Bother with sound card?

[shovenose]

Quick question...

I just got a nice Sony MHC-881 sound system. Connected my PC to the AUX IN port. I'm running it out of the headphones port. It's a windows XP Core 2 Duo machine. It sounds pretty darn nice, but I'm wondering if using a PCI sound card would make it sound better. The integrated one is a VIA chip.
Or if a better headphones to aux in adapter cable would be worth it?
Thanks.
PS: Pandora is the most awesome thing ever xD

[c_hegge]

Re: Bother with sound card?

I doubt it. I once had a creative X-Fi in my main PC. I didn't sound much different to the integrated realtek sound and it made flight sim X crash randomly (the program, that is, not the plane I was flying).

[shovenose]

Re: Bother with sound card?

OK.
Thanks c_hegge.
I thought that's the answer I would get.

[ipman]

Re: Bother with sound card?

You will get some better quality with high-end sound cards like M-audio, but that depends on your budget.

[shovenose]

Re: Bother with sound card?

Well my sound card that is a Sound Blaster Live... low budget old one.

[ipman]

Re: Bother with sound card?

Not much to gain then.

[dood]

Re: Bother with sound card?

The biggest difference is reducing the amount of noise you get from other components on the board. If you're not hearing static or noise when moving the mouse, etc, you should be fine. I had a mobo once that would make a faint squeal through the speakers whenever you moved the mouse. Very annoying, but fixed with a PCI sound card.

[shovenose]

Re: Bother with sound card?

I will try to listen for that next time. But I have a wireless USB mouse running off the front USB ports so IDK. Thanks!

[Agent24]

Re: Bother with sound card?

If you want something pretty good go with something that uses C-Media Oxygen chipset.

However, if you think your current setup sounds "pretty damn nice" I wouldn't bother. Unless you're an audiophile type guy or something.

[shovenose]

Re: Bother with sound card?

The two options here are:
1. VIA Integrated Audio
2. PCI Sound Blaster Live!

I'm using #1 and it sounds fine, just curious if there was a noticeable improvmement if I switched to #2? But it sounds like (pun intended) I shouldn't bother with the PCI sound card.

[Agent24]

Re: Bother with sound card?

Most likely a waste of time. But then, if you never try it, you'll never know...

[shovenose]

Re: Bother with sound card?

Haha good point...maybe I will try it tomorrow :P

[toastygoodness]

Re: Bother with sound card?

it won't be much better unless its some kind of balanced output or line out (usually you try to avoid any gain from the sound card to before the amp cause then noise comes in from the el-cheapo sound card). But in all honesty, if you can't hear it, don't bother, because you will end up wasting time and money.

believe me. i went the audio upgrade route (basically i got monitors just for music production, and that was pretty much it), started hearing differences in recordings i had, and now i can't stop buying new audio hardware (or at least wishing i had new hardware) and it forces you to buy CDs or search for FLACs.... >.> it's becoming a super expensive hobby.

[Agent24]

Re: Bother with sound card?

'Once you go FLAC, you won't go back'

[shovenose]

Re: Bother with sound card?

WTF is a FLAC? lol.

[toastygoodness]

Re: Bother with sound card?

something lossless audio....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLAC should work i hope.... i usually just type in wiki links like that lol....

[toastygoodness]

Re: Bother with sound card?

'Once you go FLAC, you won't go back'

SO TRUE. It's a frickin' disaster lol...

[Uranium-235]

Re: Bother with sound card?

If you already HAVE the card, I say go for it. If you didn't have the card, I would say don't bother.

only reason I go for external audio cards is for gaming, and have 2 PCI-E F1talities die on me, I only used them for the Dolby live spdif encoding

[turbozutek]

Re: Bother with sound card?

Via make some pretty nice audio chip-sets actually. I'd say a modern Via would cane an older Sound Blaster in most regards.

[toastygoodness]

Re: Bother with sound card?

Via make some pretty nice audio chip-sets actually. I'd say a modern Via would cane an older Sound Blaster in most regards.

yeah, they really turned things around with the Envy 24. If your integrated ones aren't even on par with that, you might as well get one, since those usually run around $15, decently. It's better than the $400 i keep paying for audio interfaces lol, but that's a different story.