need a new soundcard but dont know what to buy

[soenderup21]

so i want a new soundcard but im new to soundcards and i dont want bad one. so what i wanna know is what defines a good soundcard. my budget is on 50-60 dollars (american)

 

last thing is the ASUS xonar u3 a deacent soundcard becouse it looks deacent to me

 

im using a steelseries siberia v2

and i need a new soundcard becouse the one i have atm sucks in all 49k different ways

[EmoRarity]

What headphones do you have? 
Is your onboard broken? 
If you answers are anything short of DT770/880/990's and no, then you don't need a soundcard of any type 

[Makaseo]

+1 to EmoRarity's input:

 

Recent motherboards have pretty decent sounding audio chipsets. Chances are, you won't really find a "good" soundcard for that 50-60 price range.

Even if your motherboard doesn't advertise a better sounding system, a soundcard that cheap won't give you any noticeable difference in whatever headphones you have, unless they're a decently high-quality pair. And even then, you should save up for better.

[skullbringer]

o2

[TheBLOODYTOXIC]

 Why you need a soundcard?

 

Post your problem first. Give us more information.

[soenderup21]

The thing is that i want better sound becouse i have has crappy sound. and my hedset is a steelseries siberia v2 if that information is relevant

[t0wer]

 my hedset is a steelseries siberia v2 if that information is relevant

 

you'd notice a bigger improvement in different headphones than you would buying a sound card.

assuming you aren't getting any pops clicks or hiss with your current solution.

[creatip123]

Well, crappy for what? Games? Musics? 

 

I used to use my old onboard realtek ALC887 (it's dead now), and they sound nice to me. I was using it with powered speaker set though, because it didn't have any headphone amp, so when I use a headset, the sound is very small with no bass. 

 

Musics played through this realtek originally sounded like crap, but then I read about foobar2000 + channel mixer. Gave it a try, and the sound suddenly became amazing, even through my under $30 speakers.

 

After it's dead, not too long ago, I bought an asus xonar DG (around $40). It got a headphone amp, so headsets sound better for me. Then shearme convinced me to buy a better pair of headphone, so I went and got the ATH-TAD300 (around $40), and been loving the sound ever since.

 

If you like listening to musics, get foobar2000 + channel mixer. If you want to go for 'audiophile setup', google foobar2000 + wasapi plugin. The wasapi plugin give a much clearer mid + treble to musics compared to directsound.

[Guest]

I'd recommend sticking with your onboard Realtek unless you plan on spending more than $150-200 on a card, or external USB dac/opamp.

 

After doing my research (trying to get my head around the maths - really should have paid more attention in Physics) and with the help of guys in the know on this forum it's helped to guide me progressively towards a better audio solution.

 

The v2's are a great little all in one gaming headset that will sound alright on your onboard solution - definitely playable and easily comparable to any additional sound card up to the $100 range.

 

If you really want that clarity though ditch the soundcard and go external dac for the cleanest signal but prepare to pay.  If you plan on buying fancier headphones ($200+) then this will work nicely, especially with something like AKG 702's or others in their price range.  That being said, good headphones with good source files will always provide a better listening experience.

 

I'd advice you try to avoid colouring your sound with plugins and equalisers and software, you're best trying to produce the cleanest signal from accurate files and streams - as the artist intended it to be heard.

[EmoRarity]

I'd recommend sticking with your onboard Realtek unless you plan on spending more than $150-200 on a card, or external USB dac/opamp.

 

After doing my research (trying to get my head around the maths - really should have paid more attention in Physics) and with the help of guys in the know on this forum it's helped to guide me progressively towards a better audio solution.

 

The v2's are a great little all in one gaming headset that will sound alright on your onboard solution - definitely playable and easily comparable to any additional sound card up to the $100 range.

 

If you really want that clarity though ditch the soundcard and go external dac for the cleanest signal but prepare to pay.  If you plan on buying fancier headphones ($200+) then this will work nicely, especially with something like AKG 702's or others in their price range.  That being said, good headphones with good source files will always provide a better listening experience.

 

I'd advice you try to avoid colouring your sound with plugins and equalisers and software, you're best trying to produce the cleanest signal from accurate files and streams - as the artist intended it to be heard.

Nope nope nope. 

Explanatory text inbound

[EmoRarity]

Explanations in Bold

I'd recommend sticking with your onboard Realtek unless you plan on spending more than $150-200 on a card, or external USB dac/opamp.
-Not really, price doesn't correlate to "performance, really the main focus should be the weakest link (The headphones)

 

After doing my research (trying to get my head around the maths - really should have paid more attention in Physics) and with the help of guys in the know on this forum it's helped to guide me progressively towards a better audio solution.

