What is it like to have a non-built in sound card?

[Hero]

Never in my entire life have I tried using a sound card aside from the built in ones, what is it like? Is there a noticeable difference? I'm not really a heatset/headphone guy, I'm using a speaker with subwoofer though.

[Pyromaniacc]

If you have high quality speakers there is definitely a noticeable difference in audio quality with even an entry level sound card. With my headphones I immediately noticed cleaner/richer sound.

[ThatGuy]

It's kind of like listening to the song again for the first time. If you get a really good audio set-up then you hear things in the song that you have never heard before. It's what music should sound like

[gasho]

It makes all the difference. I changed from on board audio to a 750 Euro stereo audio system. I was playing all my favorite games all over again because it was like a whole new experience with that system. You can have Ultra graphics but if the sound is mediocre you are loosing a lot. Same for movies of course.

Best prove was when I was playing and my roommate came to watch the game play because he heard the awesome audio and he was just loosin' it.

Must have in a good balanced PC system.

My system

Onkyo 9155 2x65W

Polestar Vanguard V-R1 Speakers

Pro-Ject USB audio box

[Aphexx]

DO NOT BUY A SOUNDCARD

worst decision I ever made I bought one in august and now its become an unending addiction. it quickly followed with a headphone purchase 20 days later and now its like 5 months later and II find myself with 3 headphones and carrying a portable amp to connect to my Iphone right now I am scouring reviews and deciding on another headphone purchase

save yourself save your wallet. don't do it.

[Guest]

If you run a pretty average sound system you won't notice the difference whether that be headphones or speakers it doesn't matter. However if you're running a fairly badass system with either quality headphones or some good speakers then you would notice the difference. HOWEVER - this depends on the source of the content; are you playing MP3's or WAV files? MP3's are compressed like crazy hence the roughly 4-8 mb file sizes where as WAV's don't suffer the same level of compression if any however instead your HD suffers with albums that go into the 10gb file size.

Games aren't safe either; look at your game sounds directory and you'll notice that it may be anything from AAC's to MP3's to WAV's as well.

PS - If he does own Beats; don't bother having this argument with him.

[Hero]

If you run a pretty average sound system you won't notice the difference whether that be headphones or speakers it doesn't matter. However if you're running a fairly badass system with either quality headphones or some good speakers then you would notice the difference. HOWEVER - this depends on the source of the content; are you playing MP3's or WAV files? MP3's are compressed like crazy hence the roughly 4-8 mb file sizes where as WAV's don't suffer the same level of compression if any however instead your HD suffers with albums that go into the 10gb file size.

Games aren't safe either; look at your game sounds directory and you'll notice that it may be anything from AAC's to MP3's to WAV's as well.

PS - If he does own Beats; don't bother having this argument with him.

No worries, I don't own one. I also don't plant to listen to Justin Bieber if that matters :)

[Hero]

DO NOT BUY A SOUNDCARD

worst decision I ever made I bought one in august and now its become an unending addiction. it quickly followed with a headphone purchase 20 days later and now its like 5 months later and II find myself with 3 headphones and carrying a portable amp to connect to my Iphone right now I am scouring reviews and deciding on another headphone purchase

save yourself save your wallet. don't do it.

Thank yo for the advice! You saved my hard earned manneehhh!

[dchen12]

If you can afford it, why not. Dramatic increase in audio quality.

[W4RL0K]

If you run a pretty average sound system you won't notice the difference whether that be headphones or speakers it doesn't matter. However if you're running a fairly badass system with either quality headphones or some good speakers then you would notice the difference. HOWEVER - this depends on the source of the content; are you playing MP3's or WAV files? MP3's are compressed like crazy hence the roughly 4-8 mb file sizes where as WAV's don't suffer the same level of compression if any however instead your HD suffers with albums that go into the 10gb file size.

Games aren't safe either; look at your game sounds directory and you'll notice that it may be anything from AAC's to MP3's to WAV's as well.

PS - If he does own Beats; don't bother having this argument with him.

I'm pretty sure all the music I buy on CD is in mp3 format, How do I go about getting this in WAV? Sorry a bit of a sound noob. Only bought my first card after procrastinating over it for 6 months :) I wish id bought it sooner.

