Bang For Your Buck Soundcard

[Darkspacekilla]

I'm really considering purchasing a soundcard but it needs to have 2 main things, Good for the price and good sound quality and a third not so much but it would be a bonus if it looked decent too:D

I'm thinking under £50 "82 USD" but if you can reason with me to justify spending more then i'm all for that! 

I have heard all the controversy over soundcards but I personally think my setup kinda needs it.

I listen to alot of electronic and usally a good bit of chillstep.

I game a fair bit too, If you need any more info message me below

Thanks for the help!       <--- random smiley faces...

[Dylan lol]

soundcards are a waste of money they dont make ur sound better unless ur motherboard is old

[miyabwah]

Soundcards?

Get a DAC/AMP. Also, Corsair 1400s won't improve much with a DAC/AMP. You'd probably need better headphones

[Cwazywazy]

If your onboard isn't up to snuff and you don't have a decent older sound card then there's no real reason not to go for it.

[Darkspacekilla]

soundcards are a waste of money they dont make ur sound better unless ur motherboard is old

yes as I said I know the controversy however I would like a louder and deeper bass and all the things mentioned above:D

[Dylan lol]

yes as I said I know the controversy however I would like a louder and deeper bass and all the things mentioned above:D

i dont think a sound card makes bass better but if u have to xonar dx is the best i think

[Illumotion]

If you live is england this is a good choise.

www.amazon.co.uk/Sweex-7-1-External-Sound-Card/dp/B00265L1S2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389310440&sr=8-1&keywords=sweex

[Darkspacekilla]

Soundcards?

Get a DAC/AMP. Also, Corsair 1400s won't improve much with a DAC/AMP. You'd probably need better headphones

they are my main headphone for gaming I have a few sennheiser Headphones and earphones lying around too.

[Darkspacekilla]

Soundcards?

Get a DAC/AMP. Also, Corsair 1400s won't improve much with a DAC/AMP. You'd probably need better headphones

 

If you live is england this is a good choise.

www.amazon.co.uk/Sweex-7-1-External-Sound-Card/dp/B00265L1S2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389310440&sr=8-1&keywords=sweex

Thanks man, Ill consider it!

[CoolBeans]

Fiio E10

[Advent]

I'm really considering purchasing a soundcard but it needs to have 2 main things, Good for the price and good sound quality and a third not so much but it would be a bonus if it looked decent too:D

I'm thinking under £50 "82 USD" but if you can reason with me to justify spending more then i'm all for that! 

I have heard all the controversy over soundcards but I personally think my setup kinda needs it.

I listen to alot of electronic and usally a good bit of chillstep.

I game a fair bit too, If you need any more info message me below

Thanks for the help!       <--- random smiley faces...

What motherboard are you using? If you paid more than $250 and it has decent on board sound you do not need a soundcard.

 

 

Fiio E10

 

 

Seconding this.

[Darkspacekilla]

Fiio E10

Seems pretty cool ill consider it.

[Darkspacekilla]

What motherboard are you using? If you paid more than $250 and it has decent on board sound you do not need a soundcard.

 

 

 

 

Seconding this.

Asus z87 pro, I know pretty high end board but still seems as if it's missing something you know?

If not a soundcard what other options would you suggest?

Fiio e10 seems to be doing pretty well so far! Thanks for the advice

[Advent]

Asus z87 pro, I know pretty high end board but still seems as if it's missing something you know?

If not a soundcard what other options would you suggest?

Fiio e10 seems to be doing pretty well so far! Thanks for the advice

What headphones/speakers are you using? What is their Ohm rating? Your on-board audio might not be strong enough to drive them properly but would do just fine with lower ohm output devices.

[tengarp]

If you want better bass, a soundcard/dac by purpose wont really change that, you would want a new pair of headphones. The stuff from beyerdynamic is what people usually recommend but ya, you would want better headphones first.

[Darkspacekilla]

What headphones/speakers are you using? What is their Ohm rating? Your on-board audio might not be strong enough to drive them properly but would do just fine with lower ohm output devices.

I have a rack of pretty decent but old sennheisers, i'm currently using my vengeance 1400's and I have a really nice pair of headphones which are ancient, sound awesome and are just plain matte black which is weird I know but there are no brand on them but i'm guessing they are pretty hard to run by the size of the drivers and the quality in general. I can't remember where I got them...

I suppose this wasn't much help lol. 

[Darkspacekilla]

If you want better bass, a soundcard/dac by purpose wont really change that, you would want a new pair of headphones. The stuff from beyerdynamic is what people usually recommend but ya, you would want better headphones first.

Yeah I was also thinking of a new pair of Headphones but thought I would try this out first since I eventually will get both good headphones and a dac/soundcard at some stage, I just thought the best option would be to try my current setup with a new soundcard and then if it is no good buy a new pair of headphones.

My next headphones will probably be 250ohms or more so getting the soundcard/ dac now seemed like the best choice.

[Lauen]

Most newer motherboards use Realtek, 892, 889, 1150, or something like that, and truth be told, I have both the Realtek 892 and an ASUS Xonar D2X soundcard, and they sound pretty much the same. Really. If you want better, deeper bass, you should get new headphones. if it's not getting loud enough, or there is crackling, then you can consider a soundcard or an external DAC/amp. For bass-heavy headphones I'd usually go for closed ones, where the Beyerdynamic DT770 and the Custom One Pro are very good. The 770's are usually 80 or 250 ohm, the 80 ohm one should work alright on onboard, but not sure about the 250 ohm, you'll most likely need an amp for that. The Custom One Pro's are 16 ohm, so they work wonderfully with onboard and phones and such. They also have a pretty good sound, and an adjustable bass port on each of the cups, so you could adjust that to preference on the fly. 

 

but if you don't want to spend money, you could just use EQ to get closer the sound you want, there usually is an EQ somewhere in whatever music player you use.

[Maxibonbits]

The Xonar DG is an excellent sounds card at about AU$30. I recommend this card for it's performance and low cost, however it is quite ugly, but at least it's small and has black pcb.

 

External solutions for me are generally inconvenient, and make absolutely no difference to a similar priced internal card.

[needmorewood]

Asus z87 pro, I know pretty high end board but still seems as if it's missing something you know?

If not a soundcard what other options would you suggest?

Fiio e10 seems to be doing pretty well so far! Thanks for the advice

what headphones are u pairing up with this?

if the headphones arent up to par then thats why ur not getting the clean sound and bass u want

[GamerDude]

I'm no audiophile, nor do I pretend to be one, but I can hear a difference when I'd moved from onboard audio of my Rampage IV Extreme to a SB Zx. The sound was more punchy, and had greater clarity than with onboard. Listen to higher bitrate MP3 using the Zx headphone extension with my Sennheiser HD555, it sounded difference than when I had onboard audio. I was quite surprised myself, never did think I could hear a difference between them. Why did I get the Zx then? (You may ask). Well, what can I say, it was an impulse thing....

[h264]

Yeah I was also thinking of a new pair of Headphones but thought I would try this out first since I eventually will get both good headphones and a dac/soundcard at some stage, I just thought the best option would be to try my current setup with a new soundcard and then if it is no good buy a new pair of headphones.

My next headphones will probably be 250ohms or more so getting the soundcard/ dac now seemed like the best choice.

 

 

Headphones first.  Then amplifiers. Then DACs.

[That Norwegian Guy]

Focusrite Scarlett 2i2.