PC Sound Card

Frank Cabanski · Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008, 19:18 (GMT) Post subject: PC Sound Card

Right now I have the Realtek AC/97 onboard sound.

Would a better sound card improve sound quality?

One of these: http://www.zzounds.com/cat--2418

Or would something store bought like this one be as good? (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8015079&st=sound+card&type=product&id=1156606920134)

John Weeks · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008, 00:24 (GMT) Post subject:

Hi Frank,
I used the M-Audio 2496 for years and had no complaints. I think it's a great soundcard for the money.
I upgraded to the M-Audio 192 because I needed "balanced" imputs and it sounded good as well. I still have it, but wanted to upgrade, so I went with the Lynxx L22 (around $700). I really can't tell that much difference.
By the way, there is a comparison of the two sound cards here:
http://www.vocalimpactmedia.com/SoundStorage.html#Soundcards#Soundcards
Scroll down towards the bottom of the page for the file.
Good Luck!

Bill Campbell · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008, 12:46 (GMT) Post subject:

"Right now I have the Realtek AC/97 onboard sound.
Would a better sound card improve sound quality? "

Not substantially, if at all. Stock computer sound cards are much better than they were a couple of years ago. Unless it's "noisy",
for VO, most stock cards are fine.

I say this having used many sound cards, M-Audio, Lynx, Turtle Bay, Digigram, and Audigy 2ZS (upgraded Dell card).

Chris Clementson · **Voice Seeker** Joined: 14 Jan 2008 Posts: 216

Try this test: Make a recording at much hotter levels than normal. Now look at the waveform with the audio editor of your choice. Do the peaks go all the way up to 100%? If you are recording at 16 bits this might be a number like 32767, or 0 dB, or simply 1. The audio may clip at a lower level than this. If your audio editor is calibrated in dB (as Goldwave is) it may clip 6 dB below full scale. If this is the case then you are fully justified in getting a new sound card IMO. If not, you probably needn't worry about it. If you go with a new card, I echo the recommendation of the M-Audio 2496 with its nice, stable drivers. Stay the heck away from consumer crap gamer/home theater sound cards such as Sound Blaster and that ilk.

Attached are two files illustrating my point. In clip_test_fail.mp3, view the sine wave horizontally expanded and you will see that not only are the tops and bottoms of the sine wave chopped off (clipped), they are clipped before they reach full scale. In clip_test_pass.mp3, the sine wave goes all the way to full scale without clipping.

Emmett Andrews · Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008, 18:06 (GMT) Post subject: Re: PC Sound Card

Cameron Thomas · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008, 17:08 (GMT) Post subject:

I will likely upgrade my Dell laptop and want to at least customize the audio card. Any thoughts on the Sound Blaster cards? (Audigy or the Express X-treme Audio Card)

Cheers,
Cameron

Emmett Andrews · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008, 17:17 (GMT) Post subject:

Please re-read the first line of my last post.

Cameron Thomas · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008, 17:23 (GMT) Post subject:

I have no idea what Best Buy offers--I'm checking out Dell online and all they offer was SB cards. I'm already using an external SB and so far it's been good. So if I can get a hold of a decent recording card afterwards, how easy are they to install in a laptop?

Emmett Andrews · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008, 17:38 (GMT) Post subject:

You'd probably want to go either USB or firewire. There are some cardbus cards, but they're not cheap. With external, it's pretty much as simple as one cable.

SB cards are gaming cards...Not designed for recording. And they do funny things to recordings. SB cards, for instance, resample everything to 48kHz on the fly. That alone degrades recording quality. Then there's the matter of them using consumer-grade connectors.

I don't recall which one, but there is one SB card that uses E-mu converters that are very good, however most consumer cards don't have great converters either. Much better than they used to be, but still not designed for recording.

M-Audio has a great list of external USB devices. E-mu makes a few, Focusrite, Lexicon and others do as well. Around here, the M-Audio products seem to be the most popular. They are priced nicely and offer high quality for recording.

Emmett

Cameron Thomas · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008, 17:47 (GMT) Post subject:

Thanks for the great info! I was hoping to avoid an external in the new laptop because I hate switching cards off and on for mobility sake. I'll look into the externals and see where it takes me.

Thanks!

Cheers,
Cameron

Bill Campbell · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008, 23:06 (GMT) Post subject:

"Would a better sound card improve sound quality?"

I do Natiional Radio/TV commercials (Audi) on a Creative (Soundblaster) Audigy 2 sound card. It was an upgrade in my Dell computer.

No agency or production house has ever complained about my
"converters".

I know this is the geek place, and I love outboard gear, but don't get too bogged down into equipment.

Most "stock" soundcards today sound fine for VO, as long as it's
not introducing noise. There's no real quality difference on voice. We're not recording Pink Floyd latest album here.

Bill
www.asapaudio.com

Lance Blair · Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008, 23:12 (GMT) Post subject:

I've been thinking about the E-MU 1616 or 1616M PCI card model for my laptop rig. Right now I have the Presonus Firebox which I think is a fradulent (it's NOT 96K, and so much about it works poorly) and nasty sounding "interface".

Cameron Thomas · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008, 01:27 (GMT) Post subject:

Bill,

That's what had me confused for a while--a friend's laptop recorded fine but hook my Dell up to it, terrible noise! The SigmaTel card in there was horrible and I heard that grounding issues were a problem with Dells. But the external Sound Blaster really cleaned it up significantly. Since we were going to upgrade anyways, I'll see how the stock card does on an HP and work from there. Fingers crossed.

Cheers,
Cameron

Emmett Andrews · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008, 01:45 (GMT) Post subject:

Lance Blair · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008, 02:12 (GMT) Post subject:

Thanks Emmet...I had heard that about the EMU 1616M, and thought that was a good deall for $400-$500 bucks.

Throwing money at mics and pres when your converters aren't great is a little like putting a bigger engine on a boat with a leaky hull, imo.