Good but Cheap Sound Card?

[Se7en]

Does such a thing exist?

I'm looking for one that will allow me to use the Red and White cables to go with my HDTV, i will only be using the TV's Speakers for now so it doesn't need to be all singing and dancing,

What would you guys recommend?

[kalniel]

The one that's on your motherboard already, and just buy a 3.5 mini jack to phono cable.

[Se7en]

The one that's on your motherboard already, and just buy a 3.5 mini jack to phono cable.

Hmmm didn't think of that, I have one in the loft too lol!

[Se7en]

Plugged it in but dont get any sound still

[kalniel]

Have you checked that sound is coming out of that port by using headphones?

Have you told the TV to play the sound from the phono inputs?

[Olmy]

Whatever you do don't buy an Asus Xonar DX. They haven't updated the drivers in 4 months, and I just don't trust Asus to support any of their products in the long term.

Are you sure you're connecting the phono plugs to the correct red and white socket. It would help to know what video connection you are using also.

[Se7en]

Have you checked that sound is coming out of that port by using headphones?

Have you told the TV to play the sound from the phono inputs?

The port on the PC works with headphones or when i use my 3.5 -> 3.5 jack and PC port on my TV

The TV doesn't have an option to change anything with the sound input

[iftiq]

Same question as the subject of this thread. Unfortunately I can't use the one on my motherboard since one of the jacks is loose and no matter what I do I can't get it to rest quite in the appropriate way as to get good sound. Just need a decent quality sound card which has front panel headers and am bewildered by the variety on offer. Any advice?

[ma10]

if the on-board sound is a non-starter and you need to buy one... what do you guys want/need? e.g. pci/pci-e, digital, Dolby 7.1.... budget??


would this one do?

Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio PCI-Express - OEM from eBuyer @33.70

(sorry, can't post URLs yet......)

[shaithis]

Whatever you do don't buy an Asus Xonar DX. They haven't updated the drivers in 4 months, and I just don't trust Asus to support any of their products in the long term.

Are you sure you're connecting the phono plugs to the correct red and white socket. It would help to know what video connection you are using also.

Why update drivers that work?

Running a Xonar here and after owning most creative cards from the ISA SoundBlaster 16 to the XFi Fatal1ty, I can honestly say its the most trouble-free and best sounding soundcard I have ever owned.

[GheeTsar]

I've got an X-fi gamer edition for my PC and while it makes a notable difference in some games and allegedly frees up a bit of processing time (not sure I believe that), I can't say it was worth the £50 I paid for it. There're no additional phono ports either - I think you need to spend a fair bit to get one with these.

I suspect the original poster isn't having any luck with sound as most TV's phono ports are to output sound rather than input and amplify them. You could get around this by using a phono to SCART lead, but then you won't be able to have a picture!

[Pob255]

The port on the PC works with headphones or when i use my 3.5 -> 3.5 jack and PC port on my TV

The TV doesn't have an option to change anything with the sound input

umm if I'm reading that correctly you're using a headphone jack to headphone jack cable?
The only head phone jack that you normally find on a tv is a sound output, so you can listen on head phones.
If that's the case then you're plugging a sound output into a sound output, that'll be the reason it doesn't work.

what tv do you have? it would be handy to know so we can find out what inputs/outputs it has.

[Olmy]

Why update drivers that work?

Running a Xonar here and after owning most creative cards from the ISA SoundBlaster 16 to the XFi Fatal1ty, I can honestly say its the most trouble-free and best sounding soundcard I have ever owned.

So because your drivers work, then they automatically work for me? I think the fact that the sound crackles when accelerating in Trackmania Nations Forever, and that there are large bursts of noise in Stalker tells me theres a problem. Seriously, just look at all the issues on the forums, and the angry customers who are still waiting for final drivers that work properly (like me).

[Uriel]

Xonar D2 owner here. Great card but driver support has been disappointing.

As my X-Fi XtremeMusic didn't work at all with 4GB RAM, I see the Xonar as the lesser of two evils. I'd love to try out the X-Fi prelude, as an X-Fi with components as good as the Xonar, that might actually work would be brilliant. Wallet says otherwise though.

Motherboard audio is probably good enough for the OP, unless the HDTV has uber high end speakers built in.