Hello, I am currently using the onboard sound that my system came with. Generally speaking it is ok but when I use headphones (any headphones) I get some pretty bad static. I used to have a sound blaster audigy. Thats the last sound card that I bought so that is how behind I am in sound tech. I don't want to break the bank here, I just listen to music, movies and games and use generally speaking, cheap headphones. What sound card should I buy? Thanks! Also going to add that I have a pair of headphones with a mike. And for some reason they dont work with the onboard sound but I assume that they would with a stand along card?
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/soundcards/2010/10/26/asus-xonar-dg-review/1 Not really sure on your budget, but this is about as cheap as it gets and its a decent card to boot. Has a built-in headphone AMP which should suit your usage as well. If you want to spend a bit more there are others in the Xonar range to suit most budgets. Regarding mics - my microphone went from pretty bad to freaking awesome plugged into a Xonar DS rather than on-board.
