PC Sound?

I've finally decided to come out of the dark ages and get sound on my PC (and Broadband!!)...
So what I'm looking for is a soundcard that's easily fitted by me (I've even got one of those anti-static wire thingies so I'm obviously an experienced computer builder ), and a pair of speakers to go with...
And the budget is:
As little as is humanely possible.. I'm not intending to hook it up to the hifi so pretty duff is fine, but best value would be nice rather than cheap'n'crap..

 

You can get them M-Audio cards for about £50, they are fine if you just want somthing two channel.

 

M-audio Audiophile 2496. While it may not quite live up to the name, the software *works* and it sounds fine.
There are plnety of others, but this card has worked for me for the last 5 or 6 years without any problems whatsoever.
Can't say fairer than that.

 

I saw a thing the other day which is the size of a flash drive. It goes in the USB port and has analog and digital outs on it. All for £8.50! Basically a soundcard in a USB pen drive.

 

I think its a bit pointless though, it won't sound any better than a £5 PCI one and it saves a USB port.

Your machine should already have a bog standard card built into the motherboard anyway. I assumed this was about upgrading.

 

Doesn't sound like it to me, sounds like getting sound on a PC in the easiest and cheapest way. The USB pen thing fits both counts.

 

I just don't understand why it dosn't already have sound, pretty much all motherboards made in the last 5 or 6 years have them built in.

 

First thing download a copy of foobar media player http://www.foobar2000.org/

Soundcards – you get what you pay for but try to avoid Creative cards because these upsample from 44.1kHz to 48kHz (not such a good idea from a purist point of view).

More money will buy better DAC and consequently better sound; M-Audio 2496 and Emu 0404 fall within the sub £100 bracket. Also SPDIF output is a good idea for future upgrade to external DAC.

Loudspeakers – have a look at active shielded studio monitors from around £100/pair.

http://www.studiospares.com/
http://www.dv247.com/

 

Thats really not true, it depends what mobo you go for. It is getting more common though, maybe you could say that about mobos in the last 2 years.

Anyway I thought it seemed good because its so small, you can use it in any USB capable computer and has a digital out. What soundcard can you get for £5?

Speakers, you aren't going to get anything good in the PC market so look at some small monitors from the likes of JVC, Behringer, Edirol and M-Audio. Unless you don't mind crap.. I got an alllllright sub and sat system for £40 made by 'Nicole' but its nothing I want to listen to music on. Or get some headphones!

 

EMU 0404 is the best bang for buck in the soundcard world, better DACs than the Audiophile / EWX class of cards.

 

i got a Altec Lansing sub and satellite set off ebay inc postage for £20. Sounds amazing really. It was old ex-Dell stock.

 

As far as I know my PC doesn't have a soundcard built in - it's a Dell Dimension 2350.
There's no phono plugs on the back so I asuumed there's no sound!
And I'm quite happy with "computer speakers" - don't want to have to spend more than £100 on both the card and speakers.. Not after quality, just a means of hearing sound from, say, snippets of cds on Amazon.. As they're heavily compressed anyway quality won't make much difference!

 

You won't get phono plugs, mini jacks. Will be mounted next to the parrallel port under the usb ports.

 

Leonard, you have a soundcard on there already. It will be on a 1/8" mini jack, Probably green.

BTW, if you want to upgrade the computer, add some more RAM. It is seriously under what a computer of that spec should have at only 128mb. 256mb really is the minimum to run XP on.

 

What you might want to do is take yourself down to your nearest auction house (I am about 10 miles from Bedford and often frequent Wilson and Peacocks there), as these are finding it very hard to compete with ebay trade these days which means that you can very often pick up some really cheap deals.

I got a pair of Ariston MSX-03 micro monitors for free from a job lot from Richer Sounds, got a Marantz PM-66 SE integrated amp for about £30 from the auctions which is purely ex-display, boxes, manuals and remote!

Then I just bought some fairly good quality audio leads from CPC which are 3.5mm jack to stereo RCA and then just run the audio in/out on the sound card via my tape loop on the amp.

Anyway, if you are looking for a cheap sound card we are just clearing out alot of old stock and we have one only of the following for sale:

ForteMedia SP801 sound card

If interested PM me and I will get you a price.

 

All Dells have had built into sound cards for ages, the jack look the walkman style headphone jack i.e 3.5mm.

The rear of your computer should look somthing like this

 

I would recommend Edirol active speakers, much better than standard PC ones and if you get a soundcard with a toslink out, the MA10D and MA15D have built in DAC's.

I have an account with Edirol as I sell them locally, but have been considering setting up an online store, so drop me a PM if you are interested and I'll look into prices.

Andrew

 

Damn, I just bought a Edirol FA-101. What price could you have given me!? It looks like a nice interface though.

 

http://www.cmedia.com.tw/product/CMI8738.htm

I use this this sound card, has both analogue and digital in/outs although I am a big analogue fan

IMHO, I would stay clear of any on-board sound cards (sound interface built into motherboard), if you really want the quality. However, if you must have a new motherboard with built-in sound we have a stack on new ones for sale at the moment.

 

Lawks!
That's what those 3 jacks with the strange symbols are for!
I'll give them a try - I'll also look into bankruptcy etc auctions for serious cheapy speakers...

And as for adding RAM, is that easy?
I know I've had some slowness and locking up of programmes, probably due to lack of RAM..