Good deal on a sound card?
Moderator: Wiz Feinberg
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Michael Holland
- Posts: 1297
- Joined: 4 Oct 2002 12:01 am
- Location: Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Good deal on a sound card?
Is this a GOOD DEAL and a good choice?
I've searched the posts on sound card performance and the MIDI sounds aren't that important to me (I have an Alesis Quadrasynth with D4 drums and good keyboard sounds). What is important is digital I/O and of course MIDI. And this drive bay breakout box looks so convenient! What other cards are you guys using with S/PDIF I/O?
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Richard Sinkler
- Posts: 17676
- Joined: 15 Aug 1998 12:01 am
- Location: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana
I've never seen this card in a store for under $199.
When I upgraded my sound card maybe a year ago, my choice was between this card and a Turtle Beach sound card. I ended up with the Turtle beach card. It has all the features you mention. The good thing about having good Midi sounds on the card, are that you can create songs with more voices that you could without it. I also have a Roland MT-32 that I use for drums and a Roland D-50 that I used for synth sounds as well as strings.
As far as the digital outputs, mine has Fiber Optics, S/PDIF in and out. I have a Phillips audio CD burner that I tried hookin up to my sound card through both the fiber optics input and the S/PDIF. The fiber optics connection I could never get to work and the S/PDIF connection gave me too much noise when recording.
When I upgraded my sound card maybe a year ago, my choice was between this card and a Turtle Beach sound card. I ended up with the Turtle beach card. It has all the features you mention. The good thing about having good Midi sounds on the card, are that you can create songs with more voices that you could without it. I also have a Roland MT-32 that I use for drums and a Roland D-50 that I used for synth sounds as well as strings.
As far as the digital outputs, mine has Fiber Optics, S/PDIF in and out. I have a Phillips audio CD burner that I tried hookin up to my sound card through both the fiber optics input and the S/PDIF. The fiber optics connection I could never get to work and the S/PDIF connection gave me too much noise when recording.
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Jack Stoner
- Posts: 22136
- Joined: 3 Dec 1999 1:01 am
- Location: Kansas City, MO
The SB Live series has nice specs, and the remote control panel is nice - but you have to have an open 5 1/4" bay on your PC or it's not good (it mounts in a space like a CD Drive).
But, they are hard to integrate and some tend to be noisy. I have a friend that has one that came with his PC. It tends to get a little white noise on the line in and out.
I tried one on my two year old Compaq Presario (has a 350Mhz PII processor) and I could never resolve a conflict with my CD burner so I took it out. I had the SB Live MP3, V5.1, which is basically the same card as you are looking at without the remote I/O panel (the model I bought had the connector on the card to add it later as an option). I've worked with a couple of other people on integrating SB Live cards and one I finally got working after a long fight and one we couldn't resolve all the problems and gave up.
Best Buy has another model sound card (I don't remember the name but it was made by a French company) that is similar to the SB Live with the remote I/O panel except it has a separate standalone I/O unit that just connects to the back of the sound card. Eliminates the need for an extra 5 1/4" slot. I may try this sound card out one day as it's specs are similar to the SB. The price was a lot less than the SB Live Platinum with the I/O panel.
But, they are hard to integrate and some tend to be noisy. I have a friend that has one that came with his PC. It tends to get a little white noise on the line in and out.
I tried one on my two year old Compaq Presario (has a 350Mhz PII processor) and I could never resolve a conflict with my CD burner so I took it out. I had the SB Live MP3, V5.1, which is basically the same card as you are looking at without the remote I/O panel (the model I bought had the connector on the card to add it later as an option). I've worked with a couple of other people on integrating SB Live cards and one I finally got working after a long fight and one we couldn't resolve all the problems and gave up.
Best Buy has another model sound card (I don't remember the name but it was made by a French company) that is similar to the SB Live with the remote I/O panel except it has a separate standalone I/O unit that just connects to the back of the sound card. Eliminates the need for an extra 5 1/4" slot. I may try this sound card out one day as it's specs are similar to the SB. The price was a lot less than the SB Live Platinum with the I/O panel.