The Importance of Sound

BlindMelon7 · 08-12-2006, 01:03 PM

I've said this many many times. Whatever happened to the sound card box in the "extra options"? SOUND IS ALWAYS OVERLOOKED!!!!!

redsky009 · 08-12-2006, 01:06 PM

yup, naughty vbulletin

BlindMelon7 · 08-12-2006, 01:22 PM

Awwwww, I miss it

MadduckUK · 08-12-2006, 01:43 PM

integrated "just good enough for most" solutions is what happened. iv never liked em and would much rather buy motherboards with no integrated sound or graphics. as there almost certainly not going to be used.

99Flake · 08-12-2006, 01:48 PM

Personally I don't see the problem with them, I know they suck some CPU resources but as long as they have a digital out I really don't care. Ones and Zeros are the same in any place they come from.

kalniel · 08-12-2006, 01:59 PM

New HD onboard sound really is very good.

redsky009 · 08-12-2006, 02:26 PM

I've no doubt onboard is now good (HD 7.1 etc etc) and good enough for most users... but then a std mouse/keyboard is good enough for most people, but I wouldn't swap my X-Fi, MX-518 and Saitek Eclipse for a countryload of chinese tea

Edit: as my housemate says: I have 'expensive ears'. I like that phrase. He thinks his iPod (with std white headphones) is 'Hi-Fi'.... sigh

g8ina · 08-12-2006, 02:33 PM

I reckon my ears have cost me in excess of £5k ! And that's just since 2001. Mind you, I was running a music recording studio at the time

99Flake · 08-12-2006, 02:33 PM

Depends what you are doing with it. I run a digital signal into over £3k of HiFi so a different sound card would make no difference to me. As long as I have that digital output that is all that matters. It is completely different matter if you are using normal PC speakers as the overall quality is so much lower you have to have the best source component as you can.

grizzla · 08-12-2006, 02:37 PM

Originally Posted by redsky009

Edit: as my housemate says: I have 'expensive ears'. I like that phrase. He thinks his iPod (with std white headphones) is 'Hi-Fi'.... sigh

Well done your house mate, LOL.

I would never go for onboard sound, i have had my X-Fi Fatal1ty for nearly a year now and the quality is immense, huge difference from my old Audigy2.

Some of my mates with decent systems use onboard sound in BF2, haha, it sounds awful, some have to have sound quality on low or the sound is ridiculously distorted.
Saying all this i have recently seen a new Conroe board that has onboard X-Fi, it is also certified for Vista, i was under the impression X-Fi and Vista had compatability issues. Nevertheless onboard X-Fi could be the way forward.

frazered · 08-12-2006, 02:45 PM

my onboard sound outputs in 24bit digital and I am struggling to justify the 60 nicker cost of a x-fi - I just don't think I will hear the difference

BlindMelon7 · 08-12-2006, 02:48 PM

If you have good speakers and amps then buy a good sound card otherwise its fairly useless. I use my old logitechs with my onboard and plug in my good speakers (LEAK 3090s with no amp atm - blew it up lol) to my m-audio delta 1010lt.

grizzla · 08-12-2006, 02:56 PM

You only get out what you put in, if you use decent speakers running out of a bad soundcard you're gonna get band sound out. I compliment my X-Fi with a Logitech Z-5500 speaker system, excellent in movies and all other audio apps.

**Lee @ SCAN** · 08-12-2006, 03:29 PM

Now... when's the B&O or BOSE PC speaker systems appearing that's what I want to know.

We have these Super deluxe soundcards with 24-bit this and that and crystal balls galore but we only really hear of a few names in the PC speaker market.

Why can't the big players start to make PC speakers ?

kalniel · 08-12-2006, 03:39 PM

Because it would significantly dilute their audiophile branding.

There's also so much EMI junk in PCs and the whole series of sound from source through to speaker output is of such low quality compared to a hifi that there's not really much point. If you want the best speakers just hook up the output to your hifi and speaker set up. But you're still going to be playing either CDs through a cheap CD player, or music and effects from games sampled and compressed at poor rates.

That said, B&O and BOSE do a whole series of computer speakers, but they're all about style, not sound performance.

redsky009 · 08-12-2006, 03:48 PM

Originally Posted by Lee @ SCAN

Now... when's the B&O or BOSE PC speaker systems appearing that's what I want to know.

We have these Super deluxe soundcards with 24-bit this and that and crystal balls galore but we only really hear of a few names in the PC speaker market.

Why can't the big players start to make PC speakers ?

Bose do make PC speakers, but from what i have seen they aren't very good for what you pay. Klipsch make some decent PC speakers though....

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