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Topic: Your Choice for Best Soundcard on Windows 7 PC? |
Bob Kagy
From:
Lafayette, CO USA
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Posted 10 Jun 2010 1:00 pm |
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Especially for users of BIAB what's your experience on soundcards?
I plan to upgrade my current 7 year old PC w/Windows XP3 to a PC w/Windows 7 with more speed, memory and disk space.
Thanks for any and all comments. |
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David Collins
From:
Madison, North Carolina, USA
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Mitch Drumm
From:
Frostbite Falls, hard by Veronica Lake
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Posted 10 Jun 2010 4:20 pm
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Do you ever want to record what you are hearing at that moment on your PC speakers--such as the sound from a video clip or mp3 that you found?
If so, be careful.
Most any sound card could record what you hear on XP and Vista.
Fewer can do so on Windows 7. This is apparently deliberate, not a coincidence or accident.
Creative Labs sound cards are particularly problematic on this issue.
You might consider an external USB sound card.
I am using my motherboard's built-in sound card with Windows 7 and am able to record what I hear---but I had a lot of difficulty in getting it to work. |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 11 Jun 2010 2:04 am
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The HTO Striker 7.1 sound card has the "system mixer" so you can record streaming audio. It is a PCI card and fully Win 7 32 and 64 bit compatible.
Some of the SoundBlaster's are also fully Win 7 compatible but most of these are the newer PCIe cards, not the PCI.
With an "old" Win XP PC, the first thing you need to worry about is whether the hardware is all Win 7 compatible. Is there device drivers for all the hardware? Do you have at least 2GB of RAM? A 7 year old PC is "old technology" and usually not a good candidate for Windows 7 which is designed for current technology, it may run Win 7 but how well it runs can be questionable. Finally, you will have to do a complete reinstall, you can't "upgrade" an XP OS to Windows 7. Keep the old Win XP hard drive intact and install a new hard drive for Win 7, that way if it doesn't work out (a very good possibility) you can easily reinstall the XP hard drive and not lose anything. |
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Bob Kagy
From:
Lafayette, CO USA
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Posted 11 Jun 2010 6:38 am
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As far as recording what I'm hearing on the PC speakers, to tell the truth I wasn't thinking along those lines. But now that you brought it up, it would be nice to be able to do - so thanks for pointing that out.
The old PC will be completely replaced by a new one. I'd read a lot of material similar to the issues you raised Jack that stopped me from considering that path.
I appreciate all your comments; keep them coming. |
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 11 Jun 2010 7:44 am
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With a new PC, I would go with a SoundBlaster as they also have hardware MIDI synth's on the card and those MIDI synth's are far superior to the Microsoft GS Wavetable MIDI synth that is included with Windows. I have a new SoundBlaster Xfi model just because of the MIDI Synths that I use with BIAB. The SoundBlaster's also have "What You Hear" (SoundBlaster's name for the System Mixer).
The Striker 7.1 that I referenced is an outstanding sound card but it doesn't have the built in MIDI Synths. You need MIDI for BIAB.
Now another issue, SOME PC vendors use proprietary front panel connections, thus if you add an "after market" sound card it MAY not interface with the front panel headset and mic connection. Dell is one that is iffy on whether an after market SoundCard will interface with the front panel - some models are OK and some use a Dell proprietary connection. On the Dell's if you buy an optional sound card with the PC, which will be a SoundBlaster, it will have the correct interface (but many do not have the What You Hear). On some of their models the connection is via the PCIe chassis connection to the motherboard rather than a separate cable (as is the ATX standard uses).
I do a lot of PC support, especially audio, so the reason I bring this up. |
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Bob Kagy
From:
Lafayette, CO USA
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Posted 11 Jun 2010 12:32 pm
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| Jack your advice is right on the money - I'm thinking Dell, having had a good experience with my current aging Dell. These caveats will go into a growing folder of criteria. Thanks again. |
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