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[Bastardous Bassist]

Woot's deal today is a sound card.  It's an AuzenTech HDA X-Plosion 7.1 for about $100 (USD) for those who don't want to click on the link.  Is it worth that much, bearing in mind that I will probably be using it for movies more than for games and though I will certainly use it for a number of games, I probably won't use it for very many state-of-the-art games (I don't now, for monetary reasons).  I'm probably going to let it sit around a while until I build a new computer system, and I'll install it in that computer system.  If I buy this, it'll pretty much have to be my only expenditure aside from food, rent and utilities for a reasonable amount of time, so I want to know if I'm making a good decision buying it.

[Chesire Cat]

Basically, the only sound card company that supports special 3d sound stuff is Soundblaster, other sound cards might give you nice multi speaker support.  But it is EAX and A3D(or whatever that other company had that SB bought), and many games have been using these since the era of Quake II engine based games.

On the other hand, plenty of other sound cards are competitive in the non gaming aspects of sound cards, this I cant help you with, so ces la vi.

[Bastardous Bassist]

Supposedly, that sound card can support EAX, but does it through software, which slows a game's performance.  I don't really mind that much, because I'm not going for tons of FPS.  Unless someone knows of a serious problem that they've heard about this card, then I'm almost sure I'm going to get it.  However, it seems not to be selling out too fast, so I'm going to wait a bit for people to let me know if there are any problems.

[Rubby]

Unless you're already running something vastly superior, I'd say buy it. That's a good price for a 7.1 card and there is no harm in picking it up if that's something you can afford.

[Solstice]

A3D = Aureal. They made good shit.

Too bad PC audio is dead and has been for years.
All because you can't put sound on a magazine cover.

*Le sigh*

[Rubby]

Too bad PC audio is dead and has been for years.

eh?

[Bastardous Bassist]

It's woefully undersupported.  People are getting the latest and greatest video cards, but sound cards are far below the same level of quality, all because great video shots looks awesome on a magazine cover, whereas nobody can hear great sound on a magazine cover.

[_]

If you just need it to listen to films and such then it should be fine. If you're much of an audiophile or do any sound recording, then I suggest you look elsewhere.

And there are some ridiculously fantastic soundcards available right now. They are so good. I'd rather have a emu 0404 than a fancy sli overclock 7 billion mb gold plated twin turbo nvidia monstrosity with nitrogen cooling and a hemi, but I'm also more of an audio guy.

[Karranir]

Creative Labs makes an awesome(ly overpriced) soundcard, the Creative SB X-Fi line. It sounds like sex, and you can switch between audio creation, music and gaming modes.


But, as I said, it's... alot. If you're in the market for like, the best sound card I've ever heard, I'd totally suggest it. I dunno how good the recording quality is, but it's supposed to be great.

[Bastardous Bassist]

Um...  Limited budget, guys.  $100 is a lot of bread to spend on a sound card, especially because my computer isn't my primary means of music listening (I have a pretty good two-channel stereo system, for the amount of money I've been able to spend).

Also, I want the surround sound.  I've got the recording/two-channel stereo down with the M-audio Delta 66 and Omni-studio breakout box I already have.

[Bunnyman]

An entry-level card like the Soundblaster Live! Value goes for a more reasonable $30 these days.  I like mine, but then I'm no audiophile.  $50 will get you the Live! 24-bit, which should do anything you throw at it unless you're into production.

[Rubby]

Um...  Limited budget, guys.  $100 is a lot of bread to spend on a sound card, especially because my computer isn't my primary means of music listening (I have a pretty good two-channel stereo system, for the amount of money I've been able to spend).

Also, I want the surround sound.  I've got the recording/two-channel stereo down with the M-audio Delta 66 and Omni-studio breakout box I already have.

Woah, warning pall! I have an M-audio and an SB hooked up. I keep the SB around because it has MIDI ports and neither the M-Audio or the Omni has MIDI ports. Everything works just great UNTIL I try to run alot at one time (ie. Rewire a program). After that the MIDI is fucked and doesn't work properly until I restart the system. Processing the two signals at the same time just sucks up so much memory. Just a little warning.

[Bastardous Bassist]

I don't ever plan on using both at the same time.  Heck, I don't plan on having them both in the same computer.  This card is for my next computer that I'm hopefully building this summer.

An entry-level card like the Soundblaster Live! Value goes for a more reasonable $30 these days.  I like mine, but then I'm no audiophile.  $50 will get you the Live! 24-bit, which should do anything you throw at it unless you're into production.

They don't have Dolby DTS!    And I am a bit of an audiophile.  I'm planning on running the output of that card through a reciever, and I don't have that option with the Sound Blaster.

Anyways, I bought the card (as it's only availible for one day).