Author Topic: Looking for Better Sound (Read 1526 times)

Liam · **on:** October 21, 2007, 20:00:08 PM

Looking for Better Sound

on: October 21, 2007, 20:00:08 PM

Evening All,

I Tend to use my PC a lot now for listening to music (Rock, Heavy Metal etc.) with my Logitech Z-5400 speakers and iv got a Sound Blaster 4 sound card. Up to about a week ago i used the SRS Audio Sandbox program to improve the quality of the music and sounds on my computer but for some reason the License that i had previously purchased has some how expired or not valid anymore so i cannot use it. So now i am just stuck with my Sound Blaster 4 Drivers and Equalizer and the sound quality with my music is ok but to me its like there is something else missing from it like i havent got that edgy Bass feeling to it anymore and crystal clear quality etc. and doesnt sound like it really should be, my point being is that im in search for a new Sound Card. Now iv heard that my best choice may be to go for the Creative X-Fi Xteme Music Edition sound card, but im not sure what to do really but could anyone of you recommend a good card for music or is the X-Fi music a good enough card?

Thanks - LiAM

Clock'd 0Ne · **Reply #1 on:** October 22, 2007, 23:50:54 PM

Re:Looking for Better Sound

Reply #1 on: October 22, 2007, 23:50:54 PM

SRS Audio Sandbox is just a more advanced software DSP than the equalizer that comes with your soundblaster and really you want to avoid relying on heavily equalizing your audio to try to get it to sound better - in fact you should never need to equalize your music if your hardware is up to the task.

The X-Fi Xtreme Music is an okay card, but IMO better can be had for the money in terms of hardware quality. Much of the supposed quality of the X-Fi range of cards falls down to Creative very clever DSP effects, which as controversial as this view is to some people, is actually detrimental to the music and is giving you a false impression of quality. Some people also seem to suffer from compatibility issues and popping/crackling from these cards.

Your speakers are pretty good in terms of PC audio, a decent sound card should provide a rich enough sound without needing to be tweaking the EQ all the time.

Personally Id be looking at an M-Audio Revolution 7.1 in your situation. They also do a 5.1 version if you didnt want to stretch your budget that far.

Walrusbonzo · **Reply #2 on:** October 23, 2007, 08:05:33 AM

Re:Looking for Better Sound

Reply #2 on: October 23, 2007, 08:05:33 AM

What Clockd 0ne says, but, if you do a lot of gaming then the X-Fi is for you, unsurpassed gaming performance.

Also note, that you can turn off all the X-Fis audio DSP stuff and have a totally unaltered bit stream sent to the DACs. I have it set like this when not playing games.

If you really want to improve audio quality, make sure you dont use and lossy compressed(MP3, MP4, AAC, OGG etc.) music, use lossless(FLAC, WavPack) compressed music only

Liam · **Reply #3 on:** October 23, 2007, 09:47:08 AM

Re:Looking for Better Sound

Reply #3 on: October 23, 2007, 09:47:08 AM

Thanks Guys

Il look into possibly getting the M-Audio Revolution 5.1 Card, the reason i originally looked at the Creative X-Fi Music before was iv heard a lot of good reviews on the card and its meant to be the best card for Music.

LiAM

Clock'd 0Ne · **Reply #4 on:** October 23, 2007, 09:59:08 AM

Re:Looking for Better Sound

Reply #4 on: October 23, 2007, 09:59:08 AM

Yes good point about the gaming, I forgot to mention than in my late night ramblings.

Youll also find that cards like the M-Audio Revolution and other quality cards will support ASIO.

ASIO is important because it is a direct driver <-> hardware interface. With most sound cards Windows kmixer is used to interface between the drivers and the hardware, which isnt very good as the Windows kernel will resample audio to 48khz regardless of the sample rate it was sent, which again is bad for quality. A card with ASIO will bypass this altogether and if used with a decent player like Foobar and I think Winamp, you can change the output to avoid DirectSound/kmixer and instead use ASIO. If your card doesnt support ASIO you can use Kernel Streaming, Foobar and Winamp support this.

red · **Reply #5 on:** October 23, 2007, 13:23:35 PM

Looking for Better Sound

Reply #5 on: October 23, 2007, 13:23:35 PM

Im currently using my interface and some monitors, they are pretty good for music.

Walrusbonzo · **Reply #6 on:** October 24, 2007, 08:14:10 AM

Re:Looking for Better Sound

Reply #6 on: October 24, 2007, 08:14:10 AM

Quote from: Clockd 0Ne

Yes good point about the gaming, I forgot to mention than in my late night ramblings.

Youll also find that cards like the M-Audio Revolution and other quality cards will support ASIO.

ASIO is important because it is a direct driver <-> hardware interface. With most sound cards Windows kmixer is used to interface between the drivers and the hardware, which isnt very good as the Windows kernel will resample audio to 48khz regardless of the sample rate it was sent, which again is bad for quality. A card with ASIO will bypass this altogether and if used with a decent player like Foobar and I think Winamp, you can change the output to avoid DirectSound/kmixer and instead use ASIO. If your card doesnt support ASIO you can use Kernel Streaming, Foobar and Winamp support this.

I use Kernal Streaming out with Foobar, great music player

Clock'd 0Ne · **Reply #7 on:** October 26, 2007, 12:48:23 PM

Re:Looking for Better Sound

Reply #7 on: October 26, 2007, 12:48:23 PM

Me too, Im hoping to go ASIO when I get my E-MU card, skint at the moment though so itll have to wait until the new year again now.

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Author Topic: Looking for Better Sound (Read 1526 times)