[Aphexx]

If you run a pretty average sound system you won't notice the difference whether that be headphones or speakers it doesn't matter. However if you're running a fairly badass system with either quality headphones or some good speakers then you would notice the difference. HOWEVER - this depends on the source of the content; are you playing MP3's or WAV files? MP3's are compressed like crazy hence the roughly 4-8 mb file sizes where as WAV's don't suffer the same level of compression if any however instead your HD suffers with albums that go into the 10gb file size.

Games aren't safe either; look at your game sounds directory and you'll notice that it may be anything from AAC's to MP3's to WAV's as well.

PS - If he does own Beats; don't bother having this argument with him.

find a flac or an alac ripper for your cd's or use the search for a lossless ripper.

in the mean time there are a lot of artists who are looking to expand who publish on bandcamp and give their music away for free and in formats like the lossless flac mentioned above.

http://centzbeats.bandcamp.com/album/shades-of-color

enter $0 or shoot him a couple bucks directly to him

[W4RL0K]

If you run a pretty average sound system you won't notice the difference whether that be headphones or speakers it doesn't matter. However if you're running a fairly badass system with either quality headphones or some good speakers then you would notice the difference. HOWEVER - this depends on the source of the content; are you playing MP3's or WAV files? MP3's are compressed like crazy hence the roughly 4-8 mb file sizes where as WAV's don't suffer the same level of compression if any however instead your HD suffers with albums that go into the 10gb file size.

Games aren't safe either; look at your game sounds directory and you'll notice that it may be anything from AAC's to MP3's to WAV's as well.

PS - If he does own Beats; don't bother having this argument with him.

Thanks Aphexx I will check that out! +1

[Guest]

If you run a pretty average sound system you won't notice the difference whether that be headphones or speakers it doesn't matter. However if you're running a fairly badass system with either quality headphones or some good speakers then you would notice the difference. HOWEVER - this depends on the source of the content; are you playing MP3's or WAV files? MP3's are compressed like crazy hence the roughly 4-8 mb file sizes where as WAV's don't suffer the same level of compression if any however instead your HD suffers with albums that go into the 10gb file size.

Games aren't safe either; look at your game sounds directory and you'll notice that it may be anything from AAC's to MP3's to WAV's as well.

PS - If he does own Beats; don't bother having this argument with him.

You can't take MP3's and turn them into WAV's expecting to get better quality. However If you're importing into iTunes you can switch up your import settings to Apple Lossless which is very similar in both quality and file size if not better but don't quote me on that.

[Aphexx]

If you run a pretty average sound system you won't notice the difference whether that be headphones or speakers it doesn't matter. However if you're running a fairly badass system with either quality headphones or some good speakers then you would notice the difference. HOWEVER - this depends on the source of the content; are you playing MP3's or WAV files? MP3's are compressed like crazy hence the roughly 4-8 mb file sizes where as WAV's don't suffer the same level of compression if any however instead your HD suffers with albums that go into the 10gb file size.

Games aren't safe either; look at your game sounds directory and you'll notice that it may be anything from AAC's to MP3's to WAV's as well.

PS - If he does own Beats; don't bother having this argument with him.

I thought he had the cd's and was ripping them.

edit: either way start building a flac collection from bandcamp and support talented up and coming artists. there are a tonne of albums available for free but I usually toss them a few bucks happy knowing its going to the artist and not buying a studio executive his 3rd G6 jetplane

[Guest]

If you run a pretty average sound system you won't notice the difference whether that be headphones or speakers it doesn't matter. However if you're running a fairly badass system with either quality headphones or some good speakers then you would notice the difference. HOWEVER - this depends on the source of the content; are you playing MP3's or WAV files? MP3's are compressed like crazy hence the roughly 4-8 mb file sizes where as WAV's don't suffer the same level of compression if any however instead your HD suffers with albums that go into the 10gb file size.

Games aren't safe either; look at your game sounds directory and you'll notice that it may be anything from AAC's to MP3's to WAV's as well.

PS - If he does own Beats; don't bother having this argument with him.

That's what I meant; if you're importing CD's into iTunes you can change the import settings..

[MonsterApology]

i just went from onboard audio to a xonar essence stx and hd598 headphones. the difference is unbelievable. i dont even want to listen to my ipod when i can just go in the other room and listen to the audio from my computer.

[MrspartanZ11]

sound card only works if you have a decent audio file and headphones/speakers. if you have headphones under $80 than there is not really that much difference between a sound card and onboard audio.