what speakers and sound card should i get?

O

onearmedscissor

Weaksauce
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Dec 14, 2003
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right now i have a 2 speaker + sub harmon/kardon set that came with my computer and an onboard sound card. i've been thinking for a while about upgrading and i was wondering what sound card and speakers should i get. i also wanted to know how much of a difference it would make for music and games. price range for speaker and soundcard together is preferably under $200. any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks.
 
Either a sound card or speakers alone probably wouldn't make a huge difference because you'd have a bottleneck. Perhaps try finding an Audigy card, and search around the web for Logitech Z-560s ($150 shipped from CompuPlus.com).
 
Originally posted by xxaaqq
Either a sound card or speakers alone probably wouldn't make a huge difference because you'd have a bottleneck.
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i know, that's why i want to get both.

Perhaps try finding an Audigy card, and search around the web for Logitech Z-560s ($150 shipped from CompuPlus.com).
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what difference does getting an audigy 2 rather than an audigy make? and are there any good speakers like that but a little cheaper? also, are the z640's any good? thanks.
 
I can't speak from personaly experience on either the Audigy or the 640s, but I have an Audigy 2 and Z-560s. The new Logitech 5300s look pretty promising as well. Not quite the nominal RMS rating of the Z560s, but they apparently have a nominal 280W and a max RMS (whatever that means) 560W rating. Either way, plenty for a computer setup unless you have a HUGE freakin' room.

Also, if only we could search, I'm sure there are some differences between the Audigy and Audigy 2 somewhere on here. Something about 24-bit/96Hz vs 24-bit/64Hz or something weird like that. I don't think it'd be important enough to say spend 50% more... but I don't know for sure. Still, the 5300s can be had for $140, leaving you $60. Not sure if that'll be quite enough for Audigy 2...
 
Originally posted by xxaaqq
I can't speak from personaly experience on either the Audigy or the 640s, but I have an Audigy 2 and Z-560s. The new Logitech 5300s look pretty promising as well. Not quite the nominal RMS rating of the Z560s, but they apparently have a nominal 280W and a max RMS (whatever that means) 560W rating. Either way, plenty for a computer setup unless you have a HUGE freakin' room.

Also, if only we could search, I'm sure there are some differences between the Audigy and Audigy 2 somewhere on here. Something about 24-bit/96Hz vs 24-bit/64Hz or something weird like that. I don't think it'd be important enough to say spend 50% more... but I don't know for sure. Still, the 5300s can be had for $140, leaving you $60. Not sure if that'll be quite enough for Audigy 2...
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What onboard sound do you got. If Soundstorm the Audigy aren´t that much better really. Audigy 2 is however a big improvement over Audigy and easily beats any onboard solution and Audigy for music and soundquality.
 
It really depends what you want from the sound card. Best Sound Quality wouldn't be the Audigy 2 but the Audigy 2 is definately the best gaming card.

I purchased the Audigy 2 ZS and for me that's great because I mainly game and this card supports EAX and also is the only card atm that allows you to listen to DVD Audio that I know of, at least atm. It's all around a good card.

My second/first/then back to second choice was the M-Audio Revolution. This card hands down gives better Sound Quality (if you're an audiophile this is a pretty nice SQ card) than the Audigy in most areas but it doesn't support Direct Sound so the CPU ends up doing the work for the audio stream, which doesn't really mean much in today's day and age..unless yer a gamer where every FPS and Mhz/etc means that much to you.

I went the safe route and went with Creative's Audigy 2 EZ.. Depends what you're looking for again, tho.
 
Originally posted by Tides
It really depends what you want from the sound card. Best Sound Quality wouldn't be the Audigy 2 but the Audigy 2 is definately the best gaming card.

I purchased the Audigy 2 ZS and for me that's great because I mainly game and this card supports EAX and also is the only card atm that allows you to listen to DVD Audio that I know of, at least atm. It's all around a good card.

My second/first/then back to second choice was the M-Audio Revolution. This card hands down gives better Sound Quality (if you're an audiophile this is a pretty nice SQ card) than the Audigy in most areas but it doesn't support Direct Sound so the CPU ends up doing the work for the audio stream, which doesn't really mean much in today's day and age..unless yer a gamer where every FPS and Mhz/etc means that much to you.

I went the safe route and went with Creative's Audigy 2 EZ.. Depends what you're looking for again, tho.
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Well many found Audigy 2 sounding better than the Revo... But it´s all personal taste.

And yes Audigy 2 is the best gaming card if you don´t got home theater speakers. Then soundstorm beats it by miles.
 
Tides, maybe this is what you meant, but all Audigy 2 cards support DVD audio. Mine is the "plain" Audigy 2, and it came with a DVD Audio sample disc that I was able to listen to.

The onboard sound I use is a Realtek chip... ALC634 or some weird number like that. It supports 6 channel, optical out... anyway, it just plains works, unlike my Audigy 2. Creative gave me a 2 page procedure for uninstalling the Audigy 2 drivers so I can reinstall them and see if it'll work the second time around. I've been so happy having SOUND that I haven't bothered yet...
 
hrm i want to get a new speakers too right now i got a subwoffer with 2 speakers i was thinking of getting "CREATIVE SBS 450 4.1 SPEAKERS 41W RMS " is it any good or there is some thing better to get for this price because my computer room is not that big and i wouldn't want a $300 speakers in there
 
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