Great Sound Cards out there? Options

[zerowalker]

As the title says.

I am thinking of upgrading as i currently have, Creative X-Fi PCI-E, and well, i don´t even use it, i use the internal VIA something, instead for driver reasons.

Now, i want the "Best" sound card, but it isn´t that easy to just claim that one is the Best, and then all is well, i guess atleast?

Now what do i want the sound card to do for me?

Well:

It should be able to produce Great sound, as good as possible, and not be limited, like if you play high, noise occurs etc.

It should also be great with the Line In, in other words, a great ADC, as i often record from VCR and stuff, and the better the.. better? right;D

It would be nice with a S/PDIF Optical IN, but it´s not a Must, but it would be neat.


Hopefully you guys have more clues about the sound card market than me, and can help me a bit:)

This post has been edited by zerowalker: Aug 23 2012, 17:33

[pdq]

It should also be great with the Line In, in other words, a great DAC, as i often record from VCR and stuff, and the better the.. better? right;D

ADC

[zerowalker]

It should also be great with the Line In, in other words, a great DAC, as i often record from VCR and stuff, and the better the.. better? right;D

ADC

So true, will fix that!

[extrabigmehdi]

xonar stx, Auzen X-Meridian 7.1 2G , or HT OMEGA Claro plus+
all "c-media" based soundcards.
One reason I bought the xonar stx is because I like a dedicated headphone output with 6.3 mm size,
and I didn't need to have multi-channel support.

[zerowalker]

xonar stx, Auzen X-Meridian 7.1 2G , or HT OMEGA Claro plus+
all "c-media" based soundcards.
One reason I bought the xonar stx is because I like a dedicated headphone output with 6.3 mm size,
and I didn't need to have multi-channel support.

you mean this, http://www.inet.se/produkt/6303370/asus-xonar-essence-stx ?

Is it possible to Input the RCA?
As VCR and most stuff are RCA.

And what is the difference between 6.3 and the other 3. something, except the size?

[saratoga]

VCR SNR is so low the ADC doesn't matter.

[pdq]

6.3 is only different in size, and there are adapters to go from one size to another, but the adapter from 3.5 to 6.3 is mechanically unsound and can easily break or cause damage. For this I would recommend a cord with a 3.5 plug and a 6.3 jack.

[pdq]

VCR SNR is so low the ADC doesn't matter.

VCR hifi audio isn't so bad, unlike VCR linear audio. Nonetheless, as you say, any modern sound card is more than adequate.

[zerowalker]

VCR SNR is so low the ADC doesn't matter.

VCR hifi audio isn't so bad, unlike VCR linear audio. Nonetheless, as you say, any modern sound card is more than adequate.

Isn´t that why you want as good ADC as possible, to retain as much Sound as possible?;S

[saratoga]

VCR SNR is so low the ADC doesn't matter.

VCR hifi audio isn't so bad, unlike VCR linear audio. Nonetheless, as you say, any modern sound card is more than adequate.

Isn´t that why you want as good ADC as possible, to retain as much Sound as possible?;S

No, once its better then the VCR, its good enough and there is no use in being better.

[DVDdoug]

I agree. If you don't hear noise, any soundcard should be adequate (better than human hearing, and better than anything analog). I have had more issues with recording noise than playback noise, but at one time I had a motherboard soundchip that generated audible noise during playback (under some conditions) when the hard drive was accessed.

This shouldn't be necessary for digitizing analog recordings, but for high-quality recordings, an external audio interface is normally used, rather than a "soundcard".

There were two technologies for VHS tape. All VHS tapes had a linear analog track and all VHS players could play it. But there was an optional VHS Hi-Fi track that had had quite impressive specs. In fact, if you can't record digitally, VHS Hi-Fi is the next best thing! (...At least for 2-channel home recording.)

[zerowalker]

VCR SNR is so low the ADC doesn't matter.

VCR hifi audio isn't so bad, unlike VCR linear audio. Nonetheless, as you say, any modern sound card is more than adequate.

Isn´t that why you want as good ADC as possible, to retain as much Sound as possible?;S

No, once its better then the VCR, its good enough and there is no use in being better.

Don´t really understand what you mean, isn´t the SNR something that is just, well like PSNR?
Does it work that way like, let´s say samplerate, if the output is 48khz, and the Sound Card is 48khz, it doesn´t matter if it can handle 200000khz, as 48khz is what´s being transfered (if you get what i mean there).

[zerowalker]

I agree. If you don't hear noise, any soundcard should be adequate (better than human hearing, and better than anything analog). I have had more issues with recording noise than playback noise, but at one time I had a motherboard soundchip that generated audible noise during playback (under some conditions) when the hard drive was accessed.

This shouldn't be necessary for digitizing analog recordings, but for high-quality recordings, an external audio interface is normally used, rather than a "soundcard".

