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Misc
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PostPosted: 12:55 - 02 Sep 2010    Post subject: Sound card Reply with quote
Made a card thread quite a while back but didn't end up buying as i think i read they don't make that much of a difference & something about a headphone amp.

I've been using a spare laptop instead of my PC & the sound is so much better, i noticed it straight away & this has definitely made me want to to get a sound card. Would the difference in sound definitely be a card? i did find out the name of a driver which is "Unimodem Half-Duplex Audio Device" i used Belarc software.

If it is a card that's making the difference i think i'll get one.

How much am i looking at for something decent? The local stores only seem to have one which is the CREATIVE SoundBlaster X-FI Xtreme.

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Last edited by Misc on 17:17 - 02 Sep 2010; edited 1 time in total
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Hetzer
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PostPosted: 13:14 - 02 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
Half-duplex is shite. I forget what it means but I know full duplex is good.

X-Fi is a top card and you'll get all the Creative software with it (top media-player and accessories, which piss all over Windows Media Player). Which will count for not a lot if you don't have decent speakers.
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Last edited by Hetzer on 14:00 - 02 Sep 2010; edited 1 time in total
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Frost
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PostPosted: 13:50 - 02 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
Deplux = back and forth communication.
Half duplex = 1 at a time
full duplex = both at a time.
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el_oso
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PostPosted: 14:37 - 02 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
1: what is the quality of your source first and foremost?
with a bad source such as low bitrate mp3 (less than 192 is unacceptable in my ears and the difference between a lossless source and 192 mp3 is easily noticeable on decent headphones. the difference between 320kbps mp3 and FLAC/ALAC/WAV is only noticeable when i listen intently with decent headphones

2: What kind of output are you using?
normal PC speakers are shite. need some decent speakers to get some good sound. all pc speakers sound very harsh and elevate the high frequencies.
if you have semi-decent headphones (£70+) then i would get a good sound card. the noise coming out of my laptop's sound card bugs me. constant crackling. nearly all of my music collection is in lossless .flac quality so i have a good audio source and it doesn't sound that bad on my portable music player. i'm using some denon ah-d1001's.

check out ebuyer and amazon. usually the cheapest places around and they have a lot of stuff
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Frost
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PostPosted: 15:54 - 02 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
I listen to everything on decent headphones and think there is a big difference between flac & 320. The difference also gets a lot more noticeable on a loud system where the compression gives a hiss int he higher frequencies. This is probably just due to the minimal sampling frequency giving low resolution at high frequencies.

In short, Flac FTW!
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el_oso
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PostPosted: 16:16 - 02 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
problem is, i have decent headphones but crap soundcard in the laptop.
my portable player really can't power my headphones without a headphone amp.
and i can still here a difference
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Misc
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PostPosted: 17:24 - 02 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
Cheers everyone

Hetzer wrote:
Half-duplex is shite. I forget what it means but I know full duplex is good.

X-Fi is a top card and you'll get all the Creative software with it (top media-player and accessories, which piss all over Windows Media Player). Which will count for not a lot if you don't have decent speakers.


Thanks.

Even tho you say 'half-duplex' isn't much good, it sounds much better then what's in my PC. So can't imagine how bad the one in my PC is. Shocked [Edit] VT1708B 8 -Channel High Definition Audio CODEC is what i have, also have VIA software which i really dislike.

I'd love the X-Fi but could do with something a tad cheaper if you know any from the same brand.

the_godfather wrote:
1: what is the quality of your source first and foremost?
with a bad source such as low bitrate mp3 (less than 192 is unacceptable in my ears and the difference between a lossless source and 192 mp3 is easily noticeable on decent headphones. the difference between 320kbps mp3 and FLAC/ALAC/WAV is only noticeable when i listen intently with decent headphones

2: What kind of output are you using?
normal PC speakers are shite. need some decent speakers to get some good sound. all pc speakers sound very harsh and elevate the high frequencies.
if you have semi-decent headphones (£70+) then i would get a good sound card. the noise coming out of my laptop's sound card bugs me. constant crackling. nearly all of my music collection is in lossless .flac quality so i have a good audio source and it doesn't sound that bad on my portable music player. i'm using some denon ah-d1001's.

check out ebuyer and amazon. usually the cheapest places around and they have a lot of stuff


I mostly listen to Mp3s, not on my PC at the moment so not sure of the bitrate.

As for the output, i'm using Sennheiser HD 205 which are very good for the price, they actually sound better then the £100 Bose i bought before!

