Recommend me a soundcard.. cheap and cheerful

[sawyen]

Okay, I need to top up more orders at Scan to get my replacement DVD-ROM..

So I figured my onboard sound isnt doing any justice to my music (altho its not too bad)..

Can you all please recommend me something in Scan catalogue that should provide me with substantial sound improvements in games and all without a heavy pricetag..

When I mean heavy, I mean like £50 is already very heavy.. somthing sub £50 would be great...

I know the X-Fi range is great and all, but I really dont need that much processing speed.. just something of comparable soudn quality (not to the minute dB.. just to the ear would be great) and can be applied to games so it also sounds better..

EDIT: Ohh.. I only use a good pair of Altec 2.1 speakers.. so anything that provides surplus to that would be more than adequate.. so I dont really need all those 7.1 stuff..

[james.robinson]

Soundblaster Audigy SE, does a great job here.

Be under £20...

Or £25 at scan.

[dave87]

erm, Auzentech seem to be the recommended company now, as in comparison to Creative's soundblaster they have more features at a lower price. They are hard to find in the UK, but worth it - they seemed the natural progression from the awesome Soundstorm (that in its best form was only available on NForce2 Motherboards)

EDIT - And in your pricerange (roughly, but better than the top XFi)= $99.95 + shipping - with the dollar being weak atm, that should come in at about £61

[chuckskull]

Well in order of price, (cheap and cheerful is something different to us all )

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=292191 £18, bargain

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=292194 Bit more expensive, but has EAX and openGL compat.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=421270 Most expensive, but damn good card.

[sawyen]

how different is the Audigy 4 versus the X-Fi.. I mean just to the naked ear.. possibly headphones.

I'm just looking for music that wont crack during relatively heavy treble and bass.. in game SE that wont get blanketed with noise (like those faint radiowave distortions)..

[sgoaty]

Woah the X-Fi is a steal at that price. I had an audigy 2 ZS and i upgraded to the X-FI I noticed a great difference. I use headphones most of the time

[BlindMelon7]

Grrrrrrrrrr, its always Soundblaster. I think M-Audio are the best but they probably don't suit your needs. I'd go for a Terratec
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=322306
For that money its probably the best on Scan. I'm not saying Soundblasters are bad but you pay for the name. The only creative card I've ever had was an Audigy II but its was extremely troublesome and completely overrated.

[jackvdbuk]

wow! X-fi at that price is a amazing deal!... i bought mine for 80! but it idd is worth every penny... just try to push the boat out... its worth it sooo much

[chuckskull]

how different is the Audigy 4 versus the X-Fi.. I mean just to the naked ear.. possibly headphones.

I'm just looking for music that wont crack during relatively heavy treble and bass.. in game SE that wont get blanketed with noise (like those faint radiowave distortions)..

I've never compared the 2, but for that price you cant go wrong on the X-fi. I use a audigy 4 and it works a treat. If you have the extra cash spend it on the X-fi.

[danroyle]

audigy 2 knocks about for about £25 can't go far wrong there

[sawyen]

hmn... saying that much.. i MIGHT just stretch to an OEM X-Fi..

thanks guys..

[elapse]

The second one chuckskull picked is a good card, personally id get the X-Fi tho

[BlindMelon7]

If ure getting a creative, at least remember to get 3rd party software. their software is suposed to be terrible.

[unreal]

If ure getting a creative, at least remember to get 3rd party software. their software is suposed to be terrible.

I use the Creative software... it's not too bad, but it could be better in terms of how the whole thing is utilized. What 3rd party alternatives are there out there?

[chuckskull]

I use the Creative software... it's not too bad, but it could be better in terms of how the whole thing is utilized. What 3rd party alternatives are there out there?

At first I thought the creative software was teribble, compared to my AC'97 stuff, which had pages and pages of stuff to play with, but after a while I prefer the creative I haven't had to open the sounds options since the day I put the card in. You dont get an EQ etc but you dont need one.

Their website offers some basic music editing software too, didn't try it though.