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How to Choose a Sound CardArticle By By Gary Hendricks
This article will help you with your decision by elaborating on the
different factors to consider when buying that new sound card.
How to Choose a Sound Card # What Are Your Needs? First thing to
consider here is your intended usage of the sound card. If all you
want is basic sound support and not spectacular 3D surround sound,
I'd say go buy a cheap, simple card like the Sabrent 6-Channel or
even rely on your motherboard's on-board sound. If you want great
surround sound and better speaker connectivity options, then you'll
want to consider a dedicated sound card like the TurtleBeach Montego
or Sound Blaster Audigy 2. As always, cost is an
important issue to consider. A basic, no-frills sound card these
days costs about $10, while the latest heavy-duty sound card with
surround sound support can cost about $250. If you only need simple
sound support, don't waste money buying a high-end product with
features you don't need. A critical factor to
consider is to take a look at what sound standards your sound card
supports. Most high-end sound cards in the market today have EAX and
5.1 surround sound support. You can connect up to five speakers to
these cards to enjoy a surreal, 3D audio effects. Some cards even
starting to provide 7.1 surround sound support. Do you have any
special needs that you need to cater for? For example, if you're
into professional, multi-track music recording, you'll want to get a
proper multi-channel sound card. If you're into things like MIDI,
you'll want a card that supports provides good MIDI support. If you want to take
advantage of the latest features in the new sound cards out there,
you'll usually need to ensure you have a powerful CPU to go along
with it. No point having the latest super-duper audio card if you're
installing it into an old Pentium 3 computer. It's also useful to
look at what software comes with the sound card package. Cards like
the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS are wonderful
because they throw in great music and audio software. This will save
you money, especially if the software you've always wanted is found
in the package. You've probably not
heard of the brand Powmax - but the Sabrent 6-Channel 5.1 3D
Surround Sound PCI Card is one solid, reliable sound card. It is
sold for a very low price (about $10) but provides up to 6 channels
of stereo sound to any computer. Great for basic multimedia usage
like playing games or watching DVDs. The TurtleBeach
Montego provides 7.1 channel surround sound for a complete home
theater experience. The 24-bit audio quality is excellent, whilst
the wealth of connectivity options to external audio devices is a
big plus for fans of high fidelity audio. If you have the cash,
this is one of the best sound cards in the market today. It can do
almost anything imaginable with your computer's audio. Among others,
it incorporates support for DVD-Audio, Dolby Digital EX, wavetable
synthesis, EAX and hard-disk recording. The moment my current sound
card breaks down, I'm rushing out to get one! To sum up, sound
cards are an essential component in computers today - they're your
gateway to experiencing true multimedia. Make sure you consider your
audio needs and do some homework before buying that sound card. If
you don't need certain high-end features like multi-track recording
support, or hard-disk recording, then go for a lower-end card.
I hope you find this article on "how to choose a sound card" was helpful! Kind Regards
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