Soundcard for £25 or less

[Oobie-]

Hey guys,
A mate wanted me to find him a soundcard for £25inc P&P.
I was going to go for a Creative Sound Blaster but then I saw this Terratec Aureon 5.1 PCI Sound Card for less. But I have never heard of the latter.
So I was wondering which would be better and if anyone could shed some light on the latter card.

He plays wow, cs, and a few other old'ish games. He uses a headset and has no speakers.
Onboard sound doesn't seem to be his friend, as for some reason his mic sounds like hes in a static-filled wind tunnel.

Help appreciated in deciding. Thanks


PS. I noticed on the creative tech specs, that its only got "1 x Line In (Jack)" even though the pic states otherwise

[DavidM]

I'll ask someone to clarify the specs in the morning on this one... thanks for the heads-up.

[GSte]

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=527290

+free hexus delivery? I know its £3 over, but........

[Oobie-]

Unfortunately he doesn't have hexus free del.
Is that the card you see as a better fit, instead of the 2 I pointed out?

[GSte]

I thought any of the X-Fi s were the best, but tbh I don't know a right lot about soundcards

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The cheaper x-fi cards are nothing but rebadged audigy cards.

[Agent]

The cheaper x-fi cards are nothing but rebadged audigy cards.

Aye. Depending on the price you pay though, its not always a bad thing

[DavidM]

Oobie-: Specs have been corrected for you.

[Oobie-]

Thanks DavidM

[TooNice]

The cheaper x-fi cards are nothing but rebadged audigy cards.

They are doing that with X-Fi's now eh? It's been a while since I looked at the various X-Fi models, but yea, Creative has that bad habit of re-badging certain models into their previous generation cards. They have plethora amount of card based on the Audigy 2 (pretty much the entire Audigy 4 series minus the Pro). And if they are doing it with the X-Fi too.. not too impressed. That said I recall seeing some OEM X-Fi on Ebay that were the 'real thing', with only gold plated connectors missing from the entry level retail version. If Scan can confirm that the card GSte posted is indeed based on the Extreme Audio, then I would definitely recommend it over the SE, even without the free del.

The X-Fi's CMSS has been improved over the Audigy series, making them particularly good for headphone users who also play games/watches movies on their PC. Just make sure you select the right 'mode' (Entertainment for movie, Games for gaming, Audio Creation for music playback to get the most out of the card).