound extracting part is done by the CPU"??

 

[chanster]

Hey dude u know y Z5500 is sucks ?

I dun care what u think about Z5500 but Z5500 will destroy any creative speakers available where movies n games are concerned.......

 

[Dj.BigBear]

hi guys,
i'm joining this forum just to answer this typical question, as requested by my dear friend Chanster.

i may not know much about audio, but atleast i know the basics, but i think i can answer this matter technically.
and i have been helping out on other audio forum as well for quite some time.



what makes a soundcard so different from onboard?

a soundcard is a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter), its task is to convert digital data from media source (such as CD, MP3, FLAC, APE, etc etc) into analog signal to be later converted into sound by a speaker.

while onboard and add-on soundcard has similar task, those soundcards have different ways and tools to convert those data into signal.

and while onboard depends on CPU and RAM to process those, an add-on soundcard has its own processor and ram to do that.

if we're talking about greatness of those CPU and RAM, ofcourse technically a core2duo or core2quad is greater, but please do keep in mind that those processor need to process other task than just an audio....
in gaming a CPU and RAM on PC has to manage perform tasks from the game software to produce complicated and stressful calculations and graphics.
while on the other hand, using a dedicated soundcard will release the burden of those tasks from your CPU and RAM and not to mention those add-on soundcard has above normal priority set for doing audio processing.
so by having add-on soundcards, atleast there will be no more choppy and screechy or any other distracting/interfering sound



now we move on to sound quality.
ever wonder what makes audiophile CD player is so damn expensive(such as Denon CD Player)?
basically a CD player is a DAC (or soundcard itself) becos its task is to read from digital data(CD) and convert it to analog signal through RCA cables (Red and White plug cables)
those expensive CD Player has top notch components such as audio grade capacitors, Operational Amplifiers, and DAC Chip, so there for they produce far superior sound quality compared to other CD/DVD player you can find on the market(toshiba/or any other china brand)

you could test it yourself using the same speaker and you will notice it immediately.

now a soundcard is just the same as those audiophile CD Player minus the CD reader.
it processes those audio task dedicatedly, and using components made solely for that purpose.

this is not a snake oil, if you can demo/hear it for yourself, you should pinpoint the exact difference between generic DAC such as onboard soundcard which depends heavily on PC CPU/RAM with a great dedicated DAC soundcard.

 

[chanster]

At last someone with real knowledge.....

 

[Anusha]

At last someone with real knowledge.....

Rather...someone who agree with you

 

[Dj.BigBear]

Rather...someone who agree with you

hahahaha... quite the contrary, on other forum i disagree with chanster most of the time.
and i can prove that

 

[chanster]

Rather...someone who agree with you

Yup 70% use analogue outputs 29.5 uses digital outputs there are 0.5% ppl like you who doesn't need outputs but medical attention........

 

[DIRTY X]

menna mage ekaa

2 ) Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Price Range: $139.00 - $275.99

Creative has been in the market of hardware accelerated PC audio since its beginning. Now they are one of the last companies to offer hardware acceleration in a PC audio card with their latest X-Fi line. The Platinum model is not the highest model available but it does have a lot of features. Included with the card is a multimedia remote and an interconnect box to allow audio connections on the front of any desktop computer. This really is one of the best audio experiences available.

 

[samiram]

hi guys,
i'm joining this forum just to answer this typical question, as requested by my dear friend Chanster.

i may not know much about audio, but atleast i know the basics, but i think i can answer this matter technically.
and i have been helping out on other audio forum as well for quite some time.



what makes a soundcard so different from onboard?

a soundcard is a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter), its task is to convert digital data from media source (such as CD, MP3, FLAC, APE, etc etc) into analog signal to be later converted into sound by a speaker.

while onboard and add-on soundcard has similar task, those soundcards have different ways and tools to convert those data into signal.

and while onboard depends on CPU and RAM to process those, an add-on soundcard has its own processor and ram to do that.

if we're talking about greatness of those CPU and RAM, ofcourse technically a core2duo or core2quad is greater, but please do keep in mind that those processor need to process other task than just an audio....
in gaming a CPU and RAM on PC has to manage perform tasks from the game software to produce complicated and stressful calculations and graphics.
while on the other hand, using a dedicated soundcard will release the burden of those tasks from your CPU and RAM and not to mention those add-on soundcard has above normal priority set for doing audio processing.
so by having add-on soundcards, atleast there will be no more choppy and screechy or any other distracting/interfering sound



now we move on to sound quality.
ever wonder what makes audiophile CD player is so damn expensive(such as Denon CD Player)?
basically a CD player is a DAC (or soundcard itself) becos its task is to read from digital data(CD) and convert it to analog signal through RCA cables (Red and White plug cables)
those expensive CD Player has top notch components such as audio grade capacitors, Operational Amplifiers, and DAC Chip, so there for they produce far superior sound quality compared to other CD/DVD player you can find on the market(toshiba/or any other china brand)

you could test it yourself using the same speaker and you will notice it immediately.

now a soundcard is just the same as those audiophile CD Player minus the CD reader.
it processes those audio task dedicatedly, and using components made solely for that purpose.

this is not a snake oil, if you can demo/hear it for yourself, you should pinpoint the exact difference between generic DAC such as onboard soundcard which depends heavily on PC CPU/RAM with a great dedicated DAC soundcard.

ok..
so these things also apply to spdf outs..?
i mean other than the CPU..
the equipment qulaity and stuff..?

 

[ran123456]

hmmm...............

 

[samiram]

Hey dude u know y Z5500 is sucks ?



Yes Agreed. But machan sound quality eka gana nam ubata oya widiyata kiyanna ba

he want believe it ban..
he's talking about old RCA outs..

 

[chanster]

Z5500 ROX...thats Final!!!