what about best soundcard

[linux98]

i need your suggestions of the best soundcard for mp3 and music
some said hercules game theatre xp

and some said audigy plantium

what is your opinions

[greasemonkey]

in terms of sound quality every review I've seen points to the audigy as best. Hercules is a good buy but slightly older technology (24bit vs 20bit if I'm not mistaken).
Personally I only use a Live Value card, I only use headphones for the computer so don't see a point in upgrading. Plus for sound quality I have my DENON CD/home theatre system.

[spark25]

If you want great sound --you need a card that can run at 24bit/96kzhz. Be prepared to pay over $250 USD for base models-4stereo in--2stereo out w/Hardware mixer. They run into the thousands of dollars for the ones with supporting multiplug boxes and amps.
Try the Midiman site, look at the Delta Audiophile card, can be had around the net for about $200USD[list at $275]. That is a nice audiocard.
It is in a different league/price range than the multimedia sound cards made by the usual suspects. These are musician souncards, no flavoring, great for listening and making music.
Everyone has different budgets and tastes, likes and dislikes, in music more so than a lot of other things I think.
Good luck and enjoy the music!

[greasemonkey]

correct me if I'm wrong but I believe all versions of the Audigy have a 24/96 DAC including the OEM versions. I don't think he's looking for a card for mixing just listening.

[linux98]

thanks

i think with a good sound card u will also need speakers audigy platinum ex is very good.................thats what i think

[felixml]

Check out PC MAG January 29 issue - Ultimate Upgrade Guide.
This will give you a good understanding of many sound-related issues and products.

[pcservicetech]

Best buy for my money. Creative put out an excellent product here. There are many reviews on it. One good thing is they provide good driver support for XP, if anyone remembers all the trouble with LIVE and win2k. Also all the flavors of the Audiology are the same card, just with different software or in the case of the Platinum model more hardware. If you previously owned a Live platinum don't buy the Audiology platinum because the control panel from your old one will hook up to it, just get the card.

[DavidH]

Just bought Creative Audigy OEM the only thing I don't like is there is no joystick port on the card, you have to use another card opening to put the joystick port on the computer. Quality was great sound.

DavidH

[areia]

The Audigy is a good choice, but be sure to get the oem version or you'll be paying for software you won't need; you get 24bits/96 khz internally and those sometimes crappy drivers and software that we are used to, although it seems to me that this time creative as done it's homework better than with sblive. It's a cheap card for what it offers and if you want better you'll have to pay MUCH MORE. Just remember the advantage of cheap cards: they become very popular, everybody has them and there are always lots of patches and usefull info/software for it. Besides all that, I think it is a good card, and has the huge advantage of offering a firewire port(sb1394) almost for free, which allows you to transfer digital video from DV camcorders ou to connect to a network at amazing speed, a feature that by itself costs a lot of money if you buy a sepparate card; the sound is not bad and creative offers the same that other manufacturers do in terms of cinema-at-home. Good choice.