In the market for a sound card and 5.1 set :)

ivybat

Hi all, I haven't been on the forums a whole lot here, but I love the site. Anyway, you guys get a whole lot more traffic here than another site I usually ask questions on, so I thought I'd see if you guys could give me any advice:

The next thing up on my long list of stuff I want to upgrade in my computer is sound. I'm a big music addict and I really want to get some quality sound for a change, but I don't know the first thing about the sound market.

Currently, I have on-board Realtek audio connected to crap-tastic 2.0 Kinyo speakers that are almost as old as I am, and an even crappier-tastic 6 dollar Yommo headset, which has surprisingly good sound considering that it was so cheap.

For a 5.1 speaker set, it looks like the major contenders for my budget range (~$60) are the Logitech x530/540's and the Creative Labs T6100 set. I'm leaning towards the T6100 (though the 530's are ~$20 cheaper), but I don't know how any of them compare to anything that Altec Lansing is selling, or what other major names I should be exploring.

As far as soundcards are going, Creative's X-Fi series seem to be the most popular choice, but I don't think I want to drop >$100 on a sound card. The XtremeMusic, which I figure would be a little cheaper, seems to by the right for me, and I like the idea of having a Creative soundcard/speaker combination. Still, I know there are things like Turtle Beach and, again, I don't really know the first thing about the audio market.

Any advice at all is greatly appreciated
Thanks!

Arklon

Unless you're going to be using the sound card for gaming a lot, don't get a Creative card. Their sound quality is average at best. I've heard good things about the Auzen X-Plosion, and it looks like it's got swappable opamp sockets so you can change them out with something better. It's on Newegg right now for $80. But if you're gonna be gaming and want EAX 3-5, then go for the X-Fi.

ivybat

I game like a fiend, a few hours of CS:S per night at least. So, I'll definitely be using it for that

What exactly is EAX? Does Auzentech make EAX ready cards?

Maddogg6

EAX = 'Environmental Audio eXtensions'

Basically - if your in a game - and you enter an arena - it will sound (reverberate) like one.

Arklon

EAX = environmental audio extensions. Produces reverb, occlusion, spatialisation, etc. audio effects. Pretty much all sound cards made for the past, oh, I don't know how long, support EAX 1 and 2 (the only open EAX versions), but Creative kept EAX 3-5 to themselves, so only their cards support them (Audigy 2 supports up to EAX 4, X-Fi supports up to EAX 5). HL2 (which uses the Source engine, as does CS:S) doesn't support EAX, so I doubt CS:S does, either.
If you don't have any games that use EAX 3-5 (EAX advanced HD) and don't plan to get any games that use it, then there's not much of a point in getting the X-Fi.
Auzentech is making a sound card that supports EAX 1-5 (it'll use the X-Fi DSP chip, but with much higher quality parts), but the retail price is expected to be around $199, which is out of your price range.

ivybat

Ah. A friend has recommended the Auzen X-Plosion, and that's what I'm hearing for the most part, so I'll check out how low of a price I can find it at.

CS:S is really the only game I'll be playing for the forseeable future (and Insurgency, which is just another Source mod), and reverb etc. in games aren't the most important thing for me.

Do you guys have any advice as far as speakers are concerned?


Thanks for all the advice so far It's really helpful

Blouk

Both HL and CS actually do support EAX:
http://www.soundblaster.com/eax/gaming/gamelist.asp
X-Meridian is great sound card but not meant for gaming. Auzentech card that supports EAX fully was not released yet. So you might want to hold on to this.

As for X-Fi I have used one for 2 years and it is working fine for me. Dual-booting now, it works under Vista as well. I think vanilla Xtreme Gamer is the best value at the moment.

EDIT: I just got that you are going to get $60 speakers. In this case anything above Xtreme Gamer or Xtreme Music would be an overkill, price-wise...

Good Luck

Arklon

I've played HL2 with an X-Fi, I thought the environmental sound effects were from a software DSP. But if it does use EAX, it sounds like it only uses EAX2.
The X-Meridian and X-Fi Prelude are out of his price range.
Why would anything above an Xtreme Gamer be overkill? The Xtreme Gamer uses worse components than my old X-Fi Platinum, and there wasn't much of a jump between onboard sound (SoundMAX, even) and my X-Fi Platinum in terms of sound quality after several months of use (maybe due to the Jamicon capacitors getting worn out).

ivybat

i'm finding the xplosion refurb on ebay for 42 bucks +s'n'h from a 100% positive feedback shop. Regardless of how it shapes up to the X-Fi music/gamer series, that's definitely the way to go based on price.

speakers, altec lansing is showing stuff way below or way above my price range, and it looks like the logitech 530's or 540's if i can find them cheap are the way to go, simply based on their popularity. i'm afraid of the t6100's because no one seems to own them.

ivybat

I'm sorry, i meant x-mystique. the xplosion is about 62 s'n'h incl.

LarryLCam

Ivybat, a quick thank you for your MSI post, re hackintosh. I've got 10.5.6 going on a notepad. Realtek drivers allow wifi. I'm looking for BisonCam drivers (USB-2.0 NB Pro). Any advice?

PH3N0M

Holy shit, talk about a dead topic resurrected! lol

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