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A/V Please recommend speaker & soundcard upgrade

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by noesis, 11 Sep 2004.

  1. noesis

    noesis What's a Dremel?

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    Hi,

    I am thinking of buying "Videologic Sirocco Spirit" speakers for my PC. These are a very high quality pair of speakers costing about £135 new. Hopefully I will be getting them second hand. Could anyone tell me whether the onboard sound on my A7N8X Deluxe will be good enough quality for the speakers?

    I have tried looking at a few reviews but they don't go into any detail on the sound. All I could find was, "the sound quality is equal to most add-in cards". Has anyone used some high quality speakers with this board?

    If the onboard sound is inadaquate I will buy a soundcard that can do justice to a pair of £135 speakers. Could anyone recommend a music soundcard for that purpose? The high-end ones I have been looking at are all 7.1 or 5.1. I only need one high quality stereo output (not 5.1+); are there any cards that offer that? Better still, does anyone want to sell me a good soundcard?

    Will I still be able to use my onboard 5.1 sound if I install a soundcard?

    Thanks!
     
  2. samuelellis

    samuelellis What's a Dremel?

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    to be totally honest when ti comes to pc speakers ia hve not been 100% impressed as you can get better results from a 2ch amplifier and a pair of bookshelf speakers

    but thats jsut my opinion
     
  3. igotid24

    igotid24 What's a Dremel?

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    well if you don't want to spend a whole lot the Chaintech AV-710, it is a 7.1 but works very well even at 2.0. The sound quality will be a decent step up for music, and it also works well for gaming/movies, and at a price of only $25 US you can't go wrong.

    however, If you are looking for something a little more there is the EMU 0404. EMU is a owned by creative but is made as a professional level audio system, with much higher end components, most notably the DAC(digital to analog converter) which is a very significant step up from any onboard soundcard and the entire soundblaster line.
    Its soley a 2.0 system but with very good sound quality. Some people may be a little put off by the software for it because it is somewhat complicated, but if all you are doing is listening to music with it you won't have to touch it after you set it up. howevery, in my opinion the software is not a burden, but a quite usefull tool for getting the best sound performance out of each spacific use. Also, if you do choose to go with this card, you will most likely have to get some adapters as it only has 1/4" mono jacks (one for left one for right). this one runs about $100 US, but is defenitly worth it for the sound quality increase.
     
    Last edited: 12 Sep 2004
  4. penski

    penski BodMod

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    Don't buy creative.

    To be honest, you're buying poor speakers so your onboard sound will be adequate.

    *n
     
  5. mushky

    mushky gimme snails

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    Someone was selling a set of those speakers in the for sale forum.
    "attitude" adjustment knobs rule!
     
  6. noesis

    noesis What's a Dremel?

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    yep. i noticed :D
     
  7. ns04

    ns04 What's a Dremel?

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    So i'm takin it nobody's gonna be recommending the creative soundblaster audigy 2 zs & gigaworks 7.1 surround sound speaker set then no!?
     
  8. felix the cat

    felix the cat Spaceman Spiff

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    its creative :duh:

    if you want a real soundcard look at m-audio or terratec cards...
     

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