New sound card for old computer?

[Rayista Geoff]

After about 5 years of faithful service, it looks like my SoundBlaster PCI128 has given up the ghost, so I need to think about a replacement. I don't really use it for anything fancy, just playing mp3s while I surf and for the odd bit of gaming audio (in stereo).

Is there any reason not to buy just the cheapest non-branded card I can get? Do you get anything by upgrading from the, say 10 dollar price range to something like the Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit card? (I'm thinking both in terms of hardware/sound quality and less hassles with driver-related problems.)

I'm running, by the way, Windows 98, with a 1.1 Ghz Duron on an old Abit KT-7 motherboard, so that'll tell you where I'm coming from (i.e., the early middle Stone Age).

Thanks!

Geoff

[123456]

Okay. The cheapest model will probably have fewer speaker ports than high-end models. Go for a brand name for reliability. My YAMAHA Opal Sax3 is working perfectly and it has been living since 1998.

[Paleo Pete]

For what you describe a middle of the road card should work fine. I've used ESS and Yamaha cards, Opti, Creative Labs Sound Blasters and my favorite is still the old ISA Sound Blaster 16. I don't have a 5 speaker setup and my Polk Audio subwoofer set sounds plenty good although not quite as loud as I want. I'm a guitar player and I like to rattle the windows when I crank it up...these just won't do it (my guitar amp can break windows although I try to avoid that)...My stereo setup can put you in the room with the band, the computer speakers won't quite match that kind of volume. But the sound quality is good. I think I have a Yamaha card in this machine, don't really remember. (That's how little I have to deal with hardware issues on Linux, I haven't looked at what's inside in so long I can't remember what sound card I put in it.)

Just about any $10-20 range card should get good enough sound if you have decent speakers, most can reproduce the entire range of human hearing plus some and unless you run it really loud distortion shouldn't be an issue. As far as sound quality goes you would have to get a high end card to beat even the onboard chips used on most newer motherboards. Then you're looking at $50-75 or better...

[saphalline]

I agree with Pete, and I'd also go as far as saying avoid the Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit. There are very very few audio sources that could take advantage of 24-bit output quality. 16-bit samples are still the defacto, and strapping 24-bit support onto the old Live! series is something that confuses me. That's like putting a super-charger into a Geo Metro. Sure it's sort of cool, but how useful will it actually be?

24-bit audio will gain popularity in the years to come as DVD-Audio and other advanced 3D speaker technologies become more common, but for now 24-bit samples comprise less than 1% of the market. Games haven't made the switch yet, and very few DVD's take advantage of it. My opinion is that DVD-Audio will hit it big time once HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, and true high-def TV's/movies are available.