There were two technologies for VHS tape. All VHS tapes had a linear analog track and all VHS players could play it. But there was an optional VHS Hi-Fi track that had had quite impressive specs. In fact, if you can't record digitally, VHS Hi-Fi is the next best thing! (...At least for 2-channel home recording.)

Yeah my old Motherboard had that problem in the Front Panel, it had noise when movin the cursor and stuff;S

But i want a Good Sound Card for well, everytinhg, not just VCR, and if my current stuff is good enough, well than better won´t be worse right?

I mean, there is a difference between a "normal" soundcard and a "Great" soundcard right?

Like, well, more details, it can produce more of the tones, and stuff like that?

And about the VHS Hi-Fi, it´s really awesome like you say, it´s the next thing to CD Audio:)

[Arnold B. Kruege...]

It should be able to produce Great sound, as good as possible, and not be limited, like if you play high, noise occurs etc.

It should also be great with the Line In, in other words, a great ADC, as i often record from VCR and stuff, and the better the.. better? right;D

It would be nice with a S/PDIF Optical IN, but it´s not a Must, but it would be neat.

The best audio interfaces are used for audio production by professionals;

This is probably one of the very best:

http://www.lynxstudio.com/product_detail.asp?i=12

[db1989]

Don´t really understand what you mean, isn´t the SNR something that is just, well like PSNR?
Does it work that way like, let´s say samplerate, if the output is 48khz, and the Sound Card is 48khz, it doesn´t matter if it can handle 200000khz, as 48khz is what´s being transfered (if you get what i mean there).

Yes, basically. In the case of many common measures of audio – SNR, sampling rate, dynamic range, etc. – once your hardware’s parameters exceeds the input’s parameters, any additional resolution becomes merely a waste of bandwidth/space.

There’s the usual caveat that, among such measures, higher bit-depths are have perhaps the most potential to be advantageous – but that’s for production, not distribution. In other words, it’s a matter of processing and not playback. For the latter, 16 bits are almost certain to be more than good enough. Your ability to master and suchlike at a higher resolution does not mandate hardware that can play it.

[zerowalker]

It should be able to produce Great sound, as good as possible, and not be limited, like if you play high, noise occurs etc.

It should also be great with the Line In, in other words, a great ADC, as i often record from VCR and stuff, and the better the.. better? right;D

It would be nice with a S/PDIF Optical IN, but it´s not a Must, but it would be neat.

The best audio interfaces are used for audio production by professionals;

This is probably one of the very best:

http://www.lynxstudio.com/product_detail.asp?i=12

Well that´s not something for me XD
I want something for a consumer:)

But is the Xonar STX awesome, what about Phoebus?

[saratoga]

VCR SNR is so low the ADC doesn't matter.

VCR hifi audio isn't so bad, unlike VCR linear audio. Nonetheless, as you say, any modern sound card is more than adequate.

Isn´t that why you want as good ADC as possible, to retain as much Sound as possible?;S

No, once its better then the VCR, its good enough and there is no use in being better.

Don´t really understand what you mean, isn´t the SNR something that is just, well like PSNR?
Does it work that way like, let´s say samplerate, if the output is 48khz, and the Sound Card is 48khz, it doesn´t matter if it can handle 200000khz, as 48khz is what´s being transfered (if you get what i mean there).

If you record some tape with a 60dB SNR on an ADC with 70dB SNR, the SNR of the recording doesn't increase to 70dB. Its still (almost exactly) 60dB. Same with 80 dB, 90 db, etc. Once you get more then a couple dB better then the source, there is no longer a meaningful improvement since the source limits SNR.

As long as what you're using isn't really bad, it'll be good enough.

[zerowalker]

Nice, that clears my Recording worries:)!!

Now it´s just the, well Sound Card itself and all it´s glory for playback and sound producing.

This post has been edited by db1989: Aug 23 2012, 23:52

Reason for edit: deleting pointless full quote of above post

[Arnold B. Kruege...]

It should be able to produce Great sound, as good as possible, and not be limited, like if you play high, noise occurs etc.

It should also be great with the Line In, in other words, a great ADC, as i often record from VCR and stuff, and the better the.. better? right;D

It would be nice with a S/PDIF Optical IN, but it´s not a Must, but it would be neat.

The best audio interfaces are used for audio production by professionals;

This is probably one of the very best:

http://www.lynxstudio.com/product_detail.asp?i=12

Well that´s not something for me XD
I want something for a consumer:)

But is the Xonar STX awesome, what about Phoebus?

I'd rather have a eMu 1616 or a Maudio 24192 .

This post has been edited by Arnold B. Krueger: Aug 26 2012, 13:46

[zerowalker]

I'd rather have a eMu 1616 or a Maudio 24192 .

They look "Weird", are they really for consumer stuff?
The connectors and all look, well, complex.