Is upgrading my sound card worth it?

[Krynn72]

I have a sound blaster audigy 2 SE right now and am going to be ordering creative's wireless 5.1 speaker set when i get back home. Im wondering if I should upgrade my sound card as well, or if the improvement isnt really worth it. Id like to get the best out of my stuff but im no audiophile. What do you guys think?

 

[Pesmerga]

I tried a soundcard once. Only made shit more complicated to work with, and absolutely no noticeable improvement in quality. It's more for people who mix music. I don't recommend, but maybe someone else can give you better advice.

 

[Top Secret]

It is ABSOLUTELY worth going from an Audigy 2 to an XFi.

A little over a year ago, I had a weekend LAN with a buddy of mine from Highschool. He showed up with a new in box XFi Music (Not the expensive one with the bullshit ram that is useless). We pulled out his Audigy 2 and put in the XFi. And did a quick test with Counter-Strike: Source.

Result = AMAZING

We were just using some $100 Sennheiser stereo headphones. Not even a 5.1 system. The echoes, movements, etc all far more accurate. The first time you step into the hallways on Dust and hear your Ak-47 booming down the hall, you will instantly be happy with your purchase.

I was at Best Buy an hour later buying mine. Best $100 I ever spent and have never looked back.



*Edit*

I don't know what the audiophile technical term for it is. But the card supports and uses this feature where stuff behind objects in a game will change the pitch/tone/volume or whatever of a sound. ie A grenade going off in a hallway sounds different than one going off in an open field.

*Edit 2*

Also, ignore this post entirely if you are using Vista. I have also heard naughty things about Service Pack 3.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

Pointless if your on Vista. I upgraded to Vista and lost alot of features such as EAX

 

[The Brick]

Yes it's worth it when you're using $100 sennheiser headphones. Speakers? no.

 

[Krynn72]

Well its a good thing i made this thread. I had no idea that Vista looses EAX support.

And Brick, what about 50 dollar sennheiser headphones?

 

[Top Secret]

Yes it's worth it when you're using $100 sennheiser headphones. Speakers? no.

I disagree. It was a completely new experience on my $30 5.1 Zalman headphones.

Well its a good thing i made this thread. I had no idea that Vista looses EAX support.

And Brick, what about 50 dollar sennheiser headphones?

Vista doesn't "lose" EAX support. In simplified terms, it uses the CPU for sound rendering instead of a sound card.

 

[Rico]

Which is exactly the reason why you would buy a sound card!

 

[Top Secret]

I was not arguing against that. I was just clearing up a misconception.

 

[The Brick]

I disagree. It was a completely new experience on my $30 5.1 Zalman headphones.

Yeah but they're headphones. You can't hear that much detail with speakers. Not worth the money/trouble. The audigy 2 is still a good audio card.

 

[Top Secret]

Yeah but they're headphones. You can't hear that much detail with speakers. Not worth the money/trouble.

A thread full of people who disagree with you.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=465761

Again, for $75, it's easily worth it. Even with a low-buck 5.1 setup such as X-540.

XFI:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102013

X-540:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Description=5.1&bop=And&Order=RATING

 

[PimpinPenguin]

Vista doesn't "lose" EAX support. In simplified terms, it uses the CPU for sound rendering instead of a sound card.

It does lose EAX support for the vast majority of games out there due to them requiring hardware acceleration for DirectSound and DirectSound3D which was dropped in Vista. It has nothing to do with the CPU rendering the sound. Creative themselves know it and are trying to emulate to get those features back.

 

[The Brick]

They may get you better audio, but only if you set everything up right. It's not worth it for the average Joe that just plugs it in and runs with it. If you don't really know when something sounds good, don't waste your money. There's no magic difference with the audigy 2.

The x-fi are splendid cards though, although it has its bugs. The crystalizer is quite something. If you enjoy proper sound and don't mind spending a few hours tweaking the settings, it's worth considering if $75 isn't much to you.