Sound Card - Yes or No?


Dedicated Sound Cards  

34 members have voted

  1. 1. Do You Have a Dedicated Sound Card in Any Current PC?

    • Yes
      12
    • No
      22
  2. 2. Would You Consider Buying a Dedicated Sound Card to Use?

    • Yes
      15
    • No
      19
  3. 3. Do You Think Sound Cards Have Had their Day / Only for Serious Audiophiles?

    • Yes, they've had their day
      7
    • Yes, for serious audiophiles
      7
    • Yes to both
      8
    • No. Sound Cards should live on!
      12


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Hot on the heels of the latest news article and a thread I started just days before asking the same sort of question, it seems the issue of a dedicated sound card is up for discussion.

 

So to (hopefully) bring it all together, what's you're vote?

 

Personally, I used to have a soundcard about 10 years ago.  When I built a new system, I missed it out and just used on board which worked fine for my needs.  My latest system doesn't have a dedicated sound card either.

 

Here's where I am:

 

My HTPC uses the on board sound but I might be in the market for a sound card.  However I don't think the ?50+ will be worth it for the difference it will make and it seems spending less than that is a waste anyway.  So I'm not considering buying one really and think they are only good for serious audiophiles or home theatre people (which is out of my league too!).

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I don't use headphones, but I do have quality speakers (Klipsch 5.1 Ultra), and when I put in my Xonar DX, it made a huge difference over the on-board audio.  I used to have an HT Omega card, which sounded great too, but the software for it was complete garbage.

 

Most notably, the bass sounded much better, so for anybody that likes to hear the entire sound spectrum, a sound card will give those benefits.  Though if you don't have quality/high-powered speakers or headphones, a sound card probably won't make much of a difference.

I dropped my Xonar DS after upgrading my PC, and aside from the crappier graphic equalizer settings, I've not really noticed a difference between the Realtek sound and the discrete sound card. I think sound cards are mostly only relevant to audiophiles now.

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