Audiophile quality soundcards

Denethorn · Post by **Denethorn** » Sat May 20, 2006 4:49 pm

I'm thinking about hooking up my audio system to my PC to make use of my ever expanding iTunes library. I was wondering if anyone could recommend a sound card to use in place of my onboard sound.

I'm not someone with "golden ears" but I do like high sound quality, and if the computer is to become the sound source it needs to be near flawless (I've dealt with lossless ripping etc.). I've heard the Creative Audigy range sound good, but distort the sound (dodgy processing). Anybody have any ideas regarding pure, professional level sound quality?

I've had the M-Audio 2496 recommended to me, but it doesn't have hardware level DirectSound support so game performance would actually suffer - and I wouldn't mind playing a few games with rich bass

I'm not interested in recording by the way, mainly sound ouput.

Rookierookie · Post by **Rookierookie** » Sat May 20, 2006 10:04 pm

If you are going to play games, true audiophile sound cards are not for you since they don't have EAX support. Go for the SoundBlaster X-Fi series.

Vicsun · Post by **Vicsun** » Sun May 21, 2006 7:40 am

[QUOTE=Rookierookie]If you are going to play games, true audiophile sound cards are not for you since they don't have EAX support. Go for the SoundBlaster X-Fi series.[/QUOTE]
I'm seconding this - the X-Fi is a great all-around sound card.

DaemonJ · Post by **DaemonJ** » Sun May 21, 2006 11:02 am

[QUOTE=Vicsun]I'm seconding this - the X-Fi is a great all-around sound card.[/QUOTE]
I'll throw in a third on this recommendation.

Denethorn · Post by **Denethorn** » Mon May 22, 2006 3:01 am

Thanks for the recommendations

But which flavour of the card? Will XtremeMusic? Fatal1ty?

Rookierookie · Post by **Rookierookie** » Mon May 22, 2006 10:05 pm

The Elite Pro has a slightly higher sound quality than the rest, but not enough to matter. If you want the front panel, go for the Platinum. If you don't need it, the Xtreme Music would do just fine.