 

The v2's are a great little all in one gaming headset that will sound alright on your onboard solution - definitely playable and easily comparable to any additional sound card up to the $100 range.

-A soundcard or external solution will not help those headphones, no matter how good. Those are low impedance and can run to their fullest off onboard.
 

If you really want that clarity though ditch the soundcard and go external dac for the cleanest signal but prepare to pay.  If you plan on buying fancier headphones ($200+) then this will work nicely, especially with something like AKG 702's or others in their price range.  That being said, good headphones with good source files will always provide a better listening experience.
-Technically a external solution isn't better (Though the two big ones, the E10 and O2 are). What an external solution does is remove the solution from the very noisy internals of a computer environment. More so the K702's are "easy to drive" and can easily be powered off most onboard, and upgrading to an external solution won't really come as a "performance" gain. Finally, source files need be only over 256kbps, as that is pretty much the audible cap for human beings.  

 

I'd advice you try to avoid colouring your sound with plugins and equalisers and software, you're best trying to produce the cleanest signal from accurate files and streams - as the artist intended it to be heard.
-This here is purely subjective, as eq-ing can over come the drawbacks of some headphones. (I.E. treble/mid/bass boosting for headphones that are lacking in those areas) 

 

[soenderup21]

Thanks guys for your support it helped out a bunch the LTT forum is rly the best place to be asking questions.

[Guest]

Explanations in Bold

 

I get what you're saying.

 

I recommended sticking with on board if you plan to keep using the v2's.  An external dac would surely be beneficial if it uses a higher quality components (which the two "big ones" look to do), plus helps minimise potential interference.  If the money's burning a hole in your pocket then why not buy an external dac.  A brief 2 minute browse of this subforum shows the O2 and E10 and few others as an ideal solution comparatively to a card or older onboard solution.

 

You're right about the K702's though, not sure why I named them specifically when I know they're 62ohm, but I do use them as a simile and to hint at their price range - I see how that'd be misleading.  I wasn't specifically speaking about impedance, more towards the point that they are very, very nice $200+ headphones that when used with high quality source files will be outstanding.  An O2 would happily drive both 62ohm K702's as well as 600ohm DT 880's according to the video linked in just about every thread here.

 

For most people, however, onboard and decent enough "gaming" headsets and in particular the v2's will do the job just fine (cited both from personal use and also having friends that use the v2, compared to other gaming or even chat headsets).  They have enough soundstage to enjoy music and gaming and are also very clear on VoIP/Skype.  No, they're not £300+ phones.  No they're not a Blue Yeti. But they're under £70 and good enough for most.

 

All audio is subjective.  If you need to EQ around problems or ill-suited equipment then fine but I don't think it's great advice.  More of a band aid.  Unless you enjoy changing the sound beyond what the artist intended.  That aside, wouldn't a basshead seek to buy bassy headphones anyway?

 

We're already in agreement. Headphones and files first.

[EmoRarity]

I get what you're saying.

 

I recommended sticking with on board if you plan to keep using the v2's.  An external dac would surely be beneficial if it uses a higher quality components (which the two "big ones" look to do), plus helps minimise potential interference.  If the money's burning a hole in your pocket then why not buy an external dac.  A brief 2 minute browse of this subforum shows the O2 and E10 and few others as an ideal solution comparatively to a card or older onboard solution.

 

You're right about the K702's though, not sure why I named them specifically when I know they're 62ohm, but I do use them as a simile and to hint at their price range - I see how that'd be misleading.  I wasn't specifically speaking about impedance, more towards the point that they are very, very nice $200+ headphones that when used with high quality source files will be outstanding.  An O2 would happily drive both 62ohm K702's as well as 600ohm DT 880's according to the video linked in just about every thread here.

 

For most people, however, onboard and decent enough "gaming" headsets and in particular the v2's will do the job just fine (cited both from personal use and also having friends that use the v2, compared to other gaming or even chat headsets).  They have enough soundstage to enjoy music and gaming and are also very clear on VoIP/Skype.  No, they're not £300+ phones.  No they're not a Blue Yeti. But they're under £70 and good enough for most.

 

All audio is subjective.  If you need to EQ around problems or ill-suited equipment then fine but I don't think it's great advice.  More of a band aid.  Unless you enjoy changing the sound beyond what the artist intended.  That aside, wouldn't a basshead seek to buy bassy headphones anyway?

 

We're already in agreement. Headphones and files first.

Yet again spot on with a few fallacies.

The quality of the components isn't as important as you would think, more so in the dac then the amp. A 25 cent transistor will sound like a $5 one. 

And yet again, the files need only be 256kbps, anything more isn't really better and kinda sucks up space for no reason. 

And just to address the point, we recommend an E10 or O2 only when onboard is broken, or not powerful enough, and for all but about %5 of headphones out there, onboard is powerful enough.