Hi all, Can someone please recommend sound-card for http://www.klipsch.com/promedia-2-1-computer-speakers TIA

Anyone?

I use a ASUS Xonar Essence STX , expensive but VERY good ! http://ca.asus.com/Multimedia/Audio_Cards/Xonar_Essence_STX/ With the Foobar2000 ASIO driver, music is great ! You can use another cheaper ASUS sound card , like the ASUS Xonar DX or the D1 > ------- I've owned the cheaper ASUS XONAR_DG and it was doing a good job but it doesn't worth it if your motherboard is a new, recent 2012, mobo with the newest integrated HD sound chipset.

regino:

I use a ASUS Xonar Essence STX , expensive but VERY good ! http://ca.asus.com/Multimedia/Audio_Cards/Xonar_Essence_STX/ With the Foobar2000 ASIO driver, music is great ! You can use another cheaper ASUS sound card , like the ASUS Xonar DX or the D1 > ------- I've owned the cheaper ASUS XONAR_DG and it was doing a good job but it doesn't worth it if your motherboard is a new, recent 2012, mobo with the newest integrated HD sound chipset.

Thank you for the reply! Yeah ASUS Xonar Essence STX is way too much for me. I will definitively look into ASUS Xonar DX or the D1 because its within what I want to pay for a soundcard. My motherboard is ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131665 will I be able to see the difference?

I have the same motherboard. I've chosen the Essence STX because of the headphone amp also. You will see the difference , but not with the DG model... there is a new card from asus : ASUS Xonar DSX 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Express x1 Interface Audio Card --------------------------------- The DX would do the job, depending if you want a PCIe or just PCI interface. Going lower than a DX would not worth it.

there is a lot of talk about those usb sound cards, I wonder how they are

The Realtek HD sound on the newer motherboards like yours seems very good to me. I don't see any reason for another sound card unless you need something low latency for multi-track recording or something like that. I find it sounds better if you set the sampling rate to 44.1 kHz in the Realtek HD manager when listening to 44.1 music files. Upconverting to 48 kHz (default setting) seems to make things sound a bit bright.

Thanks for the reply!

I have the same opinion but my brother says he can tell the difference with one of the Creative sound cards.

Yeah... I have a Creative Audigy that maybe sounds a bit more open than the Realtek HD. But, the Realtek HD actually sounds better than my M-Audio card which isn't all that bad. So, the onboard sound really has come a long way. I guess it is possible to do slightly better, but the difference is very small.

I needed a low profile PCI sound card with optical output so my choices were pretty limited.

I ended up with a ASUS Xonar DS and I've been very pleased with it. It does what it's supposed to. I've A/B compared the original CD playback to the FLAC playback and I can hear no difference whatsoever.

I recently discovered that I needed to go analog out from my HTPC in order for "zone-2" to play. The analog output of the card wasn't as good as I had hoped BUT changing out the op-amp (it's socketed) made for a real improvement on the analog side. A fairly cheap upgrade too. A little over $5 for the new op-amp.

Is it the end all be all of sound cards? Of course not. But for under $50 it's pretty good and a world better than whatever crap was built in to the mobo.

Edit to add:

I have an unused SoundBLASTER Audigy SB1394 PCI card here that's not being used. It's a model: SB0090. I'd be happy to send it to you for the cost of shipping if you want to give it a try. You'll need to track down the drivers for it. As I recall it was one of the nicer sound cards out there.

I had an HT Omega card in my last machine from Newegg.com , it was awesome. great sound. My brand new PC im just using MB. IMO dont buy Creative, you get hissing or ckicking sounds all the time or random. do a google search