Can you convert Mp3 into flac to get the maximum quality or does the song specifically need to be 'burned' as a flac file?
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Hetzer
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PostPosted: 17:53 - 02 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
Misc wrote:
Cheers everyone

Hetzer wrote:
Half-duplex is shite. I forget what it means but I know full duplex is good.

X-Fi is a top card and you'll get all the Creative software with it (top media-player and accessories, which piss all over Windows Media Player). Which will count for not a lot if you don't have decent speakers.


Thanks.

Even tho you say 'half-duplex' isn't much good, it sounds much better then what's in my PC. So can't imagine how bad the one in my PC is. Shocked [Edit] VT1708B 8 -Channel High Definition Audio CODEC is what i have, also have VIA software which i really dislike.

I'd love the X-Fi but could do with something a tad cheaper if you know any from the same brand.

the_godfather wrote:
1: what is the quality of your source first and foremost?
with a bad source such as low bitrate mp3 (less than 192 is unacceptable in my ears and the difference between a lossless source and 192 mp3 is easily noticeable on decent headphones. the difference between 320kbps mp3 and FLAC/ALAC/WAV is only noticeable when i listen intently with decent headphones

2: What kind of output are you using?
normal PC speakers are shite. need some decent speakers to get some good sound. all pc speakers sound very harsh and elevate the high frequencies.
if you have semi-decent headphones (£70+) then i would get a good sound card. the noise coming out of my laptop's sound card bugs me. constant crackling. nearly all of my music collection is in lossless .flac quality so i have a good audio source and it doesn't sound that bad on my portable music player. i'm using some denon ah-d1001's.

check out ebuyer and amazon. usually the cheapest places around and they have a lot of stuff


I mostly listen to Mp3s, not on my PC at the moment so not sure of the bitrate.

As for the output, i'm using Sennheiser HD 205 which are very good for the price, they actually sound better then the £100 Bose i bought before!

Can you convert Mp3 into flac to get the maximum quality or does the song specifically need to be 'burned' as a flac file?


The duplex stuff has sodall to do with your sound-card, it's an old dial-up modem thing. I never did understand why modems had drivers looking like they had something to do with a PC's sound system.

Creative Audigy is cheaper, you can get a low-level one for £25 but I don't know how good a sound it will put out for that price. A higher-spec Audigy would be good.
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Misc
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PostPosted: 18:01 - 02 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hetzer wrote:
Misc wrote:
Cheers everyone

Hetzer wrote:
Half-duplex is shite. I forget what it means but I know full duplex is good.

X-Fi is a top card and you'll get all the Creative software with it (top media-player and accessories, which piss all over Windows Media Player). Which will count for not a lot if you don't have decent speakers.


Thanks.

Even tho you say 'half-duplex' isn't much good, it sounds much better then what's in my PC. So can't imagine how bad the one in my PC is. Shocked [Edit] VT1708B 8 -Channel High Definition Audio CODEC is what i have, also have VIA software which i really dislike.

I'd love the X-Fi but could do with something a tad cheaper if you know any from the same brand.

the_godfather wrote:
1: what is the quality of your source first and foremost?
with a bad source such as low bitrate mp3 (less than 192 is unacceptable in my ears and the difference between a lossless source and 192 mp3 is easily noticeable on decent headphones. the difference between 320kbps mp3 and FLAC/ALAC/WAV is only noticeable when i listen intently with decent headphones

2: What kind of output are you using?
normal PC speakers are shite. need some decent speakers to get some good sound. all pc speakers sound very harsh and elevate the high frequencies.
if you have semi-decent headphones (£70+) then i would get a good sound card. the noise coming out of my laptop's sound card bugs me. constant crackling. nearly all of my music collection is in lossless .flac quality so i have a good audio source and it doesn't sound that bad on my portable music player. i'm using some denon ah-d1001's.

check out ebuyer and amazon. usually the cheapest places around and they have a lot of stuff


I mostly listen to Mp3s, not on my PC at the moment so not sure of the bitrate.

As for the output, i'm using Sennheiser HD 205 which are very good for the price, they actually sound better then the £100 Bose i bought before!

Can you convert Mp3 into flac to get the maximum quality or does the song specifically need to be 'burned' as a flac file?


The duplex stuff has sodall to do with your sound-card, it's an old dial-up modem thing. I never did understand why modems had drivers looking like they had something to do with a PC's sound system.

Creative Audigy is cheaper, you can get a low-level one for £25 but I don't know how good a sound it will put out for that price. A higher-spec Audigy would be good.


