Looking For NEW Soundcard - Recommendations, Please

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

I've about had it with SoundBlaster AudigyII. It's starting to freeze up more and more as of late.
And whenever I run thru my 10 or so anti-this and anti-that adware/malware/trojans etc. programs the EAX sound enhancement of SB has to be reconfigured. It has been checked off -whited out.

SB Audigy is probably 6-7 years old. It's just getting annoying.

I sure would appreciate some pros and cons from anyone on what's the latest and greatest in the soundcard arena.

Thanks all. Smile

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

I have a SB Audigy Platinum EX (external I/O console) and it still is current and works fine with a new BTX PC. I doubt that the sound card is causing your problems. Have you updated the Soundblaster software lately? They have updated drivers and support software that is issued fairly frequent. The current software is also for the Audigy 2 series, so it's for the current production models.

Contrary to some, all the security software is probably doing you in. You can have "too much" and it can "clog up" the PC.

How much memory you have can also be an issue. With Windows XP, a "minimum" of 512MB should be considered and more is better, especially if you run a lot of programs at startup. Many XP systems, especially early systems, were sold with 256Mb of memory and that's really not enough for multi tasking with XP. With Win ME, at least 128MB and more is better.

Dave Potter · From: Texas

I guess I'll just expand a bit on what Jack said.

I'm still using the Audigy II I bought years ago, mostly because it has decent specs, still works fine, and has the two-channel stereo outputs, with jack-sizing I need, to drive my Klipsch 4.1 speaker system. It does not give me any trouble.

There are other sound cards out there, sure, but I haven't found any that I consider "better" than the Audigy II, except the audiophile quality stuff, and most PC speaker systems aren't going to be able to sound much better with one of those anyway, and they're more expensive.

I bet you have some driver issues. First line of defense for that is to go to Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel and remove all the Creative stuff. Then reboot and just reinstall the portions you want on your machine.

You may want to consider installing only the Windows drivers, and leave all the rest of the fluff out of the picture. Most of it's ear candy for teeny boppers anyway. EAX is special effects, like reverb, echos, processing that changes the way the sound output would otherwise be. There are a lot of "pre-sets" for different games, etc, and if you don't do that kind of thing, I wouldn't bother with it. You don't need the "soundfont banks" either. They're midi-oriented, and if you don't do midi, skip it. Heck, even if you DO do midi, skip it. The card has built-in midi sound samples for playing music; you don't need to add anything else, such as "soundfonts".

I prefer to hear sounds the way they are with no added sound card-generated embellishments, so drivers-only does it for me.

If you uninstall/reinstall the drivers and still have sound-related issues, something beyond the Audigy is the problem.

If you get things going again, but need to know how to get rid of the annoying "splash" deal, we can talk. Wink

Michael Haselman · From: St. Paul

See my other thread on this. I just got a Soundblaster Audigy SE for $30 at Best Buy. Sounds great, has a nifty recording program. Not a lot of bells and whistles, but better than the stock Dell.
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Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

I uninstalled/reinstalled SB thru Control Panel and it's working OK now. I'll probabaly go back and eliminate some of that 'fluff' stuff as Dave merntioned, tho. That sounds like a good idea.

Jack, here's what I run for "antis". The reason I run this many is that I learned (here) not every program picks up every bug.
You think these are too many?
1. adaware
2. spybot
3. cwshredder
4. ccleaner
5. spyware blaster
6. a-squared
7. trojan hunter
8. registry mechanic
9. windows defender
10. avg anti virus

I've got at least a 1000RAM [XP]

Thanks, too, Mike

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

To me, that's overkill. I have AdAware (free version) and Pest patrol that is part of the C.A. EZ Armor suite. I've been using this combination for 3 years and no problems - yet... but, I don't visit a lot of sites.

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Jack,

Which of those 10 I listed would you eliminate?

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

I won't touch that, with that big a list.

Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Chip;
I personally use Spybot S&D, SpywareBlaster and Windows Defender anti-spyware and AVG anti virus, plus I run as a Windows XP Pro Power User. A Power User is very unlikely to get infected by any system altering threats.

People with XP Home can run as Limited Users to achieve maximum protection against spyware, adware, keyloggers, viruses, trojans, rootkits and backdoors. This requires a separate account for administrator level functions.
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Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
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Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Yeah Wiz,

I went and had 2 separate accounts made up when I was having problems with the PC a while back [Limit & Adm].

The ADM side definitely is more responsive than the LMT side when doing non-internet stuff.

I hate to say it, but the reason I have so many ANTIS is because of tips I picked up here in Computers. I'm going to take a few out.

Thanks for your input, Wiz; thanks too, Jack, anyway.

Fred Nolen · From: Mohawk, Tennessee, USA

I have an SB Audiqy II card and couldn't be happier. I recently began putting some of my old cracking, popping, and hissing records on CD. With the tools that come with the Audigy, all the distractions can be removed while recording to your hard drive prior to burning the CD. For instance, I have Jimmy Day's Steel and Stirngs album, which out of the box had a noticable hiss - to the point that it was distracting. I removed all that with the utility that came with the card - a beautiful album.

I agree with an earlier reply, the problem may very well not be your sound card.

Good luck - computers CAN drive a person up the wall.

Ol' Fred

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

I went and eliminated about 1/2 of the "antis", and everything seems to be running better on the PC, now, especailly AudigyII.

Fred, I've been doing the same as you with old LPs, and know about the Hiss/Pop feature. I have used it in the past, but lately, if an album isn't too scratched-out, I leave that noise in. It actually has a nostalgic quality to it, if it's not too distracting.
And, there's a trade off. The more you bury the noise, the more the fidelity, loudness, brightness (whatever you want to call it) is diminished. IMO.
_________________
Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer.

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