Best soundcard?

[eviljoker7075]

Hey everyone, just need some general advice on what to buy. I need a sound card for a new PC which I will be using for gaming and music production. So I would need several inputs as well as output.

Surround sound would be nice too. What would you reccomend (both for a high budget and a medium one too?)

Thanks.

 

[fade2green514]

anything Creative Labs will do for sound... but X-Fi is the best chipset on the market right now.

 

[eviljoker7075]

Sorry, by chipset you mean...?

I was once told on a sound recording forum that creative labs are bad for input stuff...

 

[fade2green514]

well, a chipset is the actual chip that does the processing on the sound card, it tells you basically what technologies it supports and how fast it can process and other stuff like that.
sometimes it'll have a heatspreader or a heatsink on it, but most sound cards wont.

 

[eviljoker7075]

Right, so what kinda stuff am I looking out for the chipset to do, for more advanced cards?

 

[fade2green514]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010360057+1101019077&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=57
these are all the X-Fi chipset cards newegg carries, they're more gaming soundcards and the higher priced X-Fi chipset cards will do more stuff for you.

 

[Geoff]

Sorry, by chipset you mean...?

I was once told on a sound recording forum that creative labs are bad for input stuff...

Creative Labs sound cards are excellent for output, but there not the best for input. The X-Fi Platinum, Fatl1ty, and Elite lines are better then others, because it has inputs for RCA and optical.

If you really rely on inputs alot, I would recommend an EMU or M-Audio.

 

[69mako]

I have an M-audio Audiophile 2496. I think it a great music releated audio card. Digital/analog inputs/outputs & MIDI. Sample rates up to 96K. Just a 2 channel card so it's not the best for games. (I don't play many.) Pretty cheap too.

Mako