I have no idea what sound card the laptop is running then, i'm guessing it probably just has a better on board card then my motherboard. And not a 3rd part card like i first thought.

I'll read some reviews on the Audigy card above.

Nice one.
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KLR600
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PostPosted: 00:14 - 03 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
Not sure about all the soundcard stuff but you won't be able to convert an MP3 into a .flac file. MP3's are heavily compressed audio so you can't convert it into a higher quality file type because the information has already been lost in the initial compression, you'll need to find .flac files from the outset.
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Fortuna
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PostPosted: 00:27 - 03 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hetzer wrote:


The duplex stuff has sodall to do with your sound-card, it's an old dial-up modem thing. I never did understand why modems had drivers looking like they had something to do with a PC's sound system.

Creative Audigy is cheaper, you can get a low-level one for £25 but I don't know how good a sound it will put out for that price. A higher-spec Audigy would be good.

If I remember correctly it was because it created the digital sounds by using either the sound card or it's own sound processor. The ability to record voice and use them as a secondary phone socket sometimes also played a factor. Hence they needed to create a wave table.
When playing L4D2 I notice the sound is so much superior using a good sound card.
I use ventrilo as well and it makes a hell of a diference.
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Misc
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PostPosted: 17:41 - 03 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
KLR600 wrote:
Not sure about all the soundcard stuff but you won't be able to convert an MP3 into a .flac file. MP3's are heavily compressed audio so you can't convert it into a higher quality file type because the information has already been lost in the initial compression, you'll need to find .flac files from the outset.


Cheers. Doubt if any of my music is in a dedicated .flac format so i'll stick with Mp3 then.

Fortuna wrote:

When playing L4D2 I notice the sound is so much superior using a good sound card.
I use ventrilo as well and it makes a hell of a diference.


What sound card ya got?
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Misc
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PostPosted: 17:52 - 03 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
Spellchucker wrote:
I use creative audio software with a realtek soundcard .. seems OK .... Thumbs Up


So you don't need to have the Creative card to use the software? been searching for a sound manager but could find Realtek & VIA (Already on system).

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herulach
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PostPosted: 17:56 - 03 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
Any dedicated soundcard will sound better than onboard stuff (which is what you have) simply because it's less noisy. Depending how focussed you are on fidelity, either buy a cheap one (don't worry about getting creative at that price) or a second hand audigy 2 ZS. These are basically the shit, when the X-Fi came out I remember most of the reviews saying sound quality was actually worse, thats why I never upgraded.
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Fortuna
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PostPosted: 20:51 - 03 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
Misc wrote:
KLR600 wrote:
Not sure about all the soundcard stuff but you won't be able to convert an MP3 into a .flac file. MP3's are heavily compressed audio so you can't convert it into a higher quality file type because the information has already been lost in the initial compression, you'll need to find .flac files from the outset.


Cheers. Doubt if any of my music is in a dedicated .flac format so i'll stick with Mp3 then.

Fortuna wrote:

When playing L4D2 I notice the sound is so much superior using a good sound card.
I use ventrilo as well and it makes a hell of a diference.


What sound card ya got?

I have a Fatality. I used to have one of the X-Fi series which are cheaper but also very good.
Any good sound card is always a step up from onboard TBH.
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Misc
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PostPosted: 21:34 - 03 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
herulach wrote:
Any dedicated soundcard will sound better than onboard stuff (which is what you have) simply because it's less noisy. Depending how focussed you are on fidelity, either buy a cheap one (don't worry about getting creative at that price) or a second hand audigy 2 ZS. These are basically the shit, when the X-Fi came out I remember most of the reviews saying sound quality was actually worse, thats why I never upgraded.


OK thanks guys, will start reading some reviews for a new card then. Thumbs Up
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Misc
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PostPosted: 21:58 - 03 Sep 2010    Post subject: Reply with quote
Spellchucker wrote:
I have realtek HD audio .. and thinking about it, i think it may be onboard with the motherboard ... Shocked ....... seems OK, linked by RCA to my Maranzt Amp ..

Without the Creative software, leaves not much scope for change ... i don't know .. you spend nearon 800 quid .. thinking your be good for 5 years .. and two years down the line .. it's old hat almost and worth 200 quid .. Evil or Very Mad



I thought Realtek HD was just a downloadable driver that works with any on board audio device? Either way i much prefer it to the 'Via' software i got with the motherboard.

I don't do gaming on the PC so have no need for anything other then a basic spec with a few added bits like the dual core, ram & the bigger hard drive (And the fancy gaming case). I wouldn't want it any faster as it does everything right. Only problem is the sound really.
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