Is a dedicated sound card worth the money?

I'm a serious gamer, but I BARELY notice the quality of my explosions, splatters or "WAAAAGHH"s. What I DO notice is the music I play over my games. I've got a pretty damn nice midrange consumer speaker setup (That old 5.1 oval shaped Logitech setup http://www.charismacomputers.co.za/images/X530.jpg) but I want to know if a sound card would give me a noticable quality boost and maybe actually make me use in-game sound. hehe. Also, I should mention I'm on a budget so would <$50 get this for me? I don't mind finding last years' models.

Thank you

I have to agree with you. The main difference is the playback quality of music, not the explosions etc in games.

I have the azuen prelude and I could (barely) find players better using sound. If I'm not mistaken, that is the EAX 5 feature.

For that price range, I doubt this feature is included. The asus xonar version has been well recieved. Do take a look at it. It is $90 unfortunately.

yeh iv been wondering about wether a dedicated sound card is a good idea... anyone point out a few good ones? im a big gamer and i do listen to music a lot too... iv got creative inspire T7900 7.1 speakers... only use 5 of them tho, dont have anywhere to put the other 2!!

i only notice a difference in music as well
but if you're going to get a card go with the Asus Xonar/Xonar DX or the X-Fi Xtreme Gamer/Music
don't go for the Xtreme Audio, it's not true X-Fi and the Gamer/Music has it's own processor to process sound...

Do you want a sound card that is for games or for music. They are extremely different.

If it is just for games, the sound improvement will add some effects, but you would need an x-fi. I got mine for gaming, but I have played less than 50hrs of games in the last 3 years so I am rather unimpressed with their quality for music playback.

If it is mainly for music, what type of music and what types of files? If you are listening to low bitrate mp3 files, then nothing will likely help, and improvements could just make it worse. If you are listening to flac, wav, or 320mp3 (to some extent), then you could go hog wild with sound improvements. (that is a very dangerous road to follow) However, your $50 budget will not net you much of anything. Most people who are after high quality musical reproduction will use an external usb dac -> amplifier->monitors for 16bit 44.1khz tacks and a soundcard with optical out->external dac -> amplifier->monitors for 24bit 96khz tacks. This type of setup will net you improvements, but will start around the 3-400 range. You could cut the amp and get an internal dac, but truthfully, your speakers are not designed for musical reproduction. The ESI Juli@ is supposed to be a good budget conscious internal dac that can do 24bit 192khz and retails for around 150, but I have no idea as to what it will do in a gaming environment.


If you just want gaming effects, I would hold off until you can get a mid range x-fi card which will run you around 100. If you want music, then I would recommend looking into headphones as you get much more for the money and an external dac, but it may take a few hundred to realize improvements depending on your tracks.


also read this thread and if you are feeling inclined, you could hang out in that forum for a while. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/true-adudiophile-card-343287/

sandyduff said:

yeh iv been wondering about wether a dedicated sound card is a good idea... anyone point out a few good ones? im a big gamer and i do listen to music a lot too... iv got creative inspire T7900 7.1 speakers... only use 5 of them tho, dont have anywhere to put the other 2!!

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I think the azuen prelude is pretty good. It does well with an amplified hd650.

I agree that the Auzen Prelude would be one of the top choices for a gaming and music sound card. However, it retails around 175 so I think any improvement will only come with more money.

Definitely not top for music IMO. ESI julie will be better I think. I have yet to test it side by side.

It just depends on what the OP's priorities are. the auzen gives decent all around performance, but as with everything, you cant have it all in a single package.

I don't believe that the ESI Julie has the capability for many of the gaming extras though, but I could be mistaken.

No doubt about that. My point is that the julie is better for music than azuen. I have no complains for it (azuen) thus far.

I'll basically echo folk .. For music, decent card + a good speaker setup = bliss .. Sigur Ros sounds heavenly .. I miss my X-Fi

I rather a good headphone though . A hd 650/600 + amp is comparable to most ~$10